Well here we are at the fifth mod for the Grocery Bag pattern and, oh my, these bags sure are cute! If you are wondering about the other four mods, there are links to them in the pattern description at michellepatterns.com.
I'm calling these basket bags, because they are open at the top and are going to be great for storing yarn, fabric/interfacing/fleece/batting scraps, or whatever you'd like to stash inside them! They'd also make nice Easter baskets, or maybe a bassinet for a little person to carry around their favorite doll or stuffed toy.
I made two and before we get to the details, this is another mod you really can't mess up. The two here are smaller bags and you can definitely make them larger. You might also want to make the handle wider if you make them bigger. Cut the pattern piece in half vertically and add in some paper in the middle.
In case it's not obvious, these have one handle centered in the middle of the bag. These do NOT have boxed bottom corners and have the same corners as the pattern. But it is fine to make them with boxed corners and some info about that is below.
So here we go...
The Larger One (It's Still Not Big Though...)
This one is probably a 5-6 medium size ball of yarn bag. I only have two balls of yarn, and in the photo here they are sitting on top of scrap fabric used as filler for the bottom 2/3s of this bag.
The exterior fabric is black canvas and the lining is cotton lawn backed by muslin. Lawn is tightly woven and quite durable, but it's also on the thin and sheer. The muslin gives it some structure and also prevents the black from showing through and muddying up the color of the lining fabric. The lawn side of the handle is backed with flannel to prevent show through and give the handle more body.
It measures 10" wide x 6.5" high x 5" deep and the main changes are:
- Take 1" off the large handle piece at the place on fold end.
- Cut the fabric pieces 16" wide x 10" high.
- Fold the sides at 3".
The Smaller One
This is the smaller one and it's about a 2-skien or 4 medium balls of yarn size bag.
It's made from grey canvas and has patchwork lining. Patchwork lining is made the same way as making patchwork panels to use for the exterior (foundation piece fabrics to muslin & then cut to size). The floral handle fabric is interfaced and the lining side is backed with flannel.
It measures 9" wide x 5" high x 4" deep and the main changes to the pattern are:
- Take 1" off the large handle piece at the place on fold end.
- Cut the fabric pieces14" wide x 8" high.
- Fold the sides at 2.5".
Interfacing the Bag Body
People ask about interfacing the bag body pieces and yes, you can interface these pieces, but I don't recommend it for this style of bag.
The reason is it interferes with them being easy to fold and there aren't enough seams on the body to hold the interfacing in place long term. Go to the next section if you want to interface the bag, don't mind that's it's not a bag that can be laundered very often, and won't be folding it up.
If you just want more weight, either make them from a utility fabric or back the lining or exterior with muslin to help them feel more substantial.
Boxing the Corners
The corners can be boxed instead of making them like the pattern. The only real differences will be it's going to take a little more time to make and the finished bag won't fold up as small. But if you don't need it to be washable or want to fold it up, go ahead and box the corners. You can use interfacing if you box the corners, but don't have to use it either.
