Tips and Tricks: Bag Lining with Built-in Pockets

One of my upcoming patterns is the Full Bloom Bag — a cute little colorwork bag that packs a lot of knitting technique into a single project. The body of the bag is worked in the round using stranded colorwork to make the stripes and roses. The body is then steeked and the beginning and end are grafted so that the stripes go vertically on the finished bag. The bottom is worked in the round from picked-up stitches, and the top edges are finished with applied i-cord, which is then extended into i-cord handles.

I made a lining with pockets, because it seemed like the right thing to do:

The Method to my Madness:

The bag dimensions are 6″x6″x3″. I decided to use a half-inch seam in all cases, to make the math easier. I used a single fat quarter for the lining, and less than half a yard of heavy-duty interfacing. The

For the bottom, I cut a 4″x7″ piece of fabric and a 3″x6″ piece of interfacing. For the body, I cut a 14″x19″ piece of fabric, a 6″x18″ piece of interfacing (for the body itself), and a 3″x18″ piece of interfacing (for the pocket).

I would have preferred fusible interfacing, but I also wanted the sturdiest interfacing I could get, so I had to settle for non-fusible and sew it in myself. For the bottom, I just centered the interfacing on the fabric, then stitched all the way around the edge. For the body, I placed the two pieces as shown below, and stitched them in place.

I pressed a half-inch hem along the top edge. Next, I folded up the pocket. First I pressed from this side, so that the interfacing was just in the fold:

Then I flipped it over and pressed it so that the raw edge exactly met the fold:

Here you can see all three layers:

I sewed a hem along the top edge to keep it in place. Next, I sewed vertical seams at the corners — measuring from the right, the seams are at 3.5″, 9.5″, and 12.5″: