Fat Quarter Makes; Peg Bag
Even better when you can hang up your pre-washed fabric to float about in the breeze and look all pretty. If I was writing this anywhere other than a sewing blog I might get some odd looks, but I know that this is a safe place to admit to such things!
Of course the old tupperware box I was using to keep all my pegs in just wasn’t cutting it so I decided it was time to pretty things up a bit an make a peg bag using two of the fat quarters from the May ‘Animal Magic’ boxes plus a leftover length of blue poplin for the lining.
I’m hoping to start putting together some tutorials for you that shows what you can make using your fat quarters, so bare with me whilst I get my head around writing and photographing tutorials, I promise I’ll get better!
Tools and Materials
- Four fat quarters OR Two fat quarters for the outside and a piece of fabric for the lining
- Paper to make a template
- Childs coat hanger
- Cutting mat and rotary cutter or fabric scissors
- Sewing machine
- Matching Thread
Start by making a template using the coat hanger as a guide. Instead of following the shape exactly I made two straight lines, extending the ends by 4cm each side and rounding off the top. Then measure down each side by 35cm. This makes your back template.
Make an identical template for the front pieces but extend it by another 5cm to make it longer. You then want to measure up 25cm and draw a line across. Cut along this line to make two templates.
You need to cut out two pieces of fabric with each of the three templates, one will be the outside and one will be the lining. It’s up to you how you want to do this but I used one fat quarter for the two outside front pieces, a different fat quarter for the outside back pieces and then one piece of blue cotton poplin for all the lining pieces.
Next step is to sew the lining pieces to their respective outside pieces. Pin them right sides together and, leaving a gap along the bottom edge of about 4cm sew together using a 1cm seam allowance. Trim the corners and notch along the curved top edge. Turn the fabric through the gap, making sure your corners are turned out nicely and press the pieces flat. Don’t worry about sewing up the gap, just make sure the raw edges are pressed to the inside of each piece.
With the two front pieces, turn up a 1cm hem along the edges that will make the opening of the peg bag.
Pin the two front pieces to the back piece, right sides together, lining up the hemmed edges of the front pieces so that the meet but don’t overlap.
You want to leave a little gap at the top of the bag to fit the wire of the coat hanger through. Sew in place then turn out through the front opening. Now I was silly and cut my two front pieces in the wrong place, close to the corners which meant I needed to hand stitch the edges together to make them a little neater. You can do this too if you like.
Slide your coat hanger in and voila!
