Lately I've noticed that my son's wardrobe has been looking a bit messy, and seeing that he's only a toddler, he can't be blamed for it. So when I checked in the wardrobe to see what was going on, I noticed that the little basket where I used to store his socks had gotten far too small for the job. It worked grand when his socks were teeny tiny and would have fitted onto one of my fingers, but he's getting a lot bigger now and the socks were overflowing out of the basket and all over the wardrobe.
I realised that it was time for a sock storage overhaul, which led me to make this cute sock bag! It's actually pretty versatile, because it can also be used to hold a multitude of different things, for example: pyjamas, socks, undies, bibs, muslin squares, kitchen tea towels, dusting cloths, nappies, toys, or you could even store a spare set of kiddies bed linen in it and hang it on the end of their bed so it would be close to hand if there was a night time 'accident'.
This is a fairly easy project to make. I didn't have a pattern or anything, I just had an idea of what I wanted and went from there. I'm going to outline the steps below, so if anyone who's interested can make one if they want. If you're a child, or just not good with sharp objects or sewing machines, make sure there's an adult around to help you with this. (I had my mum on standby for sewing help, and my husband on standby to drive me to Accident & Emergency in case I cut myself with the scissors or ran my hand through the sewing machine - both things have happened before).
So here's my how-to guide! I hope you enjoy it and if you've got any questions then leave me a comment and I'll do my best to answer!
What You'll Need:
- 1.5m x 1m fabric of your choice
- 1.5m x 1m wadding (I ended up with a bit left over but it's better to have extra in case of mistakes)
- A needle, thread, pins and a good sharp scissors
- A sewing machine (doesn't have to be super fancy, a basic one is fine)
- A button (optional)
- Ribbon (optional)
Before You Start:
I'd allow about 2 hours to complete this project, so if you can, try to do it at a time when you can just go from start to finish with minimal interruption. Make sure you have enough space to work in; I used my mum's dining room table to work on which meant I had enough room to lay out my fabric and have the sewing machine set up at the same time. Also, make sure your work space is somewhere that has good light so you can see your stitches more easily, this is especially important if you make a mistake and have to do unpicking.
Step 1:
Take your fabric and fold it in half, then in half again. Cut along the side and the top so you now have four pieces of fabric that are the same size. Set two of the pieces aside for now, then take the two remaining pieces and cut them in half, lengthways. These pieces will be the front part of your project, and from now on I'll refer to them as 'front pieces'.
Step 2:
Take two of your front pieces and put them together with the patterned sides facing each other. Tack the two pieces together down one side (it's better to do your tacking in a different colour thread so it's easier to see and pull out afterwards). Next, use your sewing machine to sew the side that you have tacked. Use a normal straight stitch. Once the pieces are together, pull out the tacking thread. Repeat this step with the other two front pieces.
Step 3:
Now we're going to stuff the front pieces. Take your wadding and cut a strip slightly smaller than a front piece, then lay it on the front piece as shown above. Wrap the front piece around the wadding, so that the patterned sides of the fabric are now on the outside.
Step 4:
Using the sewing machine, sew the open side of the front piece together so that your wadding is secured inside. Leave the ends open. Repeat step 3 and 4 with the other front piece. You should now have two pieces that resemble cot bumpers. One side will have a nice invisible seam, and the other side will have the slightly messier seam that you just sewed to seal the wadding inside.
Step 5:
Now take the two stuffed front pieces and lay them on top of each other, make sure the neat seam is on top of the other neat seam, and the messy seam is on top of the other messy seam (as shown above). What you're going to do now, is sew the two pieces together along the side that has the neat seams. This can be quite tricky, so take your time. Using the sewing machine, start running the two pieces through so that they're joined together.
Once you get about halfway up, stop the machine and leave an open gap of about 5 or 6 inches, then continue sewing until you get to the end of the fabric. When you've finished you should be left with something that looks like this:
Set this piece aside for now and proceed to the next step.
Step 6:
Grab the two large pieces of fabric that you set aside earlier, these will now be referred to as the 'back pieces'. Cut a piece of wadding that is roughly the same size as one of the pieces (it doesn't matter if it's slightly bigger because we'll be trimming off any excess at the end). Sandwich the wadding between the two back pieces so that the patterned sides of the fabric are facing the outside, as shown above. Now use the sewing machine to sew the sides together. Leave the ends open, like you did with the front pieces.
Again, this can be quite tricky so take your time. It doesn't matter if this isn't the neatest sewing you've ever done, these edges aren't going to be seen in the finished product, so if it looks a bit messy, don't worry. Once you've sewn the sides together, if there's any big bits of wadding sticking out beyond the edge of your fabric, then trim them back so that they're in line with the fabric edge.
Step 7:
This is where things start coming together. It's very important to remember that you will be sewing this together inside-out, so place it together with the 'outsides' facing each other. For the back piece this doesn't really make much of a difference, unless there's a bit of your pattern that you would prefer to see on the outside. For the front pieces, you want your seams to be on the inside of the bag when it's finished, so lay the front piece on top of the back piece with the seams facing up.
Now bring the project to the sewing machine and carefully sew the two pieces together. As with steps 5 and 6, take your time doing this and make sure that the stitches are going through all the pieces of fabric. Leave sewing the top part together until last if you plan on hanging the bag up, because this is where you attach your ribbon. If you don't want to hang the bag, then once you've sewn up all the sides, turn the piece right-side-out and proceed to step 8.
If you're adding the ribbon, wait until you've gotten both of the sides and the bottom sewn together. Now take your ribbon and fold it in half to make a loop (the loop can be as long as you want, it's up to you). Insert the loop in between the front piece and the back piece of the project, and leave the two ends of the ribbon sticking out. Sew the top part together, so that the stitches secure the ribbon between the front and back pieces. Now turn the piece right-side-out, your ribbon loop should be sticking out the top of the bag.
Step 8:
This step is optional, but I'd recommend it, especially if you're planning on hanging the bag up because it'll stop your stuff from falling out.
To make the loop for the button closure you can either use some scrap fabric, or some ribbon. I used scrap fabric. I took two small pieces of fabric about 1 inch wide and about 4 inches long and sewed them together with the patterned sides facing each other. I only sewed the sides and left the ends open, so I had a little 'tube', which I then turned inside out so that the pattern was on the outside.
Pick a spot around the middle of the opening at the front of the bag, then hand stitch your ribbon or fabric loop to the inside of the bag, as shown above. Make sure your stitches only go through the fabric on the inside layer of the bag, that way they won't be seen on the outside, and everything will look neater. Next, sew your button on to the opposite side of the front piece, at the same level as your loop so your bag now has a fastener.
Step 9:
Fill your bag with whatever you plan on putting in it, then step back and admire your handiwork!
Fabric & Wadding from: Hickeys
