Sewing Project - Garment Bag 

Sewing Friends:

This is a fun, easy sewing project that can really dress up your closet and make it look neat, organized and attractive. 

Do you have an old plastic or fabric garment bag that is ripped and ready for the trash pile?  Well, don’t throw it away just yet!  If the metal frame is still good, you can recycle it and use up some of your stash at the same time to create a designer garment bag.

Here are the sewing instructions.

 

Remove the fabric or plastic covering from the garment bag metal frame 

Save the metal frame, hooks and cardboard that squares off the inside of the bag at the bottom.

Create The Garment Bag Pattern 

Working from the outside of the bag, cut the old garment bag plastic or fabric apart at all horizontal and vertical seams

As you cut the pieces apart, mark and label them so you know what they are and how they go back together.

Note on each section that you must add a 1/2 inch seam allowance to each side of each piece so you won’t forget to do that when you actually cut out the new bag.

Carefully remove the zipper.  If it stills works OK, you can reuse it in the new garment bag.  If not, note the size, so you can purchase a new zipper. 

Determine How Much Fabric You Need

Measure all your pieces and draw them out on a sheet of paper to help you determine how much fabric you need. 

Select The Fabric 

Choose your fabric for the garment bag.  You can mix and match fabrics that you have in your stash. . . stripes, plaids and florals, etc.  You may want to coordinate these fabrics with your bedroom decor for a real designer look.  You might even want to use some home dec fabrics.

Woven fabric is best, but if you decide to use a knit, be sure that it has no vertical stretch or you will have a saggy bag.

Be sure to preshrink all your fabrics if you plan to launder your bag in the future.

Cut The Fabric

Cut out the bag pieces adding a 1/2 inch seam allowance all around the edges.

Mark The Top Piece

Make sure you mark where the holes or openings for the hooks go on the top piece.

Press The Center Front Opening

Press under 1/2 inch on both pieces of the center front for the zipper.

How To Construct The Bag

Pin and insert the zipper between the two front pieces of fabric.

Sewing Tip: You may want to apply a fusible tape to the right side of the zipper tape and fuse the zipper in place down the center front leaving the zipper teeth exposed.

Stitch close to the pressed folds to permanently secure the zipper to the garment bag.

Another Option:  If you don’t want to insert a zipper in the bag, you can use ties to close the bag or add extra fabric at the center front to create an overlap and apply snaps or Velcro as your closing.  You are the designer!

Join the Vertical Seams 

With right sides together, stitch 1/2 inch seams joining all the vertical sections into a circle.

Add The Bottom Section 

Now, with right sides pinned together, stitch the bottom in the bag with the zipper opened.

Clip into the straight fabric bag to pivot around the corners of the bottom of the bag.

Make The Top Holes For The Hooks

You may want to interface the area where the top holes will go for the hooks to reinforce the fabric.  Fusible interfacing will work fine for this.

Either insert metal eyelets or make small buttonholes for the hooks to go through.

Sew the Top Section To The Bag

Stitch the top section to the rest of the bag just as you stitched the bottom.

Make a Fancy Covered Bottom 

Use some glue or spray adhesive on the cardboard bottom and cover it with matching or coordinating fabric for a nice touch. 

Put The Bag On The Frame

Place the metal frame inside the top of the bag and insert the hooks through the eyelet or buttonhole openings.

Put the covered cardboard in the bottom of the bag.

Your sewing project is finished!

Aren’t you proud?  You have a better than new designer garment bag that you made yourself!

To Your Sewing Success,

Marian

Sewing Project - Garment Bag

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This entry was posted on Saturday, February 10th, 2007 at 9:28 pm and is filed under Sewing Projects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.