Laundry Luv

A friend will be leaving on her mission soon to a faraway land. She has been our Primary chorister and we will miss her. My friends in Primary decided it would be a nice idea to make up some laundry bags for the kids to sign and give as a "luvly" gift to our Ela. They invited me to sew the laundry bags up and this is what I came up with to share with you in this tutorial.

The materials I used were: Flannel for the body of the bag. A printed cotton for the bottom section of the bag. Thread, drawstring, and yarn for embellishment. I cut two rectangular pieces out of the flannel measuring at 20" by 42". I then cut two smaller rectangular pieces out of the print measuring 10" by 20". I cut the drawstring to the length that I had wanted in one piece. I also cut two small rectangular pieces measuring 2" by 5" in which I used for the toggles.

I then pressed the fabric and proceeded to fold the printed edge over 1/2" and pressed it with an iron. I then pinned the printed piece to the bottom of the flannel piece. I did this to both flannel pieces.

Sew the pressed edge in place on both flannel pieces.

 

Then pin both flannel pieces right side together. Making sure the seams are aligned.

Pin all around the fabric to ensure straight sewing. Straight stitch the two long sides and then across the bottom of the piece. Trim seams and sew an overlock stitch along the three seams to prevent fraying.

Fold the bottom corners into a triangle matching the two seams diagonally. This is going to give the bag a flat bottom. Mark 2" from the top of the point and straight stitch across.

Trim seam and overlock stitch across. Do this to the other corner of the bag.

Turn the piece right side out and whala....a flat bottom.

Satin Stitch the trim on the laundry bag.

I like how the thread is the same color as the flannel in the trim and satin stitch. I think that the simplicity of it is appreciated.

I then folded the top edge of the piece down 5" and pressed and pinned in place. 

I marked where I would like my drawstrings to be and sewed  a buttonhole on each side of the seam. 

Note that after pressed the fabric I unfolded the fabric to sew these buttonholes

and there is a total of 4 buttonholes. 

After sewing the buttonholes I then used my footer as a guide and straight stitched rows 

around the top of the piece. 

The row stitched for the drawstring around the button holes was twice the width of the footer stitch. I then inserted the drawstring, knotted the ends of the strings and sewed my toggles in place.

I thought that I would hand stitch a letter "e" for embellishment 

and as well as identification purposes. 

I definitely love the durability of it and of course the cuteness is a plus. You certainly could make a masculine version of this laundry bag and use a variety of fabrics. All in all I think she loved it and I wish her the best on her mission! Congrats Ela!