Official (OK, not really) Junie B. Jones Summer Reading Book Bag! Free Tutorial!

*Sorry about the swearing in the last post. Here is a free tutorial to make up for it.*

If there is one thing you have to know about Geetle, its that she usually has her nose buried in a book. She is reading, and re-reading, the Junie B. Jones series. She also burned thru Captain Underpants and most of the Judy Blume collection. She keeps a stack of them by her bed and a stack downstairs.

Lately, she has been taking a book with her to read in the car and places like the doctor’s waiting room or when we get the oil changed in the van. So, I was thinking that she might like a bag to carry her book in. Hence, the Official (OK, not really) Junie B. Jones Summer Reading Book Bag! Specifically designed to accommodate 1-3 adolescent paperback books. Easily adapted if your child likes different sized books, by the way.

Ok, lets get started, I think you will find this bag very easy to make:

First, you will need:

*8 x 31 inch rectangle for the outer fabric (mine are shown cut on the fold)
*8 x 31 inch rectangle for the lining fabric
if either fabric is light, use interfacing to bulk it up. In my example I am using decorator weight fabric for the outer and linen for the inner and am using no interfacing. Cotton works fine too, just adding some iron on interfacing to either or both pieces.
*4 x 36 inch strip for the bag handle
*Thread to match
*Sewing Machine

You will be making a simple double-fold bias tape for the bag handle. To do so, iron the handle fabric in half the long way, wrong sides together. Unfold, bring each edge back up to the middle crease you just created. Fold entire piece in half again. Complete for the entire length of the strip. Press well. You have just turned a 4 inch wide strip of fabric into a 1 inch wide strip of fabric, with no raw edges showing. Quilters call that bias tape, but it works for lots of cool stuff. You can also make yards and yards of it, stick some fabric triangles in there before you sew down the length of it and Ta-Da its a fabric banner! But back to our book purse.

Edge stitch the strap down both sides and once down the middle.

On each end of your strap, mark a point 1 1/2 inches from the end. Using scissors or a rotary cutter, cut from this point on the top of the strip to the opposite corner on the lower corner of the strip. Repeat for the other side, making sure your “points” are “pointing” the same way.

On your lining fabric, measure a point 9 inches down from the top of one of the short sides. Mark each long side with a pencil. This is where your straps will attach. (ignore the marks at 6 inches. I read my ruler upside down the first time, duh.)

The easiest way for me to explain how the straps are placed is to show you a series of pictures that sum it up. First lay your straps on the outside of the bag. Then flip them in so that the raw edges are aligned and the point touches the pencil mark. Pin. Tuck the whole strap inside so that when you sew, it does not get caught in the seam allowances. Lay the outer fabric piece on top, right sides together.

Pin and stitch all the way around with a 1/4 inch seam allowance, leaving a 3 inch opening on one of the short sides for turning later. Now, be careful not to sew over the pins you used to attach the straps. I like to stop when I get close, take out the pin and manually hold the strap where it needs to be. Using that pencil mark we made earlier will help you know where the strap’s point is supposed to be.

Clip corners, turn and press. Starting to see how it becomes a bag, aren’t you!

Bring the bottom edge up to the top of the handles. Pin. This becomes the body of the bag.

Edge Stitch all the way around the 3 sides of the bag’s body. Sometimes I just do the sides, not the bottom, so it makes a bit more casual bag.

You still have a 3 inch opening on the top flap of the bag, where you turned the bag right side out. You can either stitch this shut by hand….or do like me and iron it closed and sew an edge strip right along the entire length. Lazy, but effective.

Press the whole bag and there you go! Your daughter has one handy dandy purse for carrying her Summer reading material!

Note, this big lug is not my daughter. She is asleep.

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