Hyaaah! Ninja Bunny Bag time!

I spent a bit of time thinking. It's going to take both sewing classes to finish the bunny bags. That's cool, tho. We have the time, so let's do it!

What do you need?

1.) 16 inches of plain cotton fabric that is at least 24" wide. Any color you like. If you MUST have a print, try one that won't overtake the project or look sideways when it gets cut.  Feel free to look in remnants bins in the store.

*** It's better to have too much than not enough. I have bought fabric where the cut is not straight and it throws my whole measurement out of whack. This is why 16 inches rather than 13 for the project. If your fabric is 36 inches wide, you can get away with a 12 inch length of fabric as we'll harvest the strap piece from the width.

2.) Pins! I prefer the quilting pins because they're longer and have that little bubble on the top. The fabric does not care. Whatever straight pins you have will be fine.

3.) Chalk or a washable marker. If you are using dark fabric, chalk is the only way to go.

4.) Iron


What to cut?

*** Before you cut the fabric wash it and iron it flat. There is sizing in the fabric (it's a starch) and there could be shrinkage. 

We will be needing the fabric cut into 2 bits. The bag - which will be cut to 10 inches x 24 inches. And a strap which will be 3 inches x 10 inches.

Lay the fabric out flat and check to see if you have a good straight cut on the top or the bottom of the fabric. The sides have machined areas called selvages, sometimes they have information from the mill that makes the fabric printed into the fabric. The sides are almost always straight. The top and bottom is where the errors can occur.

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Measure out your area and use chalk to make marks to cut along. I use a long wooden stick to make sure my edge is straight when I am chalking my lines. Remember the adage - measure twice, cut once. 

It's cut, now what?

Lay your fabric FACE DOWN. You want the wrong side up.Get out your iron. Fold the fabric in 1/4 inch along the longest sides of your pieces. Iron the fold flat. Fold it again, iron it again. You will be doing this on both long sides of both of the pieces. If you are not comfortable using an iron, call for Mom or Dad. If you think they'd want to supervise - call for Mom or Dad.

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*** The folding your fabric edges over twice is how we keep the raw edge of fabric from shredding once it's sewn. Ironing just makes the fabric behave until you can get it pinned.

Pin along the edges across the fold, not down it. I showed you my "rule of thumb" in class for how to gauge pin spacing.  The pins are supposed to hold your fold in place until we sew that sucker down.

Now we look at the top and bottom of the two pattern pieces. Fold those in 1/4 inch, iron them and pin them. These only need to be folded and ironed once before pinning.

If you have ANY questions or worries, call me. My phone number will be posted on the FB page. I am available 24 hours a day. (Seriously, I don't sleep like a normal person)

****Thrifty notes
I'm poor so I'm always looking for ways to pinch a penny till the indian screams. Joanns Fabrics usually has some kind of coupon online that can be used to shave some money off the fabric purchase. It's better to buy in store than online as they have a 2 yard minimum for online purchases. Keep an eye out on the remnants bin at Walmart. Sometimes you can get lucky. Right now there are scads of Halloween fabric sales, so cotton fabric will not be very expensive. Luna LOVES black & goth fabrics, so this is my best time for fabric shopping for her. :)

See you Friday!