Make It Mini – Little Freehand Pack

Hi bag makers, welcome back! This week, for our all-new Make It Mini Series, we are sharing what might be the hardest mini bag that I have ever made – the mini Little Freehand Pack!

I chose this sweet little pack pattern because it’s so adorable, and I’ve already hacked it twice before, so the mini can’t be that hard, can it? It can, it really can be difficult, but I did it! In case you missed my earlier hacks of the Little Freehand Pack, check out these posts: Little Freehand Clear Vinyl Hack and Little Freehand Pack Flap and Handle Hack!

Not familiar with the Little Freehand Pack pattern? Find it here!

Supplies I used:

• Little Freehand Pack pattern printed at 50%
• Foam stabiliser
• Lightweight interfacing
• 3/4” buckles
• 2 dress zippers that were 3 1/2″ and 8″ long (9cm and 20cm)
• Cotton fabric

Finished measurements:

3 1/2” wide x 4 1/4” tall x 1.5” deep (8.9cm wide x 10.8cm tall x 3.8cm deep)

I cut the Hipster Option for the straps, and they finished at 1 3/8″ wide and 2″ long (3.5cm wide and 5cm long) before the buckles!

Mini Little Freehand Pack

The little pieces of this tiny pack were so adorably sweet. Even though these dots aren’t that huge, they look so big on the tiny lining panels!

Working with such a tiny bag meant teeny tiny zipper pockets. It looks so sweet on the front panel. I changed up how I added the lining to the bag, so I left the zipper pocket to turn through!

I opted to use the Hipster Strap options on the bag instead of a backpack or crossbody strap. If you made this buckle adjustable, you could clip the little pack on a water bottle or even your wrist!

As I said earlier, I deviated a little from the pattern to attach the lining to the back. With such a small zipper opening, doing a drop in lining would have been an even bigger challenge than what I did!

First, I added the lining zipper gusset to the exterior zipper gusset. Taping it in place helped a lot to keep it lined up. I topstitched along my previous stitching and across the bottom in the “ditch” at the end of the zipper.

Once attached, I opened the zipper all the way.

I then turned it out so that both zipper gussets were inside out, facing their right sides. The photo below explains it better.

I folded the lining back and out of the way before clipping one exterior panel in place.

I stitched the front panel on, making sure not to catch the lining gusset or the zipper pocket in the seam.

I repeated that process to attach the back panel to the other side of the exterior gusset.

Now here’s where it got tricky and where I had some choice words with the decision to make this tiny back!

With the lining gusset pulled away and off the exterior, I pinned the lining panel in place. This was NOT easy, and oddly, it was easier to sew it than pin it. You can’t be afraid to squish your bag when sewing like this because you’ve got to squish it and smush it as you sew that panel in place!

I repeated that difficult pinning process to attach the back panel to the other side of the interior gusset.

Once the panel was sewn, I was able to turn through my zipper pocket. It took some force with it being such a tiny pocket gap, but it was so worth it!

Looking back, I probably should NOT have used foam on such a tiny bag! While it gives that beautifully squishy look, fleece would have been much easier to work with!

This Mini Little Freehand Pack looks so itty-bitty next to the full-size one! This pattern is for a small bag already, so seeing it mini is really something else!

Even though this little bag was a challenge, I am so proud of this wee Little Freehand Pack. It was a great challenge for my skills and prepared me for the final bag! Can you guess what the next bag is?

I really do adore this tiny little bag, but I think next time I’ll opt for printing at 75% instead! It’s still delightfully squishy, so I’ll cherish it forever! Do you think you’d be brave enough to tackle a mini bag like this? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Until next week, happy sewing!

Aimee