Tutorial: tab top bag

It's a sad state of affairs when the army guys have to live in the dishwasher of the play kitchen. Poor fellas. Let's make them a bag!

For this bag, I used:

Four 11"x11" fabric (you can make yours any size you like, adjust other measurements as needed)

2 for outer bag (camo print chosen by my son - nice work!)

2 for lining

One 10" strip of velcro

Two 3" pieces of wide twill tape (you could also use ribbon or make fabric tabs to match your bag)

sewing machine, thread

*Note: all instructions assume a 1/4" seam allowance unless otherwise noted.

Start by finding the center of the top edge of your outer bag fabric (I just do this by folding it in half and doing a light finger press).

Fold your twill tape (or ribbon, whatever will be your tabs) in half like this:

(Nice picture, eh? That's what I get for creating a tutorial at night with no natural light.)

Center tab at top edge of outer bag and pin.

Lay your lining fabric on top (right sides together) and pin along top edge.

Do this again for the other outer fabric, tab, and lining fabric. You should now have two squares that are an outer/tab/lining sandwich. Sew along that top edge of each one.

Open and press everything (wrong sides together and you'll have something like this:

Center and pin your velcro to the top edge and sew to attach.

With both pieces of velcro attached, place your bag pieces right sides together.

I pinned all along the center of the bag because I'm going to serge my edges. This way all the layers are held securely together but I don't have to remove pins as I sew. If you don't have a serger you should get one. It will change your life!

Flip the bag right side out and press. I like to do a final topstitching around the entire top edge because it finishes everything off nicely. And that's it!

What I love about this bag is that my kiddos can easily open it using the tabs.

Hopefully, this will help give those poor little army guys a decent place to rest at night. You know, other than the dishwasher.