See how Amy makes Truly Myrtle’s box bag tutorial


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 It’s a pleasure to be here at SewCanShe as a guest
blogger!
For those of you who don’t know me,
I’m Amy of eamylove.
My blog is called “Amy Made That!…by eamylove”
and I would welcome you to pop in any time, to see what
I’m making!


While I was checking out the archives on SewCanShe,
 I discovered a fantastic tutorial
for a Box Bag, by Truly Myrtle.

The Truly Myrtle version uses an upcycled merino
wool sweater,
in a bright orange, with a red zipper and a lively interior.

{What a major wow factor!}

Now, I had the best intentions to copy that idea
of using a sweater for the exterior,
and I even found a great lambswool sweater
at my local thrift shop.
Unfortunately, after I felted it…intentionally, of
course!…
it was just not big enough for this project.
{But that’s okay…I’ve got great plans for that
sweater anyway!}
Instead, I decided to use some prints from my fat
quarter bundle of
Washi by Rashida Coleman-Hale
for Timeless Treasures.

I chose one print for the exterior, 
a second for
the lining, handle and zip tab, 
and a third for the handle.
Fat quarters are perfect for this project!
The pieces are large enough for the box bag,
but there are still usable scraps left for
other small projects.

I love that the zipper shows up quite a bit!
I have a nice collection of zippers, so it was fun
to choose one
that adds some contrast to the exterior print.

Check out my version, all finished up.

{I may have mentioned in my blog that I love
turquoise!}


The tutorial uses “heavy” and “light” fusible
interfacing.
I always have a supply of Pellon interfacings on
hand,
so I used my go-to Pellon 987F fusible fleece
for the exterior interfacing.
For my lining I used Pellon ShapeFlex 101SF
as the ligher interfacing.
The resulting bag holds its shape fairly well,
even when it’s empty.
I might have liked to have a little bit more
shaping support,
but I can’t imagine being able to turn the bag
right-side-out if the interfacings were any
heavier.

I followed the tutorial measurements from the example.
I had no problems at all
installing the zipper as directed.
For the zipper tab, though, the measurements
seemed way too small.
I couldn’t turn the tab inside out once the seam
was stitched,
plus the resulting piece was not large enough.
I cut my new tab piece more like 2” x 3” and it worked.

The only other problems I encountered were with the
cut-out corners.
I would suggest measuring from the seams
rather than from the raw edge, to cut the square
corners out.
That would result in the perfect square that is
needed for creating the boxed edges of the bag.

I also needed to trim down the width of my handle piece a bit,
so it would fit inside the boxed corners.


{Measuring from the seams might eliminate that problem as well.}

The resulting bag is fun and practical…such a
winning combination!
I’m going to use it for overnight trips,
to store my makeup and jewelry.
{I always use plastic bags anyway, so the box bag
will stay clean.}

If I come across a large enough sweater at the
thrift shop,
I will definitely try this again,
because I still think Truly Myrtle’s version is so
fabulous!
{Don’t you agree?}

Thank you Amy! I hope everyone checks out Amy’s adorable blog. We’ll be featuring one of her tutorials soon. 🙂

Disclosure: some of my posts contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of those links I may receive a small commission, so thank you for supporting SewCanShe when you shop! All of the opinions are my own and I only suggest products that I actually use. 🙂

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6 Comments

  1. Congratulations on your guest post, Amy! I’ve been looking at this tutorial for a while, and may have just gotten a bit closer to making it. 🙂

  3. I love the fabrics you used… very sharp and fun!! This is a cute travel companion!

    susie

  5. Congrats on the guest post, Amy!! The bag you made is gorgeous!! I may have to try this out. Thank you for all the helpful info too!

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