The Wavey Top Tote Bag is a very nice-looking tote bag that comes in two sizes. As its name suggests it has a distinctive wavey top, as well as outside pockets including slant pockets, a zippered inside pocket, a zipper closure, and shoulder straps.
You can find the materials/cutting list here
You can find the pattern for the larger bag here
You can find the pattern for the smaller bag here
Wavy Top Tote (Large) Slanted Pockets here
When you print these make sure that 'None' is selected in the scaling section (or, as it says on my computer, 'Actual Size').
The small bag is 10 inches wide, 10 1/2 inches high, and 4 inches deep. The large bag is 12 inches wide, 12 1/2 inches high, and 4 inches deep. The measurements for the extras that need to be cut (straps, pockets, etc.) for BOTH sizes can be found here in the cutting list.
This bag is entirely doable - it looks like a lot, and zippers scare some people, but just take your time with it and all will be well. Pinky swear.
There are a few parts that are entirely optional. Don't want a zip pocket on the inside? Leave it out. Don't want a zipper closure? Don't do it. Or use a magnetic snap. Or a button and loop. I won't be showing you those methods, but if you'd like those then go for it. Purse feet are optional as well. I have never had a bag (store-bought or otherwise) where the purse feet were functional - but I really love the finishing touch they give to a bag. Plus they keep the gridded bag bottom nicely in place. Stick with what is at your comfort level. For the shoulder straps I've given a length of 32 - 36 inches. I'm using 32 inches for my bag, but if you like a longer strap you'll want to cut those longer. This part is entirely up to you and your bag-carrying preferences.
You may feel tempted to skip the interfacing and fleece, but I beg of you not to do this. These items are critical to a well-made, structured bag. I've learned this the hard way, trust me on this one. I prefer to use fusible interfacings as I am too lazy really dislike basting the pieces together and trying to keep everything straight. Fusibles make life so much easier, so I encourage you to get those if you can. I've been having a wicked time finding fusible fleece lately, so I'm glad I had a bit in my stash for this one.
Last thing: fabric choices. I love the look of quilting cottons and mixing up the patterns and colors:
But maybe you'd like one of these for when it gets cooler (or maybe it is cooler where you live - hello, Southern Hemisphere!). This looks good all done up in corduroy too:
It's a good idea to give any pattern a quick read-through before you get started. I've included a fair bit of pictures, and probably gotten overly thorough in my descriptions. I tried to write this up the way I like to follow tutorials, and to also make it easier for any newer sewists who are here. If any of this is old news, feel free to skim/skip ahead.
Prep
1. Cut out your fabric and interfacing as indicated on the pattern pieces and cutting sheet (links listed here).
2. Fuse the interfacing to the bag exterior, the contrast band, and the lining. DO NOT do anything with the pieces of fleece cut from the lining pattern yet, or the fleece and interfacing for the straps.
Making the Shoulder Straps
1. Take a shoulder strap piece and fold it in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. Press. Unfold, and then fold each raw edge towards the center crease and press. Fold each short edge in half an inch and press (this is to hide the raw edges on our finished strap).
2. Take your length of fusible fleece, and lay it down the center of the piece of fabric we just folded and pressed. Fold the short edge pieces neatly over the edges of the fleece and press again. Fold the long edges towards the center and press (to reinforce any folds that may have ironed out when you fused the fleece). Then fold in half again. All raw edges should be folded inside this strap now.
3. Top stitch around the entire strap. I like to go with a 1/8 inch seam allowance for this, but do what makes you feel comfortable.
4. Repeat all steps with the other strap. Set these aside for later.
Make Up the Loop Straps (these are the straps with the rings stitched onto the bag itself)
1. Similar to the above steps, fold these pieces in half lengthwise and press. Then unfold, and press the raw edges toward the center crease. There is no need to iron in the short ends on these pieces.
2. Lay your fusible interfacing down the center of this strip (as we did above) and press to fuse. Iron the edges towards the center again, and then fold in half and press. Do this with all four loop straps. (Steps 1 and 2 are almost identical to the shoulder straps, except one uses fleece and one uses interfacing). Do not topstitch.
3. Feed the end of one of the loop straps through one of your rings, and fold down about two inches. Stitch about 1/4 inch from the raw edge (this raw edge will be hidden when we sew it onto the bag). Do this with all 4 loop straps. Set aside.
Assemble the Exterior Bag Body
Take a few deep breaths. We're going to be pinning and stitching some curves.
1. Take an exterior bag piece and one of your contrast bands. Match the top of the bag piece to the bottom of the band, right sides together. If it helps you to keep them straight (that stinkin' curvy band still confuses me, and it's my pattern, lol) lay them down flat like you're assembling a jigsaw puzzle, right sides up. Then just flip the band down onto the top of the bag and pin (this is where the markings come in handy in keeping everything neat and tidy).
2. I like to use lots and lots of pins to keep everything neat. You'll notice that the band may be a touch longer than the top of the bag - this is on purpose. Some of the length gets eaten up in the curves - I think it's better to have a longer band that you can trim than to come up short.
3. Stitch with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. I do so with the band facing up as it helps me control the fabric better. Do your best to keep it nice and flat, but if you sew a few kinks into it you just unpick that part and restitch. Go slow and you shouldn't have any problem with those curves.
4. Press with the raw edges of the seam up towards the band. It looks like there is way too much fabric for it to lay flat but it does. Give it a very convincing press.
5. Topstitch on the band side of the curvy seam we just sewed. I usually go about 1/8 inch from the edge.
6. Repeat for the other exterior piece and band. If the the band is a little bit longer than the other part of the bag, simply trim it so that they're nice and even.
7. Take your fusible fleece pieces that we cut from the lining pattern and fuse them to the wrong sides of your outside bag pieces. Make sure you press nice and firm to get a good bond. Trim any excess fleece (I always seem to get some overhang).
Prepare the Outside Pocket
1. Take your piece of pocket trim/bias tape. Fold it in half lengthwise and press. Then unfold, press the raw edges towards the center crease, and then fold in half and press again (just like we did with the straps). We're basically making bias tape, but it's cut on the straight of grain.
2. Fuse a piece of fleece to the wrong side of one of your pocket pieces. Lay this on top of your other pocket piece, wrong sides facing.
3. Pin your bias tape you made in step one across the top, sandwiching the fabric and fleece between it. Stitch close to the edge, making sure to get both sides of the tape.
Attaching the Loop Straps and Sewing Down the Pocket
1. Lay down one of your outside pieces, right side up. Use a pin to mark the center. Fold your pocket piece in half (side to side) and use a pin at the center (for the larger bag this is the 3 1/2 inch mark, or thereabouts). Lay this down on your exterior piece with the pins matching - now your pocket should be perfectly centered :) Stick a few pins (more towards the center).
2. Following the strap markings on the pattern pieces, lay down your loop straps (those with the rings) on the sides of the pockets, covering up the raw edges. There is some wiggle room here if you want to make the strap placement wider - just make sure that the raw edges of the pocket are covered, and that the straps are each the same distance from the sides of the bag. Pin, pin, and pin.
3. Starting at the bottom of one of the strap, stitch up towards the ring, as close to the edge as you're comfortable doing (I usually stick with 1/8 inch), stopping about three quarters of an inch away from the ring. Pivot, and sew across the strap to the other side.
I like to sloooowwwwlly reverse over my stitches and come forward again for some extra reinforcement at this part. Then stitch down the other side of the strap, close to the edge. Repeat with the other loop strap on the other side of the pocket.
4. Lay your remaining two loop straps on the other exterior piece, matching the placement as best you can. Stitch up one side and down the other.
5. On the pocket only, stitch between the straps two inches from the bottom. This is entirely optional, but I like to do it to keep things in the pocket from going down too deep almost under the bag and resisting retrieval.
Our outside pieces are now ready to sew together.
Make Up the Bag Exterior
1. Place the right sides of your bag exterior together. Stitch across the bottom, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Press this seam open. Be very convincing with your iron and show it who's boss :)
2. Sew up the sides of your bag. Take care to match up the seams near the band. Press these seams open as best you can.
Now we're going to create a flat bottom for the bag by boxing the corners. This is what will give our bag some dimension.
4. Make sure the bag is inside out. Stick your hand in the bag and push the corner out and flatten to create a triangle. You can take a peek inside the bag to make sure the side seam and bottom seam are lined up one on top of the other (this takes a little wiggling).
5. Grab a ruler and measure a line four inches across. You want the 2 inch mark to be directly on the seam line - this may take some maneuvering, but it makes for a nice even bottom. I usually have to play around with it a minute or two to make sure everything is lined up. Once it's all set, put in a few pins to keep it from wiggling out of place. Sew along this line.
6. Repeat with the other corner. Trim off the edge of the triangle about a quarter inch from your seam line. Try and give it a press, but it is a bit tricky to do. Turn your bag right side out, and you'll see that you now have nice boxy corners - give the corners a poke with something like a chopstick to neaten them up.
Adding the Purse Feet and Gridded Bottom
This part is entirely optional, but it gives a very nice finished look and feel to the bottom of the bag, and the gridded bottom prevents a bit of sag.
1. Measure the bottom of your bag's length and width (due to differences in sewing machines and cutting/trimming, it's best to measure for an accurate fit). Cut your gridded bottom to match this measurement, making sure the edge is smooth. You may need to trim this a little more for a perfect fit.
2. On the outside bottom of your bag, make 4 marks, each the same distance from the edge for the purse feet. I used the box created from the bottom seam, the straps, and the outside edges as my guide, and put my mark right in the center (scroll down and see the second picture under the next step). Using a seam ripper, CAREFULLY make a tiny hole where your marks are, making sure to go through all the layers.
3. Poke the prongs on your purse feet through those holes, and also through the gridded bag bottom. Open the prongs so they're nice and secure. I'll be honest - I hate doing this part of the bag. It's such an odd angle and not much room to maneuver, but it gives such a nice finished look to the bag that I refuse to skip it.
The outside of your bag is now finished. That was a fair bit of work, but it wasn't too bad, right? Right?
we're going to do zippers. Ugh, I know. But they're not that bad. I don't even use a zipper foot to put them in. But if you want to leave them out, then by all means do. They're not a critical part of the bag - you could just as easily put a simple slip-in pocket on the inside instead of a zipper pocket, and you could use a magnetic snap for the closure. It's your bag - go for it! But I promise - these zippers aren't hard at all and I do encourage you to try them. Enough blahblahblah; let's get sewing.
Inserting a Zipper Pocket
** If, way back at the beginning, you didn't fuse your interfacing to the lining pieces, do that now. I did not interface my lining (except across the top where the zipper will get stitched), but I wish I had. It's a do as I say, not as I do sort of thing.You're also going to need something to mark your fabric with and a ruler.
1. Center your pocket piece on the lining piece, right sides together (I'm using a solid so I have no wrong side in the photos). Place the top edge of the pocket piece about two inches down from the top center of the lining. Make sure it's centered and straight (mine is folded up in the photo as I was measuring from the bottom to make sure it was straight). Pop in a few pins to keep it from shifting.
2. Draw a line across the top of the pocket one inch from top edge, and starting/ending one inch from each side edge. Draw a parallel line 1/2 inch down from this first line. Draw some edges so you have a long skinny rectangle. Draw one more line cutting this rectangle in half longways.
Draw the little lines you see in the picture from each corner towards the middle line (they make the little triangles you see) - I make mine about 3/4 inch long. You don't need to be ultra-precise, but do your best to make them pretty even.
3. Stitch around the outside of the large rectangle.
4. Now we're going to cut a slit along that center line through both the pocket and the lining. I use a seam ripper to get started and then switch to nice sharp scissors. Cut from one triangle point to the other, and then clip your angled lines toward the corners, taking care not to cut the seam you sewed in step 3.
5. Pull the pocket piece (all of it) through the slit you just made. It will now be on the wrong side of the lining, and look quite messy. This is where you press it into submission so that you get some nice neat corners and a delightful rectangular slit. I always get a few little wrinkles on the back, but I don't get concerned with those--they get hidden in a bit.
6. OK, get your zipper - don't get nervous now, you already did the hard part :) Lay it down right side up and center the slit over it. If your zipper is going to need trimming later you need to make sure your pull is in the slit so you don't sew off access to it (not that I've ever done that). Put a few pins in to hold it in place - you want it to be centered between the top and bottom so that you're sure to grab the entire zipper tape.
7. Now stitch about 1/8 an inch from the edge. I don't use my zipper foot - I just put the zipper towards the left of my foot and sew, using the coils of the zipper itself as a seam guide. Pivot at the corners and keep going all the way around. You may need to move your zipper pull out of the way at some point.
I only pin the top edge to get started - when I turn to come back along the bottom I keep everything positioned with my fingers because that works better than pins (for me) for this part at keeping things straight. Do what feels comfortable for you. If you like a zipper foot use it. If you like lots of pins, pin away.
Check the back to make sure you caught all of the zipper tape. If you missed anything restitch. This is on the inside and nobody sees it but you, so absolute neatness isn't critical - if you haven't made zip pockets before they get easier with practice - I promise. It took me a few tries to get them down just right so don't be discouraged if it's not as perfect as you like at first.
8. Fold the bottom edge of the pocket up to meet the top edge. Pin and stitch. Make sure you have the other parts tucked out of the way of the needle. Then pin and stitch the sides. Be careful of any metal zipper bits that might break a needle. Give it a final press (and then peek inside at your lovely new zipper pocket).
Make the Zipper Casing and End Tabs
1. Take one of your zipper casing pieces. Fold and press in the short edges about 1/2 inch. Then fold the piece in half lengthwise. Unfold, and press the raw edges towards the center crease. Then fold in half again and press really well. Repeat for the other zipper casing piece - get them as close to even as you can or they'll look mismatched. You should be pretty good at this by now :)
2. Get your zipper for the main closure (I always use extra long because I'm weird like that). Lay the casing down on one side of the zipper, sandwiching the zipper tape. Don't get too close to the coils or your zipper might end up getting caught. Stitch, about 1/8 inch from the edge (again - no special foot needed). Repeat for the other casing piece.
3. Take your small zipper tab pieces. Fold in the short edges about 1/4 inch and press.
Then fold in half, right sides and short (folded) edges together. Stitch on each side with a 3/8 inch seam allowance. Turn inside out, poke out the corners so they're nice and crisp, and press.
4. Take your zipper (with it's lovely casings stitched on), and mark a line about 2 1/2 inches from the edge of the casing - trim on this line. Do this on both sides. When you are working on the side where the zipper pull is, make sure it's pulled back far enough that you don't cut it off. If your zipper isn't crazy long and you don't need to trim, that's fine too - just be aware of where the pesky metal bits are).
5. Slip the ends of your zipper tape into the zipper tabs. Center, pin, and stitch across the end of the tab. You end up with this:
You can't see my zipper pull in this photo but I assure you I didn't cut it off (not this time, anyway, lol).
Inserting the Zipper Closure
1. Take one of your lining pieces and lay it down right side up. Lay your zipper (with its casing and tabs) right side up, one inch from the top center of the lining. Make sure it's centered and straight, and pin it in place. Then stitch, close to the edge - make sure you backstitch or it won't last too long :)
2. Position the other side of the zipper on your other lining piece - take care to match it up as best you can. This part is a little fiddly, but use as many pins as you need to. When you're finished you'll have two lining pieces connected by your zipper.
Sewing the Lining Together
1. Place your lining pieces right sides together. Sew across the bottom (1/4 inch seam allowance), leaving an 8 inch gap in the middle (this is for turning the bag later). Press.
2. Pin and stitch the sides of the lining (1/4 inch allowance). Tuck the zipper out of the way because it might want to involve itself in your sewing and we just can't have that. Press as best as you can.
3. Box the corners of the bag just as you did for the exterior.
Putting it All Together
1. Turn the exterior part of the bag right side out, and the lining inside out. Open the zipper all the way. Place the exterior part of the bag inside the lining (right sides should be facing).
2. Line up the top edges (the wavy parts and the side seams) and pin generously. You may need to tuck the zipper tabs down out of the way a bit.
3. Stitch all the way around, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Take your time around those curves!
4. Reach in through the gap we left in the lining, and pull everything right side out. Be gentle with it.
5. Push the lining down into the bag. Press the top edge nice and neat. I use pins here to keep everything just so. Topstitch 1/4 inch from the top edge, all the way around. The side seams are a little bulky and may try to sass you, but take your time and shove it through if you have to :)
6. Sew the gap in the lining closed (I use my machine but you can do this by hand to make it less noticeable). Then tuck everything down in the bag nice and neat.
Sew on the Shoulder Straps
1. Take one of your shoulder straps and feed it through your ring (just like we did for the loop straps that we sewed to the bag). Fold it down about 2 inches and pin. Note in the picture the direction it's folded.
2. Use the three lines of topstitching on the folded over part of the strap as a guide to sew the strap to itself. Sew towards the ring until you're about 3/4 inch away, then pivot and come across the strap, creating a box with your stitching for strength.
3. Press, press, and press. The whole thing. This makes a huge difference.
Put it over your shoulder and strut around. Get the neighbors and show them your new bag. Scream out the kitchen window "I made a wavy top bag!!" Or maybe have some tea and feel content with yourself, because we're done :)
We've made ourselves an inside zipper pocket...
...and created a suspension bridge zipper closure with pull tabs...
...inserted some purse feet and a nifty gridded bottom...
...and sewed ourselves one delightfully curvy bag :)
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