Beginner’s Guide to Sewing Your First Bag – Part 1

Hi bag makers! This month, we have put together a 3-part resource to help you plan and make your very first bag project! Each week, we will break down the steps to help you sew your bag. This isn’t a sew-along; rather, it’s a guide to help you successfully sew that first bag! So let’s dive into this week and prepare everything you need for your project!

Week 1 – Preparation

Week 2 – Cutting into Your Fabric

Week 3 – Sewing and Finishing Your Bag!

Where to Find Patterns

To make your first bag, you need to choose a pattern! Now the obvious choice for us is to buy one from our shop or Etsy. All of our patterns come with a full set of instructions with diagrams plus links to videos and tutorials to help you out!

Another place to look is in Facebook groups. There are many bag-making groups you can find, and we recommend looking for groups that share bags made from pattern testers. Not only does this help you find inspiration for the patterns, but it also shows you that the patterns are, in fact, real.

The hardest part about the sewing world right now is the rise in AI-generated patterns. If you are looking at a pattern and things look just a little too perfect, they don’t have any pattern testers at all, and the shop just recently opened and has hundreds of patterns, there’s a chance those patterns are either not real OR stolen from designers. If you want even more insight to know what to look out for, check the video below!

Common Bag Terms

Once you have your pattern chosen, we want to make sure that you are prepared to understand some of the most common bag-making terms that will pop up throughout your pattern. Check out this list below so you are ready to tackle this project with ease!

Seam Allowance – the space between the edge of the fabric and the stitching line.

Backstitch – Sewing 2-3 stitches in reverse to knot the fabric in place. This ensures the stitching doesn’t come undone.

Topstitching – The final stitching you do on the outside of your project. Examples: along edges of straps/connectors, top edge of bag, around zipper pocket.

Interfacing – A fusible or non-fusible layer of fabric that is attached to your material to give it a stronger shape and structure. We recommend fusible as it’s MUCH easier to work with!

Stabiliser – A fusible or non-fusible layer of foam or fleece that is attached to your finished shapes to give your overall bag structure. We prefer non-fusible foam or fusible fleece!

Gusset – Additional panel sewn to the side of a bag to allow for more depth and space.

Bias – Cutting your fabric on a 45-degree angle to allow for stretch.

Piping – A strip of fabric that is folded in half and sewn with a cord down the middle. Sewn to the edges of your fabric to give shape, definition or for decoration.

Zipper Tab – A small section of fabric sewn to the end of your long zipper to aid in opening the zipper and preventing the zipper pull from coming off when open.

Right Side – The side of your fabric that has the print or the “pretty” side.

Wrong Side – The back of your fabric or the “dull” side.

Tools, Notions and Hardware

The next items you need to prepare for your project are your tools, notions and bag hardware. For your notions and tools, you will want to make sure that you have heavy-duty sewing machine needles; we recommend Denim needles (100/16) or Microtex needles (90/14) as you will be sewing a good amount of bulk. You’ll want scissors plus tiny snips to cut away threads nice and close. Other items you will need are a ruler, marking tool that isn’t permanent, double-sided tape, a hump jumper and, depending on your hardware, pliers or tiny screwdrivers. You also want to make sure you have your regular sewing foot and a zipper foot!

When it comes to the hardware section, you will want to look at your pattern for what is required. Bag sewing patterns almost always come with a list of hardware on the back of the pattern if printed or the first couple of pages if a PDF. I’ll be using the Classic Market Tote as my sample for this guide so you can see what it looks like.

For this pattern, I need 1 Magnetic Snap – 3/4” (18mm), 4 O-Rings (OR 4 smaller rectangular rings) – up to 2” (5cm), 1 Swivel Hook – 3/4” (18mm), 1 Coordinating Dress Zipper – 8” (20cm).

For a beginner, I recommend starting with a pronged magnetic snap. They are the most common, easiest and most accurate to install! Don’t worry, we’ll cover installing them in Part 3.

For most patterns, O-Rings, D-Rings and Rectangle Rings are interchangeable. If you are sewing a bag or clutch with a removable strap, you will want to use O-Rings or D-Rings so that the swivel hook has the ability and freedom to move as needed. 

Let’s chat zippers real quick. Not all zippers are created equal, and it’s VERY tempting to buy what is cheap and readily available on Amazon or other marketplaces. You can find good quality on there, but watch for wrinkly zipper edges and chipped paint and ALWAYS read the reviews before you buy. 

For zipper pockets, you want to use a #3 zipper or a dress zipper. They are narrower and smaller for these little spots. Try to avoid metal teeth as they are harder to shorten.

For the main openings and recessed zippers, you want to use a #4.5 or #5 nylon zipper. While plastic zippers can work, they are measured differently, and you cannot sew through the teeth!

Lastly, if your pattern calls for piping, you have a couple of options: you can use pre-made or make it from scratch! Our patterns with piping will tell you the width of fabric strips to cut AND the cording size that you will need. Making piping yourself can add extra time to your project, but it is well worth the effort!

Choosing Your Interfacing

Now let’s do a small dive into interfacing and stabilisers. Your interfacing is used to add structure to your fabric. If you are sewing with cotton, linen or similar materials, the interfacing helps to reduce the stretch and make your material easier to sew. If you are sewing with vinyl or cork, you do not need interfacing, as most are already backed with one! Interfacing comes in woven and non-woven. Woven interfacing is often a cotton material that has fusible adhesive on one side. It is more durable yet at a higher cost. Non-woven is a polyester material that has a fusible side. It still gives you structure, just not nearly as durable. It can often be stubborn to adhere but is much, much lower in cost. Play around to see which works best for you! 

Your stabiliser is either fleece or foam and adds structure and shape to the overall bag. We use fleece and foam interchangeably, as it is a preference for most folks. Foam will give you a bag or clutch that is squishy and stands up all on its own. Fleece is softer and more pliable for a more relaxed yet structured look. It truly comes down to preference for which you prefer!

For more on interfacing and stabilisers, check out the post Interfacing? Stabilizers? Huh? where we go into more detail.

Picking Fabrics

Choosing fabric for your project is often the hardest part of making any bag! There are so many options to choose from, and with a bag or clutch, you have so many pieces; it’s tempting to do each one in a different fabric. For your very first bag, we recommend keeping it easy so you aren’t overwhelmed! Choose 1 fabric for your lining and try to use a low-volume print or a solid, and avoid dark colours so your lining isn’t a black hole!

Choose 1 for your straps and strap connectors. We often use a solid or something with a tiny print. 

For the exterior, use up to 2 prints. This is where you can have a little more fun with larger prints and solids together. Look at the cover image of your bag to get an idea of where you want the fabrics to go, and it will make choosing easier. I’ll be using the Peanuts fabric for my main print, the orange for my lining and contrast panel and then the blue and black for the straps and strap connectors. 

If you struggle with coordinating fabrics, check out our post Picking Fabrics for our best tips!

Prepping Your Thread and Bobbins

Once you have all your fabrics picked, you will want to match your threads and bobbins to them. While you may not need the thread and bobbin for each step, having them prepared ahead of time stops you from scrambling when you are sewing!

When you are sewing the main parts of your bag, use a neutral for the interior sewing to reduce visibility in the final bag. This means that any time you are sewing something right sides together, use a white, black or grey instead of the pretty colours. No one sees these parts, so don’t waste the pretty stuff on the inside!

Assembling Your Pattern Pieces

If you are printing your pattern from a PDF, make sure that you print accurately at 100% using a PDF reader/viewer, NOT Apple Preview or your phone browser. Always print the first page with the test square first on its own so you can make sure your settings are accurate!

Once printed, read your pattern to see how to line up pieces. Our pattern pages make a 1/2” box when lined up. Use tape or glue to piece the pages together BEFORE cutting out any pattern piece. For Andrie Design patterns, your seam allowance is included, so you can cut along the lines.

If you are working from a printed pattern from a quilt shop or our website, use tracing paper to trace your pattern pieces or take it to a copy shop to photocopy. You only have 1 copy of those pieces, so make sure to keep the originals in one piece! If you don’t have a light board to trace over, I like to tape my original pattern to a large window, and it works like a free light board!

Now that was a lot to cover in one day! Once you have all those items prepped and sorted, come back next week, when we will be cutting into our fabrics and preparing our pieces for sewing!

Which pattern have you chosen to follow along with? Leave us a comment below so we can cheer you on!