Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Little LDS Scripture Tote Tutorial



For my daughters baptism we gave her a gift of her very own set of scriptures. The scriptures on their own are nice but not super exciting, but she loved the little bag I made to carry them in. She looks forward to bringing her scriptures with her to Church with her every Sunday.


The bag is super simple to make. The hardest part was getting the measurements just right to fit the scriptures, but I did that part for you! Of course you can use this cute and simple tote bag to carry anything, not just scriptures, but I designed it to fit a standard set of LDS scriptures perfectly. I decided I wanted to quilt my bag to make it extra cute but mostly to add strength, because the scriptures are heavy.


For supplies you'll need to gather 2 fat quarters, a strip of accent fabric (I just used a scrap I had on hand. A 1/8th of a yard would be plenty) and another strip for your handles (a 1/8 of a yard by width of fabric will be more than enough). I also added a felt letter "P" to personalize it and a little crochet flower by Riley Blake Designs.


I put this bag together the same way I put THIS bag together, which is pretty much the same way I always make a bag. It's just so simple to me this way.

Cut your pieces (2 if each!)...

Bottom outside (tree fabric)- 6 inch X 12 inch
Bottom lining (pink dot)- 6 inch X 12 inch

Accent strip (blue)- 1.5 inch X 12 inch (4 pieces total)

Top outside (pick dot)- 3 inch X 12 inch
Top lining (tree)- 3 inch X 12 inch

In the picture below, one set will be the outside of the bag and one will be the inside/lining of your bag. You can't see it in the picture but my fabric is actually doubled, so there is a second piece underneath each of these pieces.


At this point set those pieces aside and make your handles, because you're going to sew those into the sides of the bag. To make the handles cut a piece of fabric 4 inches and iron your piece as shown below, bringing your sides into the middle and then folding the whole thing in half again.



Top stitch along each side of your handle...



And then you can just cut it right in the middle to create two handles. Doing it this way made my handles a bit long so I ended up taking about 2 inches off of each handle.


Once you have two handles you'll insert them between your top and middle pieces like you see below....


Pin your handles in place...

and sew along that edge, catching your handles in your seam...


Do this to both side of your bag. At this point you can quilt your bag if you wish. You don't have to but I think it makes it look extra sweet and different than other little scripture bags out there. For tips on how to quilt it yourself refer to THIS POST on my blog. As you can see I drew some lines with an erasable pen (Frixion Pen by Pilot, my favorite! Erases with the heat of your iron.) to follow while I quilted. I also stitched on the little felt "P" at this point.


After you've quilted your bag, sew your 2 pieces right sides together along the sides and the bottom. Turn your bag right side out and place your scriptures inside. Notice the extra little triangle pieces there on the bottom sides of the bag? Mark those because we are going to first sew and then cut those off to create a "square" bottom of your bag.


I feel like I should have another picture here to show you but as you can see I turned my bag wrong side out, slipped my scriptures inside, marked where they ended on each side, and sewed straight across. This will create a square bottom to your bag.



Trim off those triangles from each side...


And repeat the process again to make a lining, leaving off the handles. DON'T FORGET to leave a small hole (about 3 inches) in the bottom of your lining while you are sewing it together to be able to turn your bag right side out. You'll also square off the bottom of your lining pieces so they fit nicely inside your bag. Once you have the outside and the lining of your bag sewn together, slip the outside of the bag inside the lining as shown below...


Line up your seams on the sides and bottom and pin all around the top.


Sew your outside and lining pieces together around the top of your bag.


Turn your bag right side out through the whole you left in the lining. If you forgot to make this hole, like I always do, your can use your trusty seam ripper to pick out some stitches and make one. Once your bag is turned right side out, sew up your hole and press all your seams. Top stitch along the top edge of the bag to hold your lining in place.


And your done!

20 comments:

  1. That is the cutest scripture carrier I have ever seen!!! Great job Mom :)

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  2. Very very cute! Thank you for the idea and tutorial!!

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  3. Nancy, this is soooooo cute! I love it :) This will be put on my list of 'To Do' projects!

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  4. Great tips! Perfect finishing! Thanks for guidelines. It will help initials.

    Embroidery Digitizing

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  5. That is the cutest,It's help full project. . .Thanks for guidelines.
    Embroidery Digitizing

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  6. Thanks for the amazing tutorial just used it to finish my daughters bag. Gave you full credit!!!!
    Will be up tomorrow on my blog.
    Sooooo following you.

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  7. thanks this helped my ideas God Bless Cathimble

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  8. I have made this bag a few times (thanks for the excellent instructions!) but I don't piece the inside, rather cut a lining piece about 9 1/2 x 12 inches (2). Your photos indicate that you did the same. My granddaughters love theirs. I have made one red with aqua trim, one pink with forest green trim and one yellow with blue trim. Each girl has her own favorite colors!

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    1. Thanks for sharing, that's exactly what I wanted to do and almost forgot the seam allowance! :o)

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  9. I am going to try this, and make for a dear friend. Thank you for the tutorial, I hope I can figure it out.

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  10. Got a new sewing machine for Christmas and our youngest will be entering Sunbeams next week. This pattern is the perfect way to celebrate both! Thanks for sharing!

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  11. Thanks so much! Stayed up most of the night making this for my daughter, who turned 8 today. I had never done free- motion quilting like this before and I have to say, I really enjoyed it and love how it turned out! I added a pocket inside, too, for her scripture pencils. The only thing I wasn't sure about was closing up the hole in the lining. I'm pretty sure I guessed wrong how to do it! �� I think she'll love it anyway, though.

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    1. Could I ask what seam allowance you used?

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  12. Could someone tell me what the seam allowance should be as well as the length of the handles? Thanks!

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    1. I just sewed one of these and used a 1/4 inch seam allowance. My handles were each 18 inches long (36 inches total length for both). Hope that helps.

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  13. Cute bag, I am in the middle of making one and finding your directions difficult to follow. At the moment feeling grateful for a seam ripper.

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  14. Beautiful! I'm going to practice on one for me and then make one for my 11yo who received a fabulous Bible at Christmas from her Godmother and a great daily devotional from Santa Claus ;o) Thank you, yours is really beautiful and so lovely of you to share a free pattern x

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  15. Thank you so much. Had been looking at purse patterns for a while but when I saw your wonderful tutorial it is just the thing
    I do craft shows and decided this year to call myself the bag lady....gift bags,travel bags litterbags, plastic dispenser bags, tote bags. Shoe bags thread catchers bags..etc but wanted that unique scripture tote bag so cute.

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  16. On the bottom corners you cut off..would you have a measurement of the size of the triangles? Bags I have made give me either the size of corner squares or the width of the triangle to measure from the corner points

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