Dog Treat Bag Tutorial

Just a quick and easy project for our four footed friends.

From the front:

From the back: 

From the back showing how you can also attach the treat bag to a belt:

Materials:

• Outer fabric – 1 piece at 4 3/4" by 9"
• Lining Fabric – 1 piece at 4 3/4" by 9"
• Loop – 2 pieces at 2" by 4 3/4"
• Fusible Interfacing – 2 pieces at 4 3/4" by 9" and 1 piece at 2" by 4 3/4"
• 1/4" elastic – 1 piece 5" in length
• Large safety pin

Directions:

1.  Fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of the outer fabric, the lining fabric, and one of the loop rectangles.

2.  Measure 3/4" down from the short side of the lining fabric and mark.  

3.  Baste the elastic in place just below the 3/4" mark.

4.  Place the lining and outer fabrics right sides together.  Use a circular object (I used a spool of ribbon) to round the corners on the side that does not have the elastic attached. 

5.  Cut out the curves.

6.  Sew the two pieces together using a quarter-inch seam.  Leave a three inch opening for turning.

7.  Turn right sides out.  At this point, you could sew the opening closed, but I don’t bother. I press to get a crisp fold and leave it at that since the opening will be sewn closed in a later step. 

8.  We’re now ready to make the loop.  Stack the two pieces wrong sides together.  On one of the pieces, measure a line at 2 3/8" and 3 3/8" in from a short side.  At the 3 3/8" line, mark one-half inch in from the top and bottom.  (Edited to add: I just made another one of these and I used Fast2Fuse to stiffen this little tab.  It worked great – I wish I had done it in these original directions.  I used a single layer cut 2" by 4 1/2" and placed a quarter inch shy of the bottom edge to make it easy to attach to the treat bag in a later step.)

9.  Fold the two pieces back at the 3 3/8" line and trim from the 1/2" marks to the outer edges of the  2 3/8" line.

10.  Open back up and satin stitch along the two long sides.  Tip: As always when satin stitching off the edge of a fabric, I find using an Overlock foot (a #2 for my 1530 Bernina)  makes for a cleaner edge.

11.  Draw a line 4 1/4" down from the curved edge side on the outer fabric.

12.  Center the loop and overlap a quarter-inch past the line.  Sew 1/4" in from the top edge.

13.  Fold the loop up and press to get a clean edge.  Fold back at the indent so the raw edge is tucked down in.  Top stitch along the bottom edge.  Sew a line 1 1/4" down from the top edge.

14.  Measure 3" up from the bottom edge of the bag (the side with sharp corners) and fold, lining sides together.  Starting at a bottom edge, top stitch the entire edge of the bag.

That’s it.  You’re done.  Simply slip in the safety pin and you can either pin the bag to your clothing or attach it to a belt.

You can also create some variations.

For one, if you use seriously gooey dog treats, you can add iron on vinyl to the lining fabric.  If you do so, be really careful that you never apply the iron directly to the vinyl.

For two, you could use a Velcro closure instead of the elastic.  I usually try to avoid Velcro whenever I can.  (I really hate that incredibly loud Rrrr-i-i-ip sound).  For those less easily annoyed, you could just add a bit of Velcro closure.  Like this:

Wyatt says, “Très chic.  Let’s promenade!”

Portable Design Wall – Tutorial

My sewing room is small and, sadly, I don’t have room for much in the way of a design wall on an actual wall.  Instead, I mostly use a portable design wall.  It isn’t large enough for a full size bed quilt but I can work wall quilts and the better part of a lap quilt on it. 

I’ve been using the same one for years.  It’s gotten a little too much love, and its batting has actually worn through.  Since I needed to replace the batting, I thought I’d show how it’s put together for anyone who may be interested.

Supplies: 

• 3 insulation panels (I used R-Tech) sized 2' by 4'
• Warm and Natural Batting – 59" by 84"
• duct tape
• flat head thumb tacks

Directions:  I was simply replacing my batting so my panels were already taped together, but I think you can get the gist of it here.

1. The panels have a silver side and a styrofoam plastic side.  Place two panels butting up next to each other with the silver side facing you.
2. Tape them together using the duct tape (tape both the side facing you and the back side – before taping the back side, fold the panels so that the silver sides meet face to face – then tape the side edges of the panels from the back). 
3. Line up the third panel, back side to back side, with the middle panel.  Tape the side edges together.  Tape the back as well. 
4. Your panels now have a tri-fold that allows them to either fold out long and straight or fold together so that they all line up.
5. Lay out your panels on the floor with the silver (front) side up.  Drape the batting so that it completely covers the panels and has fold over allowance on all sides. 
6. Fold the batting over the edge of the first panel and tape. 
7. Continue to tape down the batting, moving down the panel.  You want the batting snug and sag free. 
8. Joining the panels: with the first two panels that you taped together, you can stretch the batting over the join as if the join wasn’t even there.
9. The second join (the ones where the panels were placed back to back and had their side edges taped together) needs to have the batting mold to fit the stretch that occurs when the last panel is folded back.  Fold the panels so that they are once again back to back.  Smooth the batting over the edges and use the flat head thumbtacks to hold the batting in place.You can see that as you open up the design wall, the batting will lie flat inside that join.   
10. Continue to tape the batting down in back.
11. That’s it.  You are done.  I will admit – the back is not a thing of beauty and someone could probably make the back side prettier, but I’ve never bothered.  What matters to me is that I –

Have a single panel to work with: 

A double panel to work with:

Or a triple panel to work with:

It’s light weight so I can carry it either around the house or to a class or friend’s.  It folds up tight enough that I can just tuck it behind the door when I’m not using it.  It’s been a good friend to me over the years.  I’m looking forward to wearing this one out, too!