Santa Bag, Express Lite Version

Ok, so a few weeks ago, when I made my Mondo shirt, Gwen commented that she made one like it a few months ago, so I started going back through her blog to find it. And that's when I stumbled upon her amazing Santa bag!

I knew I had to make it when I saw it. But I also knew I wasn't willing to devote the time and detail to her bag. Her bag is quilted (by her!), has a key ring, a monogram, real candy cane striped handles, two pompoms, a zipper, and purse feet.

Hence, here's my version of Gwen's Santa Bag, which I'm calling the Holiday Express Lite version. The pattern is Simplicity 8331, a modified version of view D. It's made from red canvas on the outside, a holly cotton that's totally not true to grain on the inside (and one of the oldest pieces of my stash, at least 13 years old, but possibly 17 years old, probably from the Rag Shop), with a red canvas pocket on the inside and red canvas handles.


The pompom is made from a scrap of the white Santa trim, I folded opposite corners together and sewed, and then sewed on a remnant of white cord from my New Look bathrobe (though apparently I haven't taken a photo of my bathrobe with the cording). (And I always wondered what I'd ever do with just a few inches of leftover cording! A-ha!)




If I ever make this again, my note to myself is to sew the Santa trim 3/8 from the edge of the fabric, which is the seam allowance for sewing the lining to the bag. I had to rip it out and redo it.

The bag has no structure, though, so it is rather droopy. The Simplicity instructions say to use plastic needlepoint canvas in the bottom of the bag, but I haven't done that.


I have made this before, out of the scissors fabric from Stitch lab. It is actually my purse that I have used almost every day since I finished it in late April.

My friend Debbie wanted to know how to make the "butt" of the bag, where the corners are. She saw this bag in person in May.
Here are some action shots.
Here is the pattern. In the bottom corner are three very important dots, a stitch line and a fold line.


I transfer the markings to the fabric. In this shot I had already marked and sewn the fabric. There is a diagonal clip at the first dot from the edge of the fabric to the dot. I've been using tailor's chalk ever since Antoinette's undies tutorial. Love that tailor's chalk (and that tutorial!).


Here's how it looks from above. Fold on the fold line (which is on the left and right edge of the fabric in this shot), stitch on the seam line (marked as S in this shot). You're matching the top dot to the bottom dot.


It's very important to make sure the seam of the side of the bag and seam of the bottom of the bag actually match up before sewing along the seam line. I hadn't done that and the seams didn't match. So I ripped out the seam (you can see thread remnants on the right side of the photo). You can also see how important the clipped seam is!

I didn't capture it, but I then cut the excess off at this point.

When it's turned inside out, the corner now has a "butt".

I should have pressed it but I knew I had more work to do. This is another moment where I think it looks better in real life.



Thanks, Gwen, for posting your bag, it truly inspired me!