How to Make a Duffel Bag that's Better than Santa's
(Page 3 of 5)
November/December 1978
by Joan Hyme White
(You'll find it easier to sew the bag's ends onto this completely closed "drum" and, once that job is done, you can open the zipper "above" the slider and use the closure normally.)
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SACK STITCHING: STEP FIVE
You're now ready to put the welting on your bag (if you've decided to leave the trim off, you can skip this step and go directly to Step 6). Note that the doubled fabric which holds the welting cord is lined up with and sewn to the very edge of the material which forms the body of the duffel sack. The enclosed cord itself faces "in" and the welting is attached to the inside surface (the "good" side) of the inside-out "barrel" of material (see Fig. 8 ).
Leave about an inch of the welting free as you begin to stitch the reinforcing trim to the "drum" of material on one side of the zipper. Then sew right across the end of the closure and on around the "barrel." When you've completed the circle, cut the welting off about an inch longer than necessary, open the stitching in the trim's fabric, cover (to expose the cord inside), cut the cord off even with its starting end, turn under the tall edges of the welting's fabric cover, and sew the covering down so that it overlaps the trim's beginning end. Repeat the procedure on the other end of the "drum."
(NOTE: If you'd like to put extra carrying loops on both ends of your bag, just cut off two 5"-long pieces of webbed strapping. Then double the tabs as shown in Fig. 8a and sew them under the welting as you such it in place so that the tabs cover the ends of the zipper.)
SACK STITCHING: STEP SIX
The ends of the bag are two circles of fabric, each measuring 9-1/2" in diameter. And, yes, you can attach carrying handles to them too: Just cut two pieces of strapping, each 15"-long, and fasten one right across the middle of each circle as shown in Fig. 9 (let both straps have a little slack in their centers so you'll be able to get your fingers under them when the bag is stuffed full).
Now mark each disc of cloth into quarters (north, east, south and west, with the straps running from east to west) and, using its zipper as "north," divide the barrel of the bag into matching quadrants as illustrated by Fig. 10.
Turn the circles of cloth with their strap sides "in" and, starting at one of the "east" or "west" marks, match the quadrants of one of the bag's ends to the corresponding sections of its main body and sew the two together as indicated by Fig. 11. (Sew this row (or rows) of stitching as close to the welting as possible.) It's OK to tug a little (by holding the fabric taut in back and pulling a bit in front of the needle as you go) to make the marks line up as you sew the ends to the bag, but only a little: Too much tugging will throw unwanted warps and wrinkles into the finished ends.
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