Peg Bag sewing project for a sunny weather washing day!!!

Posted on 07/06/2018

This peg bag is the perfect accessory for your washing line this summer, keeping all those pegs easily accessible in one place along with the added bonus of looking great too.

In this Blog:

Inspiration
Make a peg bag – this peg bag has an ellipse opening
Download the pattern and tutorials
Instructions
Fabrics

Sew your own – using fabric scraps or leftover pieces from other projects. Ideal to make and put away for Christmas gifts.

This easy peg bag is the kind of project that can slip in between larger sewing projects. It is a good way to use up fabric scraps and makes a lovely house gift. Sewing a few of these at once and putting them away until Christmas is also good as they make great stocking fillers for those who do lots of washing.

Elipse peg bag tutorial and pattern – click to download

It will download as a .pdf document to your download folder, to open it you need to have adobe reader installed, if you do not have it installed you may download it free of charge from https://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/

Open your document, go to file print and a dialogue box comes up.

Materials needed:

Poly/Cotton or Cotton Canvas fabrics, Contrast for the lining.
Main fabric needed 2 x 42cm long by 32cm wide pieces of fabric, Contrast fabric needed 2 x 42cm long by 32cm wide pieces of fabric.
Child’s coat hanger or one which can be cut smaller, the plastic store coat hangers can be cut smaller to fit into the bag, the widest part +- 24cm.
1 Button
Extra fabric for a decorative strip on the front or if you prefer buttons or ribbons all for decoration.
Sewing Machine and sewing thread. Matching thread and contrasting thread if you are using different coloured fabrics.
The paper template that you have downloaded and printed.
Scissors and pins

Preparing the pattern:

Print it out, cut the bottom part of the pattern ( Part B) out and lay it on to the top part ( Part A) matching the dotted line. Tape the two parts together and cut the top out leaving you a nice cut out pattern.

Should I cut the hole out of the pattern?

I find it is easier to cut all the pieces out and then cut the red dotted line out, re-laying it on the front pieces of fabric and cutting the hole. It is entirely up to what you prefer.

Step by step instructions:

Step 1: Position the pattern on a fold of your main fabric, pin and cut it out, without the hole.

Step 2: Repeat step 1 with the lining/contrast fabric, cut one full piece out on a fold.

You should now have the back pieces of your peg bag cut out.

Step 3: Cut the hole for the bag out of the paper pattern by cutting along the red dotted line. Lay the pattern piece on a fold using your main fabric, pin and cut it out. Repeat using the lining/contrast fabric.

You should now have one back and front of the main fabric, one back and front of lining/contrast fabric.

Step 4: Optional step: I like to put a strip of contrast colour on the front of the bag, so cut a strip of scrap fabric which is as wide as your bag front and as wide as you would like it to be plus 2cm for turning the edges under. Iron the strip raw edges to fold inwards. Looks a bit like open bias binding.

Step 5/6: Place the strip you have just ironed onto the front of the bag, pin and sew it along the edges of each side to secure it in place. Trim any bits hanging over the edges.

The top raw edges need to be neatened.

Step 7: Zig Zag or overlock the top raw edges around where the coat hanger neck is going to go.

Step 8: Fold these rounded edges over and sew a straight line of stitching to secure it. This stops the edges from unravelling when the coat hanger rubs or moves.

Step 9: Lay the lining/contrast front face down on to the main fabric front. Pin around the hole opening.

Step 10: Sew around the hole opening about 1cm(10mm) from the edge. cut a ‘V’ shape into the edge fabric to give it ease to move. Push the lining contrast fabric through the hole so you see the main fabric on top and the lining/contrast fabric at the back of it. Iron neatly and top-stitch ( sew a straight stitch, length 3 ) around the hole to neaten it and keep the fabric secure.

Sewing the lining/contrast bag.

Step 11: Putting the lining/contrast back piece, right side to right side and pin around the lining/contrast fabric only.

Step 12: Use a straight stitch to sew around the pieces, leaving an opening in the seam at the bottom that is big enough for you to pop your hand through.

Step 13: Place the main fabric pieces together right side to right side, pin the lining/contrast fabric into a folded shape to keep it away from the edges as you are now going to pin and sew around the main fabric pieces edges. Do not leave an opening.

You should now have the main fabrics forming a bag joined around the hole with the lining/contrast fabric bag.

Step 14: Find the opening in the lining/contrast fabric and put your hand in to pull the fabric through.

Step 15: Pull the fabrics through and they will be right side around. Slip stitch the bottom seam opening in the lining/contrast fabric closed. Push the lining through the hole and using your hand push out to the corners.

Step 16: The lining should now be inside and the main fabric on the outside. Iron the bag nice and flat.

Step 17: You should have a coat hanger that will fit into your bag ready, it should be about 24cm from end to end, Coat hangers that are bulky around the hook base don’t work as well as ‘skinny’ hangers. Slip stitch the two layers at the neck of the bag to make it neat, slip the hanger into the bag and feed the hook through the neck of the bag.

Step 18: Secure a button on the top edge to keep the coat hanger in place. It helps when the wind blows and the bag is hanging on the washing line, it won’t fall out and drop all pegs and bag to the ground.