DIY pom pom bag with Anna Alicia

Every now and then The House that Lars Built becomes the lucky recipient of wonderful craft books! Not too long ago our friends over at Hardie Grant Publishing gifted the most incredible sewing book called Bags centered around, can you guess? That’s right, bags! We fell head over heels for this book written by Anna Alicia and decided that it is a must share with our Lars fam!

Bags, is well written and easy to follow. Anna offers step-by-step guidance, plus a wealth of tips and tricks. She focuses not only on helping you create stunning bags that range from a simple drawstring tote to a stylish backpack, but she teaches you simple skills that will lead you to become a master seamstress!

Anna is fabulous and talented and has agreed to let us give you a sneak peek of her book and share a pattern with all of you! We’ve selected the PomPom Bucket Bag (how could we not? You know we love pom poms, put them on a bag and our love multiplies). Stay tuned we have an interview with Anna coming your way soon!!!Without further ado, The Wonderful Pom Pom Bag by Anna Alicia.

Download the Pattern Here

Materials: 

• Small, unlined canvas rug or ½ m(5/8 yd) heavy-weight canvas fabric
• ½ m (5/8 yd) quilting-weight cotton for lining
• 10 eyelets, 1cm (3/8 in) across, with eyelet tool (you can buy this as a little kit)
• 1m (1 1/8 yd) cotton cord, 3mm (1/8 in) diameter
• 1m (1 1/8 yd) webbing, 2cm (¾ in) wide
• 1 ball of yarn in each of two colours (I used a DK-weight cotton yarn for the pompoms and tassels, but you could use any yarn you like and experiment with the kind of pompoms and tassels it creates).
• Thread to match your rug/fabric
• 4.5cm (1 ¾ in) pompom maker
• Hammer to fit eyelets
• Pen or pencil
• Basic sewing kit

Cut Instructions:

1. Cut out the following…
2. main fabric/rug
3. One piece: 28cm (11in) high x 51.5cm (20 ¼ in) wide
4. One piece: Template circle (see attached PDF) lining fabric
5. One piece: 28cm (11in) high x 51.5cm (20.in) wide
6. One piece: Template circle webbing
7. One length: 90cm (35 ½ in) for strap
8. One length: 8cm (3 1/8 in) for cord toggle

Sewing Instructions:

1. Lay your main fabric piece out right side up, in a landscape position, and fold so the shorter edges meet. Pin and then sew along that edge with a 1cm (3/8 in) seam allowance to make a tube.
2. Take your main circle piece and pin it, right sides together, to the bottom edge of your tube, about 1cm (3/8 in) in (no matter how carefully I measure, I always need to adjust this a little to get the circle to fit just right, so don’t worry if you have to move the pins a little further in or out). Sew around the edge of your circle piece, with about a 1cm 3/8in) seam allowance.
3. Turn your bag right side out.
4. Repeat steps 1 and 2 with your lining fabrics, but don’t turn right side out.
5. Slip your lining into your main bag, matching up the seam. Fold the top edge of your main fabric in by about 1.5cm (5/8 in) and the top edge of your lining over by 2cm (¾ in) to the wrong side (so the folded part is facing the folded edge of the main bag). Pin together, so the edge of the lining is about 5mm (¼ in) below the edge of the main fabric.
6. With your seam at the centre of the back, mark the middle point on either side of your bag. Take your long length of webbing and tuck one end between the outer and lining layers by about 2cm (¾ in) at one of the points you marked. Tuck in the other end in the same way at the other point, checking your webbing isn’t twisted first. Pin the ends of your webbing in place.
7. Sew all the way around the top of your bag about 2mm (1/16in) below the top edge of the lining.
8. Now it’s time to add your eyelets. Starting from the point where one end of your strap meets your bag, measure and mark 10 points at 5cm (2in) intervals around the top of your bag, each 2.5cm (1in) down from the top edge.
9. Following the instructions on your eyelet kit, fit an eyelet, right side out, at each of the points you have marked.
10. Thread your cord front-to-back through one of your eyelets at the front of your bag (i.e. with the seam at the back and the strap to either side). Continue threading in and out through the eyelets until your cord comes out of the eyelet next to the one you started with.
11. For the cord toggle, lay out your short length of webbing and fold one cut edge over by 2cm ( ¾ in) and the other over by 1cm ( 3/8 in) then again by 2cm (¾ in). Pin along the centre. Sew two lines along the centre, 5mm (¼ in) apart. This will have created a small channel at either side (it can help to open these out by pushing a pencil through them).
12. Thread each end of your cord through one of the channels on the toggle you made.
13. Now it’s time to make the tassels and pompoms. Let‘s start with the tassels – first cut a strand of yarn about 25cm (10in) long and set aside. Hold your hand (whichever isn’t your writing hand) out flat and begin wrapping your yarn around your fingers. Once you have wrapped it enough times to form a nice full tassel, slide the looped yarn off your fingers. At one end, slide a pencil through the loop you’ve made. Then, slip your scissors through the loop at the other end and cut the strands. Gather your strands of wool tightly together below the pencil, take the strand of wool you cut earlier and tie it tightly just below the pencil. Wrap the ends in opposite directions around your tassel, just below the pencil, and then tie off. Trim your tassel so the cut ends are all level. Repeat for a second tassel.
14. Slide one of your tassels off its pencil and thread your bag’s cord through the hole where the pencil was. Tie the cord to hold the tassel in place (the knot will be hidden later). You might want to add a few stitches to the knot just to make it extra secure. Repeat for the other end of the cord and the other tassel.
15. Finally, it’s time to add your pompoms! Take your pompom maker and, following the instructions (different pompom makers may have slightly different instructions), wrap one of its sides with your yarn. Close that side and wrap the second side. Before closing, lay one of your cords at right angles across the middle section of the pompom maker so it will be trapped as you close the second side (you’ll slide your pompom into place later, so it doesn’t need to be right at the end of your cord). Close the pompom maker over the cord, then snip the strands of yarn around the edge of your pompom maker. Take an extra length of yarn and tie it tightly around the middle of the pompom maker, pulling it into the groove. Open out and remove the pompom maker. Slide your pompom into place at the end of your cord (it should overlap the top of your tassel a little and cover the knot holding your tassel in place). Trim your pompom to make it neat and round. Repeat on the other cord.

DESIGN NOTE: I wanted the pompoms to stand out as a pop of colour, so I chose a black and white fabric so they wouldn’t be competing with other colours.

FABRIC NOTE: I was thinking about summer bags when I designed this, especially the chunkier textures of straw bags. To get that feel, but using an easy-to-sew fabric, I wanted a canvas with a really bold, chunky weave – I actually ended up using a small canvas rug as the pattern and texture were just what I was looking for!

The book offers 18 different styles of bags, you’ll learn how to sew interesting shapes (such as a cubed bag or round bucket bag), work with different fabrics (cotton, canvas, linen and more), and discover how to work in zips, pockets, straps, and other add-ons.

Trust us! you are going to want this book on your shelf!