simple lining tutorial

You must line your bags...

Seriously.

Even if it is only a very simple lining (like mine) You have put all that wonderful creative energy into crafting the outside of the bag... it really would be a shame not to finish the job. The bag will look better... feel better... and be so much more practical... if it has been lined.

Click here to see the pattern for the easy peasy crochet bag.

Here's the thing. I am NOT particularly skilled at sewing. In fact, that's quite the understatement! Sewing is just not one of those tasks I have enjoyed enough to learn how to do properly. I'm always so impatient with it.

So if I can line my bags... so can you!

I choose to make the lining by machine, and then attach it to the bag by hand. I you don't have access to a machine you could work the entire lining by hand. There's not much sewing required.

I will step you through my easy peasy process. I'm sure there are fancier techniques around, but I NEED SIMPLE for this. Here we go...

Fold your lining fabric in half, and lie the bag on top. The bottom of the bag should lie along the fold of the fabric.



Trim the fabric to size... allowing approximately 1cm excess on each side, and a couple of cms excess across the top of the bag.

(If you want to get all 'fancy pants' and add a pocket... which I am NOT doing here... now is the time!)



Mark two straight lines on the fabric, indicating the widest point of the bag.



Then seam along these lines. You now have a 2D bag. The next step is to give it some depth.



Turn the lining upside down, and stand it up (like a hat) See those points which stick out at the top?



Fold them in towards the centre. They should look like two small triangles pointing to one another. Can you see that we are creating a 'rectangular' shaped base?



Aim to make this 'rectangle' the same dimension as the base of your bag. Place the lining inside the bag to check the fit.



Once you are happy with the fit, remove the lining and iron a fold along the four sides of the base... and a fold running from each corner of the base upwards. Sounds complicated, but it's not. You are just ironing the lining into a 3D shape.



Try the lining inside the bag again. This time you need to fold down the top edge, so that it sits just inside the top of the crochet bag.



Remove lining and press this folded edge.

Is is starting to look like a lining yet??? It should be!



Go back to those triangles we folded at the base and remove the pins. We are going to sew along the fold (as indicated in the photo by the crochet hook)



like so...



Place lining back inside the bag for the final time and pin into place. I find it easiest to pin the corners into place first, and then the sides.



Hand stitch the lining into place... using an overstitch.



I've worked a few stitches here in a darker colour, to make it easier for you to see what I have done... Ideally you would use a matching colour to your bag.



Once you have worked all the way around... you are finished!



Don't worry if it looks a little higgildy piggildy like mine does! It will settle with use.