Sock bags

I've made sock bags for my Sockret Pal and me. I've seen bags like these around the net and if you can sew just a little it's not hard. My bags where first inspired by Trek and Beth and I was going to do the top like they did, because that's what I normally do. But when I had cut out all my pieces I found an excellent tutorial by Jessica with a very interesting and perfectly reversible drawstring top. So I used that one instead.

You need: Two fabrics, one for the outside and one for the lining. Cut two 12" (30 cm) squares of each. 1 yard (1 meter) cord/ribbon and one stopper.
Finished size: Bottom is 5,5" (14 cm) square, bag is 7,5" (19 cm) high.

Cut away a 3" (7,5 cm) square from the two bottom corners on all four pieces of fabric. Now put the two outside parts right sides together and sew the two side seams and the bottom seam. Do the same thing with the lining. I use a seam allowance of 1/4", because I'm a quilter, but anything goes, just be consistent. Maybe it's better to use a little wider seam allowance. Now the pieces should look like this:

Now press everything flat. Then, either press the seams open or press them to one side. If you press them to one side, check that the bottom seam and the side seam are pressed in different directions so that the seam allowances can be butted together when sewing the corner seams.

Pin and sew the corner seams. Press the seams flat and then press them open or to one side. Now both the outside and the lining should look something like this:

If you want to make a bag in another size just remember that the size of the cut-away corners are 1/4 of the width of the fabric piece for a square bottom.

I followed Jessica's tutorial for the top, so check that out. I made the first seam 1,25" from the top and the second one 0,75" from the top. Next time I will probably make the channel even smaller.

Here are my finished bags:



I found Zimmermania a while ago and have been checking it out since then. I have a couple of EZ's books and now I have finally started making something from them: a baby surprise jacket. Right now it looks rather weird:


but I think it's supposed to be folded like this:


and then it looks ok I think. I'm using yarn from an old project I ripped, I hope it's not too scratchy for the poor baby. Maybe I should wash it with hair balsam or something.