Lined cane handle bag tutorial

This bag is very quick to make; the first part (cutting and sewing) should take less than an hour,

the only real ‘work’ is the hand-stitching at the end.

I used upholstery fabric for the outside because it’s nice and strong. Don’t choose anything too

light in colour, because you can’t just throw this bag in the washing machine :) For this bag I used

‘D’ shaped handles, but I’ve also made it with round cane handles, both work great.

You will need:

Two handles

Two pieces of outer fabric and two for the

lining, each 50cm square.

If you want to add a little pouch in the lin-

ing, use a small piece of lining off-cut

(24x15cm) and some iron-on interfacing of

the same size.

To make the pouch, iron the interfacing to the wrong side of the small piece of lining fabric. Fold

the fabric over (right sides together) to make a small rectangle. Sew around the edges, leaving a

small opening.

Cut the corners and turn it over. Iron flat and top stitch around one long side (closing the open-

ing in the process). Position the pocket on one piece of lining fabric, about 13cm from the top.

Sew around three sides, leaving the top-stitched side open. That’s your phone/keys pouch.

Now place one lining piece against one outer piece, right sides together. Let’s call the 4 sides

top, bottom, left and right. Sew 20cm of the left, the complete top and 20cm of the right side

together. Do the same for the other side.

This part could be confusing, so have a

good look at the picture before you start

sewing. Fold the lining away from the

outer fabric. Position the two panels so

that the fabric is against fabric (right sides

together) and lining against lining.

If you get confused, just try to work out

where the lining is; that’s the bottom of

the bag. If you position the lining cor-

rectly and you fold the top flap ( the

stitched part) over, you will see the outer

bag on the other side.

Once you’ve got your lining and outer fabric correctly positioned, you’re ready to create the bot-

tom curve. Take a dinner plate and draw the curve onto the bottom corners of the fabric and

lining using a disappearing fabric pen (or a Crayola Twistable!). Stitch and trim excess fabric, clip

curves.

Remember to leave a turning opening

in the bottom of the lining!

Turn over the bag and iron the seams.

Sew together the opening in the lining.

Your bag will now look like this:

Draw a line with a disappearing fabric pen 8cm from the top of the lining. Fold the edge around

the handle and hand-stitch the edge to the inside of the bag, following the drawn line as a guide.

Keep stitching until the end, gathering the fabric as you go.

That’s the bag! Hope the instructions weren’t too confusing ;) Feel free to leave a comment to let

me know how it went.