Flowers for Elizabeth embroidered sweet bag: 10 – assembling the bag, and shaping the top scalloped edge

Now that I’ve finished stitching the front and back panels for the ‘Flowers for Elizabeth’ sweet bag from Inspirations magazine Issue 51, I needed to do the assembling of the bag. Never my favourite bit, with any project!

The first thing to do was to stitch buttonhole bars on the front and back panels, to thread a drawstring through. These were made in a similar way to needlewoven picots, but with both ends attached to the fabric, so really I just needed to make three thread lines on the fabric, 1/8th inch apart and half an inch long, and then weave the thread in and out along the bar until it was filled.

I like pictures like this one – it’s the last time it’s possible to take one picture with both sides showing at once!

Having trimmed the fabric to the correct size, allowing half an inch for the seam allowances, I then made a lining from olive green silk, to the same size, and pinned around three sides on each one, leaving a two inch gap along the bottom edge of the lining for turning through later. There is a mistake on the assembly instruction sheet here, because it says to start and end your stitching ‘at the marked points’….but there aren’t any! You just need to start and end at the places where the scalloped top edge straightens out at the sides.

Once I’d worked out the stitch line of the embroidered pieces, I trimmed back the calico lining, to reduce bulk.

Then I stitched the seam (by hand – I couldn’t be bothered to get my machine out!), and turned it right side out.

I also stitched the lining seam, then put the embroidered bag inside the lining bag, right sides together.

I used this template from the instructions to mark the stitchline for the scalloped top on the lining pieces, having tacked lining and bag together temporarily across the top edges. If the lining and embroidered pieces don’t quite match up at this point, go by the front fabric edge when straightening things up, not the lining.

Then I Back Stitched around the scallops with very small stitches, and trimmed and snipped into the curves up to the stitch line.

The instructions said to work Corded Coral Stitch along the top edge, which I did, but I really didn’t like the look of it. With hindsight, I think it would have looked better with a beaded edge.

The finished top edge of the bag.

Now I’ve just got the tassels and cords to make, and it will be finished!

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