Ever wondered what to do with a scrap of old jeans, bit of canvas or other thick material that you have no real use for? You could make a pyramid bag.
Ealing Repair Café recently had an excursion to a local Upholstery / Curtain shop who were selling off their old fabric swatch books. Upholstery material is usually well suited to creating the pyramid bag as the material needs to have a bit more structure to keep them standing up,
Pyramid bags have all sorts of uses, loose bits and bobs in your handbag, your travel sewing kit, or why not use it as a gift bag instead of using wrapping paper – double the present to your friend.
The good news is you don’t need a lot of material or equipment to make your own pyramid bag and you can easily sew it by hand.
So, what do you need?
- Material
- Scissors
- Thread
- Sewing needle
- Pins
- A zip or Velcro
Step 1
If you have one piece of fabric that is big enough, you need to fold it to get the right size and squared.
Start by folding your fabric in half and then fold it again on the diagonal and now cut off the strip below the fold. The benefit of using one piece of fabric and cutting it this way is that you have one less seam to sew.
If you are using two different pieces of fabric you can use a ruler / measuring tape to measure them out and cut them, so you have two equal sized square pieces of fabric.
Step 2
If working with one piece of fabric you have two choices on how to attach the zip.
- Attach the zip in the fold, start by folding over the edge and attach one side of zip to one half of the fabric, then fold the fabric and attach the zip to the other side (red arrows).
- Attach the zip on the two short ends instead (yellow arrows) – don’t forget to create the fold.
If working with two pieces attach one to each side of the zip (see below)
Step 3
Once you have attached the zip turn your bag inside out and it is now time to start sewing the remaining seams together, if you want to add a strap to the bag follow the optional step below and, don’t forget to unzip the bag before you sew the final seam 😊
Start by sewing the two sides as indicated, if you were working with just one piece of fabric folded, one seam will be done for you already. However, make sure you have one open seam for Step 4. If the fabric is likely to fray use an overcast stitch or blanket stitch to secure it.
Create a strap either using the same fabric or another colour scrap fabric you have (see additional information below). Insert it into the side seam before you sew it together, in the space indicated by the red dotted lines.
Make sure the ‘open’ end of the strap is in the seam side and the fold is inside the bag.
Step 4
The last seam is where you are creating the pyramid shape of the bag
To get the pyramid shape re-fold the fabric with the two seams you have sewn already against each other and sew together.
Your pyramid bag is complete and you can try different material and designs.
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