Craft and carry
Anna alicia shares this pom pom-adorned project from her new book, bags.
MATERIALS
small, unlined canvas rug or 1/2m heavyweight canvas fabric basic sewing kit thread to match your rug or fabric
1/2m quilting-weight cotton for lining pen or pencil
1m webbing, 2cm wide
10 eyelets, 1cm wide, with eyelet tool (you can buy this as a kit) hammer
1m cotton cord, 3mm diameter balls of yarn in two colours
4.5cm pom pom maker
PIECES TO CUT
MAIN FABRIC/RUG
One piece: 28cm x 51.5cm
One piece: circle, 18.5cm diameter
LINING FABRIC
One piece: 28cm x 51.5cm
One piece: circle, 18.5cm diameter
WEBBING
One length: 90cm for strap One length: 8cm for cord toggle
NOTE: I wanted the pom poms to stand out as a pop of colour, so I chose a black and white fabric so they wouldn’t be competing with other colours.
HOW TO BUILDING THE BAG
Lay your main fabric piece out right-side up, in a landscape position, and fold so the shorter edges meet. Pin in place, then sew along that edge with a 1cm seam allowance to make a tube. Take your main circle piece and pin it, right sides together, to the bottom edge of your tube, about 1cm in (no matter how carefully I measure, I always need to adjust this a little to get the circle to fit just right, so don’t worry if you have to move the pins a little further in or out). Sew around the edge of your circle piece, leaving about a 1cm seam allowance. Then, turn your bag right-side out.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 with your lining fabrics, but don’t turn right-side out this time.
Slip your lining into your main bag, matching up the seams. Fold the top edge of your main fabric in by about 1.5cm and the top edge of your lining by 2cm to the wrong side (so the folded part is facing the folded edge of the main bag). Pin together, so the edge of the lining is about 5mm below the edge of the main fabric.
With your seam in the centre at the back, mark the middle point on either side of your bag. Take your long length of webbing and tuck the ends about 2cm down between the outer and lining layers at each of the points you marked. Make sure to check your webbing isn’t twisted! Pin the ends in place.
Sew all the way around the top of your bag, about 2mm below the top edge of the lining.
CINCHING IT IN
Now it’s time to add your eyelets. Starting from the point where one end of your strap meets your bag, measure and mark 10 points at 5cm intervals around the top of the bag, each 2.5cm down from the top edge. Following the instructions on your eyelet kit, fit an eyelet, right-side out, at each of the points you’ve marked.
Thread your cord front-to-back through one of the eyelets at the front of your bag (i.e. with the seam at the back and the strap to either side). Continue threading in and out through the eyelets until your cord comes out the eyelet next to the one you started with.
For the cord toggle, lay out your short length of webbing and fold one cut edge over by 2cm, and the other over by 1cm, then again by 2cm.
Pin along the centre, then sew two lines along the centre, 5mm apart. This will have created a small channel at either side (pushing a pencil through them can help open them out).
Thread each end of your cord through one of the channels on the toggle you made.
ADDING SOME PIZZAZZ
Now it’s time to make the tassels and pom poms. Start with the tassels: first cut a strand of yarn about 25cm long and set aside. Hold your hand (whichever isn’t your writing hand) out flat and begin wrapping the yarn around your fingers. Once you’ve wrapped it enough times to form a nice, full tassel, slide the looped yarn off your fingers. At one end, slide a pencil through the loop you’ve made. Then, slip your scissors through the loop at the other end and cut the strands. Gather your strands of wool tightly together below the pencil, then take the strand of wool you cut earlier and tie it around tightly. Wrap the ends in opposite directions around your tassel, just below the pencil, then tie off. Trim your tassel so the cut ends are all level. Repeat for a second tassel.
Slide one of your tassels off its pencil and thread your bag’s cord through the hole where the pencil was. Tie the cord to hold the tassel in place (the knot will be hidden later). You might want to add a few stitches to the knot just to make it extra secure. Repeat with the other end of the cord and the other tassel.
Finally, it’s time to add your pom poms! Take your pom pom maker and, following the instructions (different pom pom makers may have slightly different methods), wrap one of its sides with your yarn. Close that side and wrap the second side. Before closing, lay one of your cords at right angles across the middle section of the pom pom maker so it will be trapped as you close the second side (you’ll slide your pom pom into place later, so it doesn’t need to be right at the end of your cord). Close the pom pom maker over the cord, then snip the strands of yarn around the edge of the pom pom maker. Take an extra length of yarn and tie it tightly around the middle of the pom pom maker, pulling it into the groove. Open out and remove the pom pom maker. Slide your pom pom into place at the end of your cord (it should overlap the top of your tassel a little and cover the knot holding the tassel in place). Trim your pom pom to make it neat and round. Repeat on the other cord.