Oilcloth wash bag tutorial for charity

My Friend asked me to make a wash bag for our lovely friend whose daughter (aged 6) has TS. She will be having brain surgery next week. It just feels really surreal… And I feel a bit silly making a wash bag as if it will help somehow. I just feel powerless but I wanted her to know that I’m thinking of her, that I’m there for her and her family.

If you wonder what TS is just click here. And if you would like to donate you can do so here. If you like the wash bag but don’t want/have the time/know how to I can make it for you and any profit will go straight to the TS association. It’s a great cause, not really well known but people affected by it have their lives turned upside down. My friend is amazing; she manages to balance work, raising also another really lovely boy and family life on very little sleep for the past 6 years. She deserves a bloody medal! So it’s not much but this tutorial is dedicated to her and her cute daughter.

For making this wash bag you will need:

Oilcloth, zip (30 cm), scissors

First draw two squares measuring 13”

Cut them out

Pin the right side of the zip to the right side of the oilcloth

Using your zip foot sew all the way. Pin the other side of the zip on the second square and sew all the way.

You should end up with something like that:

Now at this point you could top stitch to hold the zip nicely using your zip foot. I didn’t because I didn’t have any greaseproof paper or a Teflon presser foot. (In retrospect it was a bit of a mistake I should have done it…)

Now place right side of fabric together and pin. You will need to sew just the bottom edge

Next match the zip to the bottom line you’ve just sewn. Looking like that:

Pin together and you can now sew the last two edges. REMEMBER to leave the zip open for turning the bag right side out later (yes it happened to me before!)

i did a couple of back stitches on the zip

Now that’s the tricky bit: fold the corner to form pointy triangles:

Mark a line from 2” from the top,

Sew on that line and cut the remaining fabric

Do it for all four corners and it should look like that:

All you need to do is turn your bag right side out et voila! You’re done!

Very easy and useful wash bag!

Next time my friend uses it I hope it’s to go on a nice holiday with her family.

Sending her and family lots of love. XXXX

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