Hime Gyaru Shopping Bag Tutorial
Aug 31, 2009 by Violet
Today I’ve got a quick and easy tutorial for you, a hime gyaru shopping bag.
Well even with the best laid intentions I didn’t have a particularly awesome weekend. In fact I would go so far as to say it sucked. I’m not going to get in to everything here but the one thing I will mention is my horrible hair dye mishap. I had been planning to give you all 2 hair tutorials this week but after the hair incident (which left me a strange ashy blonde with completely different coloured roots) you’ll have to wait for my hair to rest for a few days so I can dye it again hopefully back to normal.
So anyway instead of a hair tutorial I’m going to show you how to make a pretty shopping bag. I believe that as many aspects of my life as possible should be filled with beautiful things. It follows fairly easily that I don’t like plain old grey shopping bags. After reading THIS tutorial on Craftster I was inspired to make my own portable, reusable, beautiful bag ^_^ Mine is quite different than the original because I wasn’t reading the pattern as I was going so it folds differently.
Let’s get started then! Here is what you will need for the shopping bag:
-Fabric for the bag (and lining fabric if you decide to use it, I didn’t and it’s perfectly sturdy)
-Plastic bag for pattern
-Lace, pearls or other decorations
Cut the seams off the plastic bag at the top and bottom.
Unfold it so it looks like this:
You now need to use this as a pattern to cut two pieces like this out. If you are using lining cut some of that out too.
I had some spare pink lace that I decided to decorate mine with. I laid out the lace in several layers to get the effect I wanted. Then I sewed it all down.
I sewed a layer of lace flowers across the top of the lace. Now you should cut out a piece of fabric for the pocket, I decided to put a lace bow on there so I cut that out too.
Now sew the pocket onto one side!
Next it’s time to overlock all the loose seams and overlock the sides and tops of the handles together.
Now it’s time to put those origami skillz to good use! On the sides you should fold them in on themselves like the original plastic bag was. The handles should fold in on themselves too. Do it on both sides and then overlock the bottom seam. I then covered the bottom seam with lace flowers to match the top.
The few last steps are very simple. Sew the seams around the top and handles so they are neat. Then if you included the lace bow on the pocket, gather it in a piece of ribbon. Lastly I added a string of pearls which will double as a handle when it’s all folded up.
Here is an animation of how it folds up!
1. Fold the bottom underneath
2. Fold the side in
3. Fold the other side in
4. Fold the handles backwards
5. Fold it under on it’s self and push it into the pocket.
6. TADAA!
If you don’t want to put it in your purse you can carry it in with the pearls until you need to fill it with groceries etc
Time to take it for a test drive!
When you buy something then unfold it and tadaa!
Sorry that wasn’t my best tutorial, I wasn’t expecting to use these photos as a tutorial. I was very crafty on the weekend, I’ll show you what else I made next time!
Let me know if any of you make a hime gyaru shopping bag too!
<3
Cut the seams off the plastic bag at the top and bottom.
OMG I will follow this tutorial, because the bag is so lovely and funny!!! Thank you <3!!
wow! you are so talented! great! I want to sew like you… >.
i love your bag! what a great way to go green. your outfit is so cute too :)
I wish i could sew, i end up stabbing myself with needles and that's if I'm only sewing on a button lol =x
Sahakiel- Cool! You should show me how yours turns out :D
Aralka- Aww you should totally learn, it's lots of fun and pretty easy :)
Kae- Heehee thanks ^_^ I used to be hopeless at sewing but I forced myself to learn when I couldn't afford the clothes I wanted!
You are too cute :) Love that fold itself into a small bag bag hehe :)
Shanghainese Dumpling- Heehee I love that too, it makes it much more useful and stylish when it's all folded up :D Thanks for stopping by my blog!
awww so innovative and fun! n_n it's so girly and pink and hime which is what i love! thanks for this tutorial.. by the way, im following you.
Pinksugarichigo- Aww thanks so much for following me, it means a lot to me :D I'm glad you enjoyed my tutorial! I love hime style so expect to see a lot more of it here :)
I love this :D I’m so going to try it!
Oh yay! I hope it goes well for you, if you have any questions just let me know. If you send me some photos when you’re finished I’ll add them to the reader’s gallery. Good luck!!
Wow i love this, what an awesome idea, may i ask how did you attach the beads handles? did you glue them?
love your style you are so gorgeous xo
The beads are just cheap string of pearls which were sewn on, I probably wouldn’t glue them because it might not be strong enough. Thanks Raquel!