The New Handmade

An adaptation of the “Dinner Party Grocery Bag”, I made this for my mom for Solstice and I’m very pleased with the results. It helps that the fabric (2D Zoo by Alexander Henry) is utterly charming! I added an extra layer of home decor weight fabric on the bottom of the bag for contrast and extra strength. The darker color will prevent dirt from showing as much, as well.

This was a super-easy adaptation. Simply cut at additional 5 pieces from a contrasting fabric: one piece the same dimensions as the existing bottom piece, and four pieces matching the widths of the bag’s sides by 7″ high. Iron over 1/2″ along the top edge of each of those four side pieces. After you’ve sewn the straps down but before sewing the sides together, layer the contrast pieces on top of the main side panels. Match bottom raw edges. Topstitch a scant 1/8″ along the fold that you ironed over to secure each contrast piece to the side panels. Now treat each of these four sides as a single piece of fabric, sewing both layers into the seams. With the bottom of the bag, simply layer both bottom pieces right sides out and treat as a single layer.

Comment if you have any questions!