POLKA DOT OVER LOAD!

Okay, you might be tired of seeing tons and tons of polka dot material on here but I can't help I'm in love with it. When I go and pick out new material it sucks me in. I try to not look at it when I go shopping for new material but it's so petty! I have bought stuff that's not polka dot from www.joann.com.  I'll show you that another day. But a majority of the time I do come home with some sort of polka dots.  hahahaha

  Today, however, It's polka dot over load! My bag that was a diaper bag/purse ( you can see it here) has decided it need a break. Well, not that it needed a break but it flat out broke. The strap ripped in the middle. For quiet sometime I just tied it in a knot and when on about my business. Am kept telling me that I needed to make a new one. I agreed. I was very happy it was HIS idea. That means he would be a-ok with taking me to go fabric shopping!! Hahaha.  That is not his favorite past time, not one bit. He hates it when I drag him to fabric stores. hahaha 
So, yesterday after a little birthday get together at Missy's. After we left we were driving down the road on our way home and  Am asked me were could I get material. I  got excited! I told him Hobby lobby,( Which was closed but I just named off places) Hancocks, Walmart, Material world ( Which I forgot about until we drove by it. I've never bought material there). So long story short we went to Hancocks. YAY! And they AND THEY HAD A SALE!!! If you know me I absolutely hate paying full price for anything. Especially material. 
I grabed the kids, Am stays in the car and we go in to explore. But! As soon as I open the door we are greeted with "WE ARE CLOSING IN 15 MINUTES". I react with a" Oh boy!"  I look back on it now and I might of sounded a bit rude..... Oh well, done now.
Lex asked if he could get a cart. I agreed so I could use both hand to dig through the fabric bolt pile that was on sale.  Meaning I was carrying Emma .I started while he was getting it and dug for a second, he came back and I put Emma in the cart. And then I found this perfect cupcake-polka dot-duck material,it was perfect! And on sale for half off! Score!! Originally 11.99 I would have never have paid that much,ever, for one yard. I really didn't like paying the 6 dollars and something cents it turned out to be,but I just couldn't pass this one up!

See I told you. POLKA DOT OVERLOAD! The cupcake material is the one I bought. The other blue polka dot mater is one I had and Used for this Pillow cover. After I bought this material because I was in a hurry to get out of the store 15 minutes and all I didn't buy material for the lining of the bag. I racked my brain with what I could use as I drove home. I couldn't think of anything. Am reassured me with my stash I was sure to have something that would work. When we got home that's when I remembered I had this blue polka dot. They went together fairly well and I was in heaven because of all the polka dots. hahahaha

So I have some news about the material. I didn't wash it. Yep you heard me. I didn't wash it... Usually I'm super duper admit about washing it before using it. But in my haste of getting out of the store I forgot to look at the bolt for instructions. I didn't want to wash it and ruin it if it was one of those Dry clean only. I knew it was duck but I didn't want to take my chances. It didn't dawn on me til midnight ( that's when I finished it) I could look up the name on the salvage and see if I could find it. After searching and searching I finally founded it on www.hancockfabric.com. Go figure. I typed in the name on the salvage. Bryant Industries. Bam! Found it and the washing instructions. So awesome!  So if I do need to wash it I now know I can.

I'm rambling a lot in this post.... Anyway, pictures!

I was playing with my camera. I like this.

So for the basic part of the bag I cut out 4 squares ( 2 out side 2 lining)  I could of made it a little smaller but its the perfect tote size bag. Before piecing it together now would be the time to add the pockets. I added 2 one using this method I used to make my " almost fail wallet" just minus the zip. 

The second pocket I wanted to be able to hold diapers. So I cut out 2 trapezoid shapes. Roughly 12x13. That's height by width.
Put the 2 right sides together and sew all around leaving the bottom ( the smaller side) open. Using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Turn right sides out. Iron the seams flat. Turn in the edges of the bottom that you left open for turning and sew shut.
 I added elastic. I cut it smaller. I wish I knew how much smaller but I didn't get pictures of any of this and I just sort of winged it as I went. But it worked out so I wish I would of measured it out. 
 Anyway, I folded the trapezoid in half and the elastic in half . I placed the middle of  the elastic on the middle of the top part (the widest part) of the trapezoid pocket.
  I pined the middle of the elastic down and starting in the middle I used a zigzag stitch and stretched the elastic all the way to the  edge. I sewed it down as I stretched it out until I reached the edge. Then did the same to the other side. If you are confused watch this video here about elastic to help you out.  Start it at 2:13  it's kind of the same concept just not in a tube form like she shows you there. I just didn't fold it over and cover it since I  made my pocket lined. If you watch the video then you'll know what I'm talking about.

I did add interfacing.  You should know the drill  Cut to size and follow the instructions of your interfacing if its iron on. Again sorry there are no pictures of all this  like I said before I was up til midnight finishing this and I didn't feel like taking pictures.

After you're done with that you'll want to figure out how to line it. Since I don't have pictures on how I did it go here(Craftsy.com) for help. Plus there's tons of other blogs that have posted on how to do this but this is the one I found last night when my brain felt stumped. 

 See the pockets

  This is what I usually carry in my bag so lets see if it fits....

 My Handy Helper!

 Perfect! With room to spare.

 Now if you're wondering why it only has one strap is because I planned on finishing it today but never got around to it hahaha
 But  let me explain how I did it.
 I cut a strip 37x4 inches. That's length times width. I cut that out twice.  I then folded in half width wise right sides together and sew using a 1/4inch seam allowance. Finished my seams and then flipped right sides out. Position the seam in the middle Iron and then sew  length wise using 1/4 seam allowance on  both sides of the strap. I think in the picture you can kind of see what I mean. Sorry its hard to explain. When ever I sew the other strap on I'll make a quick tutorial.

 Oh My goodness I talked a lot! But it was a fun post took me a bit but mostly 'cause I was watching tv while typing. hahaha well  that's it a  sort of tutorial but not a good one. If you have any questions just ask!

Have a wonderful day!

Ashleigh


(edit: I forgot to show you how to achieve the boxed corners look on your bag. go here for further instructions or search youtube as well:-)  )