As promised here’s a walkthrough for the wine bag tutorial that I wrote. It classes up that bottle of wine you’re grabbing on the way out the door as a gift for your party host. The bag can be made with 2 fat quarters or just extra fabric that you have laying around. And once you’ve made it once or twice, you can whip one up in about 15-20 minutes.
I’ll be using some Basic Cotton printed with one of my designs at Spoonflower and some basic white muslin for the lining. I don’t recall what the fleece I used is, but I recommend Thermolam Plus.
Starting by cutting out your fabric: outside, lining, fleece and handle. Since the fleece is optional I didn’t list it on the tutorial, but in my case, I cut it 1/2 inch less on all sides (so 6” x 14”).
In the instructions, I say to sew the sides together before cutting the 1.5” squares from the corners. You can do it before or after. Cutting it after is faster; cutting before prevents having fleece in the seam. I’m showing the case where I cut the 1.5” squares before sewing in case you like that better since the pdf outlines how to do it the other way.
You’ll want to cut the bottom corners from the outer fabric, lining and fleece.
Fuse the fleece the center of the outer fabric.
Sew together the outer bag pieces at the sides using a 1/2” seam allowance. Repeat for the lining. If you’re doing the cut-corners-first version, you can just sew right off the edge when you get to the corners — no need to back stitch. We’ll be locking those stitches down when we sew the corners together.
Don’t forget to leave a 3 inch gap in the lining. You can see in the photo above that I mark that gap with two pins on either side so that I don’t forget to do it.
If you decided to cut out your corners after sewing, now is the time to do it.
To sew the corners together, bring the side bag seam to match the adjacent bottom bag seam. The rest of the bag should sort of poof out.
Pinch the two seams together and flatten out the fabric to the sides of the seams enough so that it can lay flat under your presser foot. You should have a straight edge perpendicular to the side seams. You’ll want to sew along that edge with a 1/2” seam allowance. Trim that seam allowance to 1/4” after sewing.
Repeat for the lining.
Time to make the handle. Start by pressing the handle lengthwise.
Open it up.
Flip it over . . .
And press the sides in.
Now fold the sides together again.
And stitch with a 1/8” seam allowance down the sides.
Let’s go back to the bag. Now we’re going to attach the handle. I find it easiest to do this with the outer bag turned inside out (right side facing in).
Pin the handle to the outside of the bag at the side seams, matching the end of the handle to the top edge of the bag. The side seams provide a nice easy way to match up the centers — just match the center of the handle to the side seam. Your handle should make a little U shape in the middle of the bag. Make sure there are no twists!
I use two pins so that I can hold down each of the outer bag seam allowances when I tack the handles on.
Secure to the top with a 3/8” seam allowance so it will be hidden when we sew in the lining. You don’t need to backstitch here either.
Now we’re going to put in the lining. Your lining should be right side out and your outer bag should be inside out. Slip your lining into your outer bag. Their right sides should be facing one another. You’ll need to gently move the handle to the side to slide the lining past.
Pin the lining and outer bag together, matching tops and side seams. Again, I use 2 pins on each side seam to hold down each of the seam allowances. It just prevents worrying about it when I’m sewing.
Stitch around the top with the standard 1/2” seam allowance.
Turn the bag right side out by pulling it through the gap you left in the lining.
Using your iron, gently press the seam at the top between the outer bag and lining. You’ll want to roll the lining to the inside of the bag. Since the lining is a hair shorter, it should fit in nicely. Top stitch around the top to make it look nice. Machine or hand stitch close the opening in the lining and you’re done! Ready to be gifted 🙂
