A while ago my soon-to-be mother-in-law described a jewelry bag to me that she had seen. After a couple glasses of wine, several confusing descriptions, and finally a strange napkin drawing I figured this bag out. It’s pretty ingenious (I can say that because it’s not really my design) and I finally put together a tutorial on how to make it.
There may be some awesome seamstress techniques that I don’t know about to make this bag better. I would love to hear them.
You will need 1 fat quarter and a length of ribbon (optional)
I trimmed the edges to make a square piece of fabric. (I used the trimmed pieces to make a bias tape tie instead of using ribbon)
Now fold your square in half twice and cut the largest circle you can. Mine was about 10” in diameter. You should now have 4 identical circles.
Now pick two circles to be the interior pockets. Trim an inch off the diameter of these. You will end up with 2 big circles and 2 small circles.
Take your small circles and place right sides together. Stitch using a ¼” seam leaving an opening.
Turn right side out. Press, and stitch a finishing seam ¼” from outside of fabric.
Put aside.
On the back of one big circle measure a ½” long buttonhole ½” from edge of fabric.
Now placing right sides together sew the large circles together like you did to the small ones. Turn right side out and press. This time sew your finishing stitch 5/8” from edge making your casing for the tie. You will have to top stitch your opening closed. Now is also a good time to cut open your button hole.
On your small circle find center and mark a ring (I used a shot glass). Now mark 8 sections from the ring to the seam. (I just kept folding in half and finger pressing to find my sections) It should look something like this.
Center the small circle on the big one and pin. I put my button hole on the inside; I should have put it on the outside. Now sew on the markings you just made, careful not to close your casing.
Thread your tie (or ribbon) through the casing using a safety pin.
Pull closed. I like to make a knot in my ties so that the tie never pulls through and the bag never goes flat again spilling its contents.
And you are done
You can make it bigger and/or use contrasting fabrics. I plan on making my mom some earrings and putting them in this bag for mother’s day.
