One Piece Tiny Bags

This idea has been on my To-Do list for a very long time. You see, I was given a box of chocolates as a small gift a while back. It was packed in a cute golden cardboard box in a shape of a handbag. When I opened it, it was just one piece of cardboard neatly folded to keep its shape. Right away I thought that it would be interesting to sew a bag using this cardboard as a template.

So finally last week I managed to get my hands on this project. I wanted to use this lovely floral pink medium weight cotton for a make-up bag or something like that for some time now and this project seemed like a great idea. When I bought these two prints, I chose it because of the pink one, the purple one was an extra in the pack. I thought that the pink would look much better in a finished item, but to my surprise, I was wrong. I like the purple one much more. So as my not so Little Boy, according to him, the colours are more vibrant.

I have made two bags so far using this method of one piece sewing, even though it's a fun and easy project, I am not quite happy with the outcome. Let me explain why. It's all about the right interfacing and that's where I have gone wrong. For the pink bag I used iron-on Vilene H630 interfacing. It holds its shape without any problems but it has kind of a puffy look and it's quite soft. When you are tying the ribbons, the bag feels a bit flimsy. But I do like the combination of this fabric and the pink ribbon.

For the second one I used medium weight iron-on interfacing of a very low price and not of a very great quality I should say, that's the only one I had at home. It works quite well with this cotton, it holds its shape nicely and has a firm feel to it but you can easily see all the creases, and it looks rather like a piece of cardboard than fabric (not very noticeable in the photos though).

So... I thought and remembered about reading about a particular product called Vilene Decovil I Light. According to reviews, it is one of the best products for bag making. It's supposed to feel like leather and give a nice shape to the finished items. So I ordered some and it already arrived. I have tested it on a small piece of fabric and it's FANTASTIC.

After making these two bags, I have adjusted the cardboard template a bit and found an easy way of sewing it together. All you need is just two pieces of fabric, some interfacing and pretty ribbons. I am going to give this project one more go with Decovil iron-on interfacing, but that is for a future post. Happy sewing and trying everybody! Larisa xox

Update: if you would like to make this tiny bag, you can find tutorial here.