Zippy E-reader Bag

Welcome back to Day 5 of our Marblehead Week of tutorials and giveaways! We hope you'll try out the tutorial below! With all this Marblehead inspiration, have you considered entering the Marblehead Challenge? You can find the details here--enter a quilt or small sewing project for a chance to win $2500 in prizes.

Today's tutorial: Zippy E-reader Bag

All you need is a few Marblehead fat quarters, batting and a zipper! Stitch this quick padded bag and use it for an e-reader or handy carrying pouch for anything you like! Note: Finished bag measures approximately 6-1/2" x 9-1/2".

You'll Need:

• 5-6 Marblehead fat quarters (We chose blues and aquas, with a contrasting orange for the lining)
• 12" long zipper and zipper foot for sewing machine
• 8" x 11" piece of muslin
• 7" x 20" piece of batting
• Fabric marking pen

Choose a fabrics for backing, lining and the pocket. From the backing fabric, cut a 7" x 10" piece. From the pocket fabric, cut a 10" x 12" piece. From the lining fabric, cut two 7" x 10" pieces. From the remaining pieces of these fat quarters and the other full fat quarters, cut strips ranging in width from 1-1/2" to 3". 

Using the 45 degree line on a ruler, mark a diagonal line across the piece of muslin.

Choose your first two strips and layer them right sides together with raw edges lined up on the drawn line of the muslin. Make sure strip ends extend past the edges of the muslin. Stitch using a 1/4" seam allowance.

Press open. Trim excess strips past muslin edge (You will square this up at the end, but it can be easier to roughly trim them as you go--your choice).

Choose two more strips and add in the same manner.

Continue adding strips until the muslin is completely covered.

The back will look like this. With the back facing up, trim to measure 7" x 10".

Trimmed front:

To make the back side of the bag, fold the 10" x 12" pocket piece in half, wrong sides together, so it measures 10" x 6". Topstitch 1/4" from the fold line. Position on the right side of the backing piece, matching raw edges, and baste in place.

 Place a 7" x 10" batting piece down and position the pieced front on top. Lay the zipper face down on top and pin in place. Add a 7" x 10" lining piece face down and pin in place. Using the zipper foot, sew along the edge to secure the zipper, bag front with batting, and lining in place.

Fold back so zipper is exposed and lining, batting and bag top make a sandwich. Press away from the zipper. If desired, topstitch along the edge of ONLY the batting and bag top (fold the lining fabric out of the way). 

Repeat on the opposite side of the zipper using the bag back and remaining batting and lining pieces. 

With the zipper halfway open, arrange bag so the outer bag pieces and batting are on one side of the zipper and the lining pieces on the opposite side. Pin to secure layers.

Stitch around the outside, leaving a 4" opening in the bottom edge of the lining. Curve corners slightly if desired. Clip corner and turn bag right side out. Poke corners out as needed. Stitch opening in the lining closed before stuffing into the bag. 

And you're done! 

Today we're giving away a fat quarter bundle of Marblehead prints! To enter to win, simply sign up to follow our blog using Bloglovin' or "follow by email" (both on the righthand sidebar) and then leave a comment below telling us what you would make with a bundle of Marblehead fabrics. The giveaway will be open through Wednesday, August 14th at 11:59 EST.

What are you going to enter in our Marblehead Challenge? Click here to find out the details to enter our Marblehead Challenge. Make a project using Marblehead and enter it to win a great prize package, including 20 yards of fabric!

Check out our other Marblehead Week tutorials!

Day 1: Wonky Log Cabin Mug Rug

Day 2: Disappearing Ninepatch Table Runner

Day 3: Quilt-As-You-Go Hot Pad

Day 4: Chevron Mini Quilt