Humbug Bag Tutorial

My first attempt at a tutorial. We'll see how it goes.

Last year - or the year before? - there was a brief showing of "humbug" bags at my quilt guild. I thought they had potential since I have girls and nieces. Held onto the idea and pulled it from the deep recesses of my brain in time for Middle E's quinceanos party. Seemed like the perfect take home for a bunch of 14- and 15-year-olds.

For several months we picked up fabrics we liked as we saw them. The basic idea was to make a different one for each girl but all having turquoise and lime green in common.  Unfortunately, I neglected to take pictures of the finished bags.  The girls sure did ooh and aah when they were unveiled!!

 
I worked from memory of what it looked liked and logically how I thought it should go together.  There might be other better tutorials out there but this one works for me.

Supplies: 11" square of fabric; 11" square of coordinating lining; 11" square of thin batting; 9" coordinating zipper; 2 - 3"x2.5" pieces of accent fabric; 12" of 1" wide grosgrain ribbon; 2" of 1/4" grosgrain ribbon; small utility clip.  (Note: I went as small as a 9" square and 7" zipper depending on what I had.  This is a very forgiving design.)

Fold each small rectangle in half matching the 2.5" sides and sew.

Turn right side out leaving about 1/2" tucked inside.

Fit top end of zipper into the tube created from the accent rectangle with the folded
edge towards the zipper.

Center the seam in the back. Sew close to the edge.

Repeat at lower end of zipper pulling accent tube over the zipper stop so it does not show. Trim excess zipper from inside the accent pieces. (This is where you could use a shorter zipper and longer accent tabs or a longer zipper and no tabs.) Accent tabs will be slightly wider than zipper. No problem since it will get trimmed later. 

Place zipper face down on the 11" square of fabric centering it 

and lining up the edge of the zipper with the edge of the fabric. 

    Position lining over zipper. Pin in place.
You can see that I pieced my lining.  Fabric was perfect, but not the right shape.

 Using a zipper foot sew. Contrary to appearances I did not sew over the pin.

With right sides down and fabric and lining opened up, position batting on lining side.

 Fold front fabric over batting. Smooth for a good smooth fit and pin in place.

Machine quilt as desired. 

I marked a diagonal line from corner to corner with chalk then sewed on the line.

Using this handy dandy attachment I then sewed straight lines on both sides of my first line.  

To the left of the center line I used the attachment in the proper position.  

To the right of the line I attached it upside down and backwards (as shown).  

Square up the entire piece. 

This is where the forgiveness in measurements comes into play.  

I lost less than 1/4" on only 2 sides.

With right sides together match the zipper side to the opposing side.
Center and pin. Sew with a zipper foot. 

With it still inside out and with the zipper still to one side, line up the lower edges and pin.
Start sewing at the zipper end.  Oops! I pinned it backwards.

It will look like a normal rectangular bag at this point.
Reach in and pull down the zipper down at least half way (or you'll be stuck later -
wonder how I know that!!). 

The bag is still inside out. 

Now, at the top, center the zipper with the back. Pin.

Fold the 12" piece of ribbon in half wrong sides together. 

Insert ribbon into bag right in the center with raw edges sticking out between the zipper and the back. You might have to repin.

Fold the 2" ribbon the same way and position it right next to the wide ribbon.
It is harder to manipulate, so allow about 1/2" of the small ribbon to be "lost" in the seam allowance.
You only need enough left inside to attach the utility clip to and less is better so it isn't floppy.

Sew across the top making sure to catch all the ribbons and zipper accent tabs. 

Resew  for reinforcement.  Clip all corners.

 Reach in where you left it unzipped and pull out your super cute Humbug Bag.
Attach the utility clip.  This was something we added to the idea. 
Seemed to give it more character and make it more versatile.

Middle E's PVHS Shark Humbug Bag!!

For the party bags I made contrasting yo-yo and button flower decorations and attached 1, 2 or 3 (depending on the size and number of yo-yo layers) to the upper portion of the bags.  

Turned out super cute with those fun fabrics. Kicking myself for no photos.

Note to self:  Learn how to manipulate photos so they end up where and how I want them to.