Jelly Roll Party Bags - with a tutorial!

I love jelly rolls - those brightly coloured strips of fabric kindly put together by quilting fabric lines to give you a taste of each fabric in a particular collection. I bought a jelly roll from Moda Fabrics recently when I was putting together this quilt for Grumbles (and yikes, I still haven't finished that. Bad me!) and then was left with a whole bunch of strips which didn't fit in with my quilt plan.

Then yesterday when I began to draft a pattern for Grumble's party bags, I struck inspiration - why not make calico and jelly roll strip bags? Brilliant, eh? After all, I do have a roll of calico sitting in the cupboard, and heavens knows I have enough scraps to sink? build? decorate? a ship. After patting myself on the back for my amazing stash busting (yes, yes, so it's one strip at a time, but who's counting?) I got to work and made these bags for all of Grumble's friends to take home. I quite like the thought of a more permanent keepsake, and am holding tight to the hope that her friends will love these bags, and merrily fill them with all their treasures. Please humour me on that one.

So I hereby present the Jorth Jelly Roll Party Bag Tutorial.

Step one:
For each bag cut out 2 pieces of calico measuring 22cm/8.75inches by 25cm/10inches.
Cut two pieces of jelly roll strip into 22cm/8.75 inches by 6.5cm/2.5 inches. These will be placed onto the bottom of each calico piece.

Step two:
Sew your jelly roll strip onto the bottom of the calico pieces. Press the seam down towards the jelly roll strip, then topstitch along the seam line. These make the front and back bag pieces. If you like, finish all your edges now.



Step three:
With right sides together, sew the front and back bag side seams together. Sew the bottom edge of the bag (the strip part) together.

Step four:
Press down and then sew a 1cm/0.5inch hem at the top of the bag.

Step five:
Cut a 35cm/14 inch piece of ribbon, and attach the centre of the ribbon to the centre back of the bag, about 2.5cm/1 inch below the hem. Your bag is now complete - fill with party favours and then tie the bag closed with a lovely bright bow!