Finally! The tutorial and pattern for this bag I’ve promised. It was surprisingly time-consuming to redraw the pattern and make it nice and clean so it would make sense to everyone else. So, click here >>> >here< <<< for the pattern. I don’t care if you make and sell a million dollars worth of these bags – just don’t post my pattern on your own site.
Materials for Asymmetric Bag:
- 1 meter fusible interfacing.
- 1/2 meter each of exterior fabric and lining fabric.
- 1/4 – 1/2 meter of accent fabric (optional – you could make exterior in a single color)
- 2 – 7″ zippers
- your choice of bag hardware for strap and closure. There are so many possibilities and choices, it’s entirely up to you what you use.
Assembly of your asymmetric bag:
Attaching accent fabric to bottom of bag:
Once you’ve cut out all of your pieces, trim the fusible interfacing 1/4″ on all sides to reduce bulk in your seams.
You will need to decide which side of the bag your exterior pocket will be on. Since it’s at an angle, it’s more comfortable to use if you follow my handy little Sharpie notes on the photos. Fuse your interfacing to all exterior pieces and half of each pocket lining.
Once you have fused all of your interfacing, assemble the exterior. The photo above shows you how the pieces go together. Sew with a 1/2″ seam.
Another little Sharpie note for pocket placement.
Inserting the zipper and outside pocket:
Find the vertical center of your pocket lining and your bag exterior.
Draw a line one inch from top edge on wrong side of pocket lining.
Draw another line 3/8″ from first line.
Mark each end 3 1/8 from center. You should finish with a long skinny rectangle 3/8″ x 6 1/4″ long. Mark your cut lines as shown. Pin to bag, right sides together, centers matched.
Sew all the way around with your stitch length set to 2.5 on the sides, but change to 1 from 1/2″ before corners until around the other side.
Cut down the center to 1/2″ from each side. Angle towards each corner as close as possible to stitching without cutting through. Flip the lining through to the other side and press.
See how pretty that turned out?
Center and pin your zipper underneath as shown and top-stitch through all layers. Sew each side first in the same direction then go back and sew across each end so your zipper doesn’t twist.
Pin the other half of the lining to your bag – wrong sides together and sew all the way around with a 1/2″ seam.
One pocket finished! Only one more zipper to go, but first lets put the rest of the outside of this bag together.
Finishing the outside of the bag:
You will need to sew each side and the bottom, but leave the notched out part unsewn.
Press seams open. A rolled up towel can help with that chore, just use it like a mini ironing board shoved inside the bag.
Refold the bag and sew across your corner.
Congratulations! You’ve finished the outside of your bag.
Putting the lining and inside pocket together:
For the lining, attach the pocket to one side with the bottom at least 3/4 of an inch above corner notches of bottom. Assemble both halves of the lining, exactly the same as the outside of the bag except you need to leave an opening along one side for turning.
Do stitch the top and bottom of that side though.
Finishing off:
Pin lining and exterior – right sides together and sew 1/2″ seam. Trim away 1/4″ from exterior seam allowance to reduce bulk, then turn right side out, press, and topstitch.
All that’s left now is the strap!
I could not find a good match in webbing for this fabric, so I made a strap using the fabric. There is an extremely good tutorial for making bag straps >here<.
The only thing I did differently was seamed the ends for a neater finish.
Attach your strap just below the accent fabric on each side.
And that’s it! What do you think of this fabric? It is the weirdest thing – I hate the colors of it at night, but love them during the day.
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That fabric is the best! Love the colors and design. I’m going to try to make this although my sewing skills are not consistent 😉 Also, I will in no way work as quickly as you. Lol! Pinning & sharing
Thank you! Honestly, it’s all straight seams so just take your time and press everything as you go. I would love to hear how it went, so if my pattern or instructions need tweaking or clarifying, I can make that happen.