Tutorial for My Project Bags--Part Two

Now, to put this bag together! 

After completing all the steps in part one we can move on to what I'm doing here in this picture.

I have placed the lining inside the outside piece and lined up the side seams.

I have folded back and pressed a hem of about 1/2"- 3/4"

on the outside piece and the lining so that the hems face each other.

You'll notice that the lining is a little longer than the outside piece

 (it was cut a little longer for this purpose).

I have done this because I like the lining peeking out along the edge.

If you don't like this you can just fold the lining hem down a little more so the edges line up. 

This shows a very close stitch line, topstitching the two top hems together. 

I did two lines of topstitching along the top.

You can see that the lining is peeking out over the edge of the outer piece. 

Now on to the drawstring casing,

At the ends of the casing I pressed back 1/2"

and then press the two long sides to meet in the middle of the wrong side. 

Then I pressed back the casing ends another 1/2" and stitched it flat.

This provides a good, strong opening for the drawstring. 

I pinned the drawstring casing to the project bag with the ends meeting very closely at one side seam.

Here is the drawstring casing at the side seam after I topstitched it down.

I went back and forth over the open ends of the casing to tack it down well. 

The drawstring is made by folding the drawstring fabric in half,right sides together,

stitching down the length, turning and pressing.

Then the drawstring is threaded through the casing with a safety pin

(to aid the threading process) and.......

Voila!!

You have yourself a project bag. :-)

Please let me know if any of my instructions are confusing.

Also, I would love to see your finished project bags.