The Box Bag

Wow! Maybe I should have resolved to "Update blog more often" for New Years because I'd totally be kicking ass on that already. Would that be cheating?

I've been spending some time getting re-acquainted with my sewing machine and over the holidays, I made a few knitting bags (I forgot to take pictures) and also attempted a box bag using a few different online tutorials, but mostly based on this one. They're great for stashing unfinished projects in, and make cute presents (if you can finish them in a timely fashion, that is. Easier said than done). Here's my box bag, looking a little rumpled from all the turning inside out and outside in:

A box bag is not at all difficult to make. The directions in the tutorial are easy to follow. Folding and sewing the corners is maybe the trickiest part, but with a little practice, you can get your seams looking nice and neat, too. However, I discovered that nearly all the online tutorials leaves you with unfinished seams inside. And most of the ones you buy are just finished with a serged edge, so that it doesn't unravel. This is all fine and dandy unless you are a neat freak about sewing (I sometimes am guilty of this) and think you can cleverly solve this problem. But I did eventually figure it out:

Ahh, nice clean enclosed seams...so happy....

Now I can tell you that I spent WAY too much time figuring out how to get my inside seams looking pretty. Unfortunately I did not take pictures and will not be writing a tutorial on how to do this given how big a pain it was and how many times I had to rip out the seams and try again. And it involved some hand sewing around the zipper part. To sum it up quickly, you basically have to sew the box corners of the lining and main fabric separately, then turn the whole thing inside out and close up the seam that is perpendicular to the zipper on the end with the handle. Blah! I'm just going to serge the edges next time.