Minnie Mouse Inspired Bag

A couple of weeks ago I made Mickey and Minnie Inspired Pillows for the Disney Inspired week of So You Think You're Crafty. I had a little bit of fabric left over from the pillows and the same weekend that I had to turn in my project we also had a birthday party for one of my nieces who was turning 3. Turns out she loves Minnie Mouse so I thought I would make a little gift for her using the leftover fabric. This Minnie Mouse inspired bag is the gift that I came up with for her. 

The bag is about 9" tall, 8"across and 1 1/2" deep on the sides. The size was determined mainly by the amount of fabric I had leftover from the pillows. The bag itself is all made from a heavier weight black fabric, like home dec type fabric. I bought the fabric at Walmart, it is the closest place to buy fabric especially when I go late at night after the kids are in bed. I intended to buy some solid black cotton, just a regular quilting weight fabric, but they didn't have any. I asked the lady at the cutting table and they said they had ordered black and it all came in white. That didn't really do me any good so I searched for the most solid black I could find. It happened to be this fabric with kind of a woven pattern on it and a slightly heavier weight than I originally intended but it ended up working out well because it made for sturdier pillows and bag. If you use lighter weight fabric or even if you just want a stiffer bag you may want to use interfacing. I left that out of this particular bag.

The red and white polka dot skirt is sewn on the outside of the bag before the outside and lining are sewn together. It is trimmed in some white eyelet lace.  There is one little yellow pocket inside of the bag.

 I added a snap at the top to keep it closed. When my husband's grandma passed away I inherited a lot of her sewing stuff and one of the things that I got was a box full of snaps and one of those snap and eyelet plier things. A lot of the snaps were decorative ones, like the pearl ones you see on western shirts. There happened to be several red ones and, honestly, I didn't know what I would ever use them for but it worked perfectly for this little bag. The red matched the Minnie theme and I figured to a little girl it would be like having a shiny gem snap. I tacked a puffy red bow on the front of the bag right over the top of the non-decorative side of the snap.

It was a pretty quick project, I actually made it the afternoon of the party because I had been busy with other projects the whole week. I needed something I could make quickly and this worked. So, if you are looking for a quick gift to sew for a little girl who likes Minnie, look no further, you can make this little bag.

How to Make a Minnie Mouse Inspired Bag

Finished size approximately 9" x 8" x 1 1/2"

You will need:

• 1/2 yard of home dec weight black fabric
• 1/4 yard red and white polka dot fabric
• scrap of yellow fabric (or whatever color you want for the inside pocket)  at least 5 1/2" x 7 1/2"
• 1 yard 1" white eyelet lace
• 1 decorative snap
• snap pliers
• rotary cutter, mat, ruler, scissors
• coordinating thread
• sewing machine
• sewing needle
• stuffing

Instructions:

Cut

From black:

• 4- 10"x10"  squares
• 2- 2 1/2" x 18" strips

From red and white polka dot:

• 2- 5" x 16" strips 
• 2- 3" x 5" rectangles
• 2- 2" x 5" rectangles

From yellow:

• 1- 5 1/2" x 7 1/2" rectangle

Sew

First, fold the yellow rectangle in half so that it is 5 1/2" x 3 3/4", sew around the three raw edges leaving an opening in one side for turning. Turn right side out and press, this will be your pocket.

Sew the pocket to one of the black squares, centered about 2"-2 1/2" from the top, sew around three sides close to the edge closing the opening as you sew. This will be one of your lining pieces.

Sew two of the black squares together, right sides together and sew around three sides to make the outside of the bag, do the same to the other two black squares, including the one with the pocket, for the lining, but leave and opening in the bottom for turning the bag later.

Box the corners of both the outside and lining by folding the corners so that the bottom and side seams match up and the corner comes to a point, measure where the corner is 1 1/2" across and draw a line, sew across that line and trim excess. Repeat on all four bottom corners of the bag, two on the outside, two on the lining.

Prepare the skirt by sewing the lace on the bottom of the red strips, then sew the short ends together to make a circle. Sew along the top using a long stitch for gathering, pin the skirt upside down and right sides together (so the lace side is at the top of the bag, you will flip it down once you have sewn it) about 5 inches from the bottom of the bag so that the side seams of the bag and skirt match up. Pull the threads to gather the skirt pinning as you go. Sew around the skirt attaching it to the outside of the bag. Remove pins and extra threads, then flip the skirt down, I topstitched around the top of the skirt so that it would stay down, it is a little awkward because you are topstitching over the gathers but I didn't want the skirt to flip up easily and show the raw edges underneath. 

Next you will need to make the handles, fold the strips in half and sew along one side to make long tubes. Turn them right side out and topstitch along each side. 

Pin the handles to the outside of the bag where you would like them to be, place the outside of the bag right side out inside the lining turned inside out so that right sides are together. Pin around the top, be sure that the handles are tucked in and the skirt is out of the way, sew all the way around the top. 

Turn the bag right side out through the opening in the bottom of the lining, tuck the lining inside of the bag and topstitch around the top of the bag. Stitch the opening closed. 

To make the bow you will need to draw a puffy bow that will fit on the 3"x5" rectangles, trace it onto the wrong side of one rectangle and then right sides together sew along that line, leaving a small opening for turning. Trim all of the excess fabric off leaving a small seam allowance, clip curves and corners if necessary, and turn right side out. Stuff lightly.

Take the 2" x 5" and fold it in half so that it is 1" x 5" and sew along the long side, turn right side out, wrap around the middle of the bow and sew the back together, trim extra. 

Attach snap to the top center of the bag, decorative side on the back and plain side on the front. Stitch the bow over the top go the snap on the front of the bag, I just made a couple of stitches on each side to tack it on. 

That's it, your bag is finished. Perfect for a little girl's birthday or Christmas gift.