Shoe Bags!!

Who doesn't love shoes?

I’ve been traveling quite a bit lately. When, I arrived home from my last trip, I unpacked and realized my past three trips I put my shoes in plastic store bags!  Yikes! When I first learned to sew, I had plenty handmade shoe bags that I used for my shoes. It was a super easy project for me to practice straight stitching and very necessary to my shoe collection! 😊 Being an avid garment sewer – I have TONS of shoes!

Well, my friends and family saw them and now I don’t have any! LOL! I have been without shoe bags now for over 5 years and I have an abundance of shoes!  I haven’t stopped traveling so, I am sharing how to make a shoe travel bag! Just in time to make some for myself and my next trip this November!

The key to this project is SIZE! It’s important to make a shoe bag that will fit your shoes. With the chunky heal style being on trend, this bag works great! 😊

The second key is fabric! There are so many fun cotton fabrics to choose from! Some have shoes and other fun motifs printed right on.  I’ll be using fabric from my stash. To make them fun and interesting, I’ll be using my Janome Horizon 15,000 to embroider some fun on one of my bags!

You will need:

½ Yard of medium weight cotton fabric (Quilter’s cotton is good). I don’t recommend interfacing on the cotton because it’s not needed.  (or)

½ Yard of Home decor fabric if you prefer to “up your shoe bag” game! Home decor fabric is durable as well as pretty! (Do not use Upholstery fabric-to thick and that backing is not good 😊) Also, a ½ yard of any fabric will yield you about 1 shoe bag!! (if you opt to make it smaller than my dimensions you could possibly manage to get 2.)

2 Yards of Ribbon - 1/4” – Drawstring – ¼” braid rope (for the home dec fabric users) You decide which to use based on your fabric choice! And away we go!

2 Drawstring Stoppers or 4 decorative beads (optional)

Marking Pencil/Pen or Tailor chalk

Straight Pins, Scissors or Rotary Cutter

The Steps:

 Cut 2 pieces of fabric 13.5” by 17.5” squares – (If you have an embroidery machine Now is the Time!) 

From the top Raw edge of the fabric, measure down 1.5” and draw a line across your fabric. (Wrong side) This will be the line you will fold to and start and end your stitching.

Step 1

Step 2

 

With right sides together, stitch sides in 1/2” Seam Allowances, start stitching at the line you marked.  Reinforce or backstitch at the beginning and then continue sewing and pivot at bottom corners to complete the square. Stop and back stitch at marked line. 

     Finish all seams and press seams to one side. You can finish your seam edges using a serger, pinking shears or a zig zag stitch on the seam allowances. (Whichever works for you is good!) I used a zigzag and pinking shears.

Step 3 & 4

With the bag wrong side out, Finish the raw edges at the top of the bag. Clip at the line and fold the top side seam allowances in ½” and press. Fold the (finished) edge 1 1/2” on each side of the bag, meeting the marked line. Press.

Step 5

Step 6

Stitch close to the edge that meets the line. Press. *Note* To add a ruffle to your bag, measure down 3/8” from the top fold of your bag and draw a line across the top on the front and back of the bag. Stitch on the line.  You should now see two rows of stitching. 

At the bottom corners, flatten the fabric as shown and stitch 1” from the point across the bag. This will “square” off the bottom of your shoe bag. Trim the excess off and finish with pinking shears, zigzag stitch, or serger. Turn your bag right sides out and Press seamlines! (Yes, Again 😊)

Thread the bag as illustrated. Raw edges of the string are threaded thru each side.  You can tie a knot or on the ends of the tie or add beads or string stoppers!

 Your bag is NOW complete!  Make as many as you like! Safe and Happy Travels!