Turn a Jeans into a Cute Little Backpack !!

Supplies:
Jeans
Scrap fabric (the one with big prints preferred)
Sewing supplies
Foam wrap
Lining fabric
Adjustable buckle strap
Velcro/ snap button

Tutorial:
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This tutorial will show how to design and sew a custom backpack using a jeans fabric.

Lay the jeans flat on a surface, cut along the broken red lines, open up, and spread out the fabric.

Cut out 5 pieces as per the figure below. These pieces are going to be the side panel (SP), front flap (FF), front (F), back (B), and pocket (P) of the backpack.

All the measurements are in inches, with 1/4" seam allowances included.

Measurements are as follows
For the side panel (SP): A 29" long and 6" wide rectangle strip is required
For front (F) and back (B): Two pieces, each measures 7.5" on the top, 8.5 " on the bottom and 11" length are required. To get the desired shape, the two corners of the bottom edge has been cut into a curved shape. 
For the pocket (P): A piece which measures 8" on the top, 8.5" on the bottom, and 6.5" length is required. The bottom corners have been curved.
For the front flap (FF): A piece which measures 7" on the top, 7.5" on the bottom, and 9" length is required. The bottom corners have been curved, just like other pieces.
 
Cut out similar shapes for SP, F, B and P from the lining fabric. For FF, a jeans fabric material is used as the lining.
Cut out similar shapes for F, B, FF from the foam wrap.
 
Hold on to the rest of the jeans fabric. We need several small strips and pieces for the backpack.

The next step is to prepare different parts of the backpack using the jeans fabric, lining material, and or with foam wrap.

Preparing front and back sides of the backpack.
Lets discuss the front side of the backpack first.
1) Get the front piece (F) and the lining material cut for the front piece.

 
2) Place F, with its right side facing up, over the lining fabric. (The lining fabric I used didn't had any visible difference between right or wrong sides. Otherwise, you will be placing the lining fabric, with wrong sides up, in other words, the wrong sides of F and lining should be together). Make sure the edges of F and lining fabric are lined up neatly. Trim any overhanging edge. Pin the edges in place.

 
3) Make a seam around 1/4" away from the raw edge, curving the stitching at the lower corners. Sew all the way around, leaving the straight edge. Here, we are making a case to insert the foam wrap.

4) Get the foam wrap cut for F and trim its edges by 1/4". Slightly fold and slide in the foam wrap between F and lining material, through the case opening along the straight edge. Spread it out and make sure its nicely sandwiched in between F and the lining material. If not, pull out and repeat trimming the edges until it fits perfect.

5) Create a couple of straight seams to secure the foam wrap in place. You can also sew the ends of the straight edges together at this stage.(The places to sew is shown in white broken lines)

6) In the same method, by following steps 1-5, make the backside of the backpack. Then place the backside of the backpack, with the right side facing up, and pin each ends of the straps onto the bottom curved corners. Sew to secure the straps (The places to sew is shown in white broken lines).

7) This step is completely optional. I made a pocket on the inside of the back piece for cell phone or pens. For this, I used a rectangular piece from the same lining fabric. Fold one edge of the rectangle and make a seam. Then, place the back piece we made in step 6, with the lining side facing up, and pin the rectangle piece with all three sides folded in. Attach the pocket by sewing along the three pinned edges. Then, sew a couple of straight lines for a pen/pencil to fit in.

 
Preparing side panel and front pocket
I didn't use a padding/foam wrap for the side panel and the front pocket.

8) Lay SP, with its right side facing up, over the lining fabric. Make a seam 1/4" away from all the edges. 
In the same way prepare the front pocket.

Preparing front flap
9) For the front flap, I used a floral print fabric and the same jeans material as the lining.
You can follow the steps 1-5 to prepare the front flap with a foam wrap sandwiched between the layers of floral print fabric and the lining fabric.
(Place FF, with its right side facing up, over the lining fabric. Make sure the edges of FF and lining are line up neatly. Pin in place and make a seam around 1/4" from the edge, all the way around, leaving the straight edge. Here, we are making a case to insert the foam wrap. Get the foam wrap cut for FF and trim its edges by 1/4". Slightly fold and slide in the foam wrap between FF and lining material, through the case opening along the straight edge. Spread it out and make sure its nicely sandwiched in between F and the lining material. Then sew the straight edge)

10) The next step is to finish off the raw edges of the front flap using a bias tape. Please visit my previous tutorial on bias tapes to the tape. The same fabric was used to make bias tape for the front flap. Here I used the sandwich method to attach the bias tape.

At this point, we have made all the individual parts which are required to make the backpack. The next task is to put these together to finish off the backpack.

A. Attaching the front pocket to front side
11) Get the above prepared front pocket and front side of the bag. Fold in 1/4" twice from the top straight edge of the front pocket and make a seam. (Or you can use bias tape here to finish off the top raw edge of the pocket). Place the pocket over the front side, with the right sides of both pieces facing up. Line up the bottom curved raw edges. Secure them in position using pins and create a seam 1/4" from the raw edge to attach the front pocket to the front side piece. (You may guide the needle along the previously made  seam on both pieces.)

B. Attaching the side panel to front and back pieces
12) The next step is to attach the front piece we just prepared in step 12 to the side panel, prepared in step 8. Align the edges of the front piece, except the top straight edge, with  one of the long edges of the side panel. Be sure to orient the "right sides" (means the side to be seen) towards outside. Pin all the way around and sew them together by making a 1/4" seam from the edge.

13) Next, attach this to the back side prepared over steps 1-6 to complete the body of the backpack. For that, line up the other long edge of the side panel to the backside, pin all the way around, and make a seam 1/4" away from the raw edge.

 

At this point the backpack will look something like this (see the figure below).
You can see three unfinished edges; the top, front, and back. For the front unfinished edge, a bias tape with the same fabric as the flap is used. For the back unfinished edge, a black color bias tape is used. Since the top edge is straight, unlike the front and back edge, you can use a regular tape. I used a regular tape made from the jeans fabric (Please see step 16 for making a tape).

14) Finish off the front and back sides with bias tapes. Trim off any excess fabric from the top edges to make all of them of the same length. Using a regular tape finish off the top straight edge.

C. Attaching front flap, handle and straps
15) Pin the front flap on the backside of the backpack around 1.5" from the finished top edge of the backpack. Keep everything with the right sides facing up. Also attach a handle and the other ends of the strap in the middle of the top raw edge of the flap. Pin all of them in place and sew the flap, handle, and the straps.



C1. How to make regular tapes for strap and handle?

Here is a very short and quick guideline to prepare the regular tapes tapes:

16) It doesn't matter from where you are cutting the tape, means, you don't need to cut the strip parallel to the bias, instead you can cut a rectangle strip anywhere from the fabric.

I used a 9" long, 0.5 " wide strip for the handle. If you want to make a handle with 0.5" wide and 9" long, you should start from a 2" wide and 9" long rectangle piece. 

Place one 2" wide strip, with the wrong side facing up. Bring the two long raw edges of the strip to the center to make two folds and nicely iron.  Then make one more fold, length wise, along the center and iron. At this stage you can call it as a regular tape. Then sew along the folded edge to prevent it from opening.

This is how all the regular tapes used in this tutorial are made.

17) To hide the raw edges of flap, strap, and handle, a rectangle piece from the jeans fabric is used. Cut the required fabric piece and lay over the raw edge of flap. Fold in all the edges of the rectangle piece and pin in place. Then, sew along the folded edges.

D. Final touch-ups
18) To fasten the opening of the bag, a set of small loops, a string stopper/slider,  and a drawstring are used. A total of 6, equally spaced hoops are used on the top finished edge, one on each side panel, two on the back side, two on the front.

Small loops: A 0.5" tape made from same jeans fabric is used to make the small loops. Please see step 16 for making a tape. The  0.5" wide regular tape is cut into 1.5" long pieces. Fold that 1.5″ piece in half to make a small loop and pin it to the inside of the top finished edge.Then sew it with several stitches. Repeat the same and attach six equally spaced loops on the top finished edge of the bag.

String: Decide the length of string. A 30-32" long strip would be suffice. Make a regular tape from the printed fabric (Please see step 16 for making a tape). Then sew along the folded edge of the tape to make the string. Feed the string through the eyelet of the loops.

String stopper/slider: A 1" wide and 2" long regular tape is used. (Please see step 16 for making a tape). Sew the folded edges together and then sew together the raw edges. Now it will look like a medium sized loop. Flip the loop inside out so that the seam will be hidden inside. Sew again in the middle using zig-zag stitches and draw each ends of the string through the small hole in the string stopper/slider. Two wide bored beads are used at the end of the string and tied a knot to prevent it from falling off the string.

Velcro: Finally, sew a 1 inch velcro square onto the top of the front pocket and and one to the inside of the front flap.

The backpack has enough room to hold 2-3 big books, ipad, phone, pen etc..

Tinted Lip Balm Using Broken or Leftover Lipstick

Supplies:

• Lipstick-0.60 g
• Vaseline-3.6-4.0 g
• Vanilla extract-2 drops (optional, just for flavor)
• Vitamin E oil/ coconut oil -2 drops (optional)
• Toothpick/ popsicle stick or a small spoon
• Small containers for storing the lip-balm

This is a perfect method to reuse and transform a broken or leftover lipstick into a tinted lip balm. This lip balm will offer sheer to medium coverage a with a glossy finish, plus moisture.

Scratch any leftover lipstick from an applicator using a toothpick/ popsicle stick, or use any broken lipstick. Weigh around 0.6 g of lipstick into a microwave safe small bowl. Microwave for 1 minute. To the melted lipstick, add around 3-4 g of vaseline, Vitamin E oil, and vanilla extract. Microwave for one more minute. All the contents will melt and nicely mix them with a toothpick/popsicle stick or using the end of a spoon. Microwave 30 seconds more and carefully pour into a small container while the mixture is still warm. Then leave the container in refrigerator until it solidifies.

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• I used around 4.0 g of vaseline, which was 6-8 times of the lipstick, by weight. If you do not have a small weighing scale,  you may also eyeball the amounts. 
• After mixing with vaseline, the color will be lighter than the lipstick you are starting with. You may adjust the amount of vaseline or mix with any other shades of lipstick to get your desired shade/color. 

Coasters from Scrap Fabric

 Supplies:

• Fabric (Scraps and pieces)
• Sewing supplies
• Optional: Batting or any thick fabric (As a cheaper alternative, I used foam wrap.  Foam wraps are used to wrap very fragile materials/electronics. I am sure you will find one in your home)

Since this project uses bias tapes, I recommend you to quickly go over my previous tutorial on bias tapes.



1). Cut a few circular pieces from scrap fabric, with a diameter of 4.5" (I used 2 black fabric pieces and 1 lace fabric). A circular piece of foam wrap with a diameter of 3.5 " was also used for padding. The foam wrap will give some nice cushion for a glass.

2). Place the first black circle, with wrong side up. Lay the next black circle over the first one, with the right side up, followed by the lace fabric, with right side up. Make sure the raw edges of all the three circles line up nicely.You can also use pins to prevent them from sliding.

3). Next step is to sew all of the circles together. Make a seam, around 1/4 " away from the raw edge.

4) When you are almost done sewing half way around the circle, insert the foam wrap, in between the black circles. Then, sew the rest of the circle. If you are not using the batting (here foam wrap) you can completely eliminate this step.


5). To finish of the raw edge of the coaster, a double fold bias tape is used. Click here to see my previous post on bias tape. Make a bias tape of adequate length to wrap around the circumference. Flip to the back side of the coaster, unfold the bias tape, and align one of the raw edges of the bias tape with the raw edge of the coaster. Pin all the way around, along the fold #1 line and sew. (I have used Method 2 to attach the bias tape)

6). Flip the coaster and fold the bias tape over to the front side. Pin it all the way around and sew. 

That's it !!

Make Your Own Bias Tapes: Part 1

Make Your Own Bias Tapes: Part 1-What are bias tapes, how to make and attach bias tapes?

I am not sure how many of you are familiar with the term "bias tape" or "bias binding". But one thing I am sure, check your wardrobe and you will definitely find something with a bias tape.


Since, some of my future projects/tutorials involve the use of bias tapes, I think it is good time to get to know about them. This tutorial will introduce you to what is bias tape, how to make and attach a bias tape.

Below are some of the examples where bias tapes have been used. Bias tape comes handy when finishing off the raw edges at the neckline, arm hole, hem, edges of the quilts etc. Besides, bias tapes are also used for piping and other decorative purpose. One specialty of these tapes are that they will nicely snug around curved edges, which make it useful on arm holes or neck lines.

What is a bias tape?
Bias tape is a long and continuous strip of fabric, cut along the "bias". The width of the bias tapes will range from 1/2" to 3" depending on where they are used.  Next, we will see what does "bias" mean.
  
To explain this we need to look at a fabric you bought from a store. If you buy 1/2 yard of a fabric, you will see that two opposite edges are cut edges and other two opposite edges are self-finished edges, known as selvage (US English) or selvedge (British English). The selvage prevents the fabric from fraying and unraveling. The bias/ bias line is a diagonal line in the middle of  the selvage and the cut edge of the fabric. It make 45 degree angles with the cut edge and the selvage.




You can purchase bias tapes in variety of widths from fabric shops. They are available as single and double fold tapes. Double fold bias tapes are used to finish off the raw edges. where as, single fold tapes are more of decorative purpose. This tutorial focuses only on double fold bias tapes. To make a bias tape you can use a bias tape maker. But this tutorial uses only scissors, measuring tape, and an iron.

Bias tape section at Walmart

How to cut a fabric to make bias tapes?

Fabric strips are cut along the diagonal bias line to make the bias tapes. Fold the cut edge of the fabric over to the selvage and align the cut edge with selvage. Then, cut diagonally along the fold (bias line). So now you have two pieces.

The next step is to cut several strips along/ parallel to the bias line. First, decide how wide your double fold bias tape to be. The width of the strip should be four times of the width of the double fold bias tape.

For eg: If your project requires a 1/2" wide double fold bias tape, the width of the strip should be four times of the double fold bias tape ie. 2 inches ( 1/2"X 4= 2 inches.) 

To make 1/2" wide double fold bias tape, you need to start from 2" wide strip that has  been cut along or parallel to the bias line.

(I will include another tutorial on how to join the strips together later. But for the time being, the tutorials only use short bias tapes)


How to make a 1/2" double fold bias tape ?

To make a 1/2" double fold bias tape, A) place one 2" wide strip that has been cut along or parallel to the bias line. Also, make sure the wrong side of the strip is facing up. B) Make a fold along the middle of the strip, lengthwise, and iron flat. C) Then, open up the fold and D) bring the two raw edges of the strip to the center to make two new folds and nicely iron.  At this point,  you can call your bias tape as a E) single fold bias tape. To make a double fold bias tape F) you need to make one more fold, length wise, along the center of the single fold bias tape and iron.

That's it !! A double fold bias tape is ready!! 

G) If you open up a double fold bias tape, you can see three different folds, separated by 1/2", if you start from a 2" fabric strip. 

Match up the picture labels (A,B,C,D,E,F, and G) with the labels on the description

How to attach a double fold bias tape to a raw edge ?
Next we will see how to attach a double fold bias tape to finish off a raw edge. There are two methods, one method is comparatively easier than the other.

Method 1: The easier method (sandwich method).
I usually use this method, only if the raw edges are straight or not very curved.

Follow these steps. a) Place your fabric with right side facing up. Bring in the double fold bias tape and b) sandwich the raw edge of the fabric in between the folds of the bias tape. c) Pin in place(you may also flip the fabric and make sure the pin has secured the back side of the bias tape). d) Sew along the edge of the bias tape to e) finish off the raw edge.

Match up the picture labels (a,b,c,d, and e) with the labels on the above description

Method 2: The right method
This method is ideal when the raw edges are curved.

Follow the steps to attach a double fold bias tape in this method.
i) unfold the double fold bias tape. You will see three different folds 1, 2, and 3. ii) place the fabric with wrong side up, and align raw edges of both fabric and bias tape. Pin the tape to the fabric along fold # 1 of the bias tape. iii) Sew along fold # 1 of the bias tape. iv) Flip the fabric so that the right side is facing up and fold the bias tape along fold #2 over to the right side of the fabric and pin in place. v) Sew along the edge of the bias tape to vi) finish off the edge.

Match up the picture labels (i,ii,iii,iv,v, and vi) with the labels on the above description

What makes the bias tape snug around a curved edge?
Now you might ask what makes a bias tape so useful in finishing off the raw edges, especially the one with curved edges, like in an arm hole or round neckline? Or what happens if you use a regular strip which is cut parallel to the selvage or parallel to the cut  edge of the fabric (shown as B in the following picture)? Compare this to a strip that has been cut along/ parallel to the bias line (shown as A in the picture). 

Now we look the orientation of fibers/thread (grain) in both strips. In the strip B, the grain is parallel and perpendicular to the raw edge of the strip. Where as in strip A, the orientation of grains are diagonal to the raw edge of the strip. Because of the diagonal orientation, the strip has got some stretch and when you make a bias tape from this strip, it will nicely snug around a curved edge. Unlike the bias tape, the strip cut parallel to selvage (B) will not stretch and it will bulge and make wrinkles.

Saree Makeover

 

Supplies:

• Saree (a plain saree or a plain saree with simple borders) 
• Brocade fabric (two strips, 6" and 2.5 " wide. You need to join several strips to get the length that is enough to cover all borders)
• Sewing supplies (sewing machine, matching color thread, measuring tape, scissors, pins etc.)

You can do this makeover to a plain solid-colored saree or the one with simple borders. It requires two fabric strips to patchwork along the borders of the saree. I used a Kerala saree which had two borders of similar width. I decided to make the upper border to be narrow (1.5") compared to the lower border (5").

Decide how wide you need the borders to be, plus allow 1/2" for a fold on the edges of  the strips. (for eg: if you plan to make a 5" wide border, measure 6"  (5"+ 1/2"+ 1/2" ) to allow 1/2" for the fold on the edges of the strips.)

1) Cut several 6" wide strips from the brocade fabric and and trim any  fraying fibers from the edges.
 (Please note that the picture shown in this post are not drawn to scale)

2) Next step is to join strips together to make enough length to cover the entire bottom border of the saree. For that, lay two brocade strips with the wrong sides ("wrong side" implies the side to be not seen) together and pin them together. Make a seam around 1/2" from the edge.

3) Then turn the brocade strip right side out ("right side" implies the side to be seen) so that the seam will be hidden. Press/iron firmly. Repeat this until you get a strip of required length.

4) Place the brocade strip with wrong side up and fold 1/2" from all four edges and press/ steam along the fold. The long brocade strip, with edges folded is ready and just need to attach it to the saree.

5) Place the saree and brocade strip with the right sides up. Lay the strip over the bottom border, pin all the edges in place, and make a seam, 2-3 cm away and parallel to the edges. Remove pins as you sew along.

6) Repeat  the same for the upper border of the saree.
Here, I folded and sew the thin strip to show the thin golden border which was already on the saree. Finally, press nicely along the seam.