Making Zen - a tsunobukuro style bag

I am enjoying doing some of the creative work from the May Making Zen workshops. These were the previous ones  I did recently: 

Weaving remnants with intention 

Sewing a pouch with a gusset 

On a lazy Sunday, I got to one I have been wanting to do, this tsunobukuro style bag for holding a small notebook, art on the go, a journal etc. In the workshop there was a notebook to go with it but I decided against doing it, I might still. These bags sometimes have a tie on the top or shoulder bags, mostly just a medium weight fabric  ... 

The bag construction is both simple & intricate. This is my paper template I made while watching the workshop. You start off with your rectangle, have the fold towards you. 

If the bag is not lined, it needs to have neat edges so I decided to do the lined bag which I thought would be quicker. 

My outer & lining fabric was 24 inches by 8.5 inches. 

I sewed them right sides together, leaving a space on the side to turn them through then handstitched that closed & pressed the fabric edges. 

With the fold of the rectangle towards you, the fabric is loosely folded over in a crossed over shape with about 4 inches between the folds to form a V. 

Crease the bottom fold then bring the left hand side over to meet the middle part. PIN in several places to keep that shape.

Flip the fabric over & bring the second side to meet the centre, pin again. This should now form a rectangular shape that is taller than wide. 

It can be sewn together in 2 ways - on the inside by hand or machine, starting at the corner & just to where the side flaps meet the main fabric. 

I did the patterned one this way. Turn right side out & lightly press. You can add a fabric / ribbon tie if you wish. 

For the second one, the construction was the same, it was machined with a lining fabric, but I joined the folded in sides with a blanket stitch and pearl cotton no8 on the top. 

This was quite tricky & I caught the inside fabric near the corner, but I did not unpick that little stitch. 

I personally prefer the patterned fabric but will make the machined seam bigger next time to reduce the bulk when it was pressed through. 

It is an interesting project that took me longer than I thought even though  it was an easy sew. 

I hope you will be inspired to have a go at one of these interesting bags. What would you use yours for? 

Thank you for stopping by, you are always most welcome. 

Dee 🪡🧵