Last fall I made a small bag to carry either my iPod or my cell phone. It has a long strap to wear cross body to keep my hands free to do other things. I can also carry a little cash by dropping it down the tip of the bag where it collects in the bottom.
What a bunch of pretty neckties and they are destined to become more small purses. When looking for neckties to make these small bags choose neckties as wide as you can find. These ties measured around 4” wide at the largest end. I would not choose any smaller ones or the bag will not be large enough to hold an iPod or cell phone.
The first step is to cut off the length needed to make the bag. Measure and cut the necktie 15” from the tip. Save the rest of the tie to make the strap so set it aside.
The first step is to unstitch the seam on the necktie and press the seams open. The seams in the original tie are large and can be pressed to a narrower width – one pressed under and the other left flat. The reason I do this is to make the narrower end of this tie piece wider so you can get the widest pocket possible. I cut a 1/4” piece of fusible and press it to the underside of the folded seam. Fold the other side over the interfacing as wide as possible then the side with the fusible and press (paper removed of course.) I do hand stitch this seam closed even though it is fused shut as I found it can loosen with folding and unfolding the flap on the bag. Leave the interfacing inside this section so the purse/bag has enough body to hold it’s shape.
The next step is to zig zag the edges of the narrow end together then fold over about a 3/8”, press and stitch down with a straight stitch. As you can see this hem is pressed to the seam side of the necktie.
Fold up the narrow end and fit your cell phone or iPod into the pocket and stitch the sides. I do have one bag I made for a friend that I need to make the pocket wider and longer. Her cell phone would not fit this pocket so I plan to stitch some extra fabric to the sides of the pocket so I can make a pocket to hold the wider cell phone. I will add some length to the pocket too to accommodate the longer cell phone. It is a good idea to pin the pocket and fit the phone before stitching – save yourself some ripping that way.
Making the strap - Take the interfacing out of the left over necktie section and press it flat. I trimmed the seams to 1/4” and added fusible to the seam allowances and pressed them flat to the body of the necktie. I found the the fused seams were easier to deal with and stopped the fabric from fraying too.
Fold the fabric in half and cut two strips the length of the fabric that are 1 3/4” wide.
Seam the lengths together to make one long strip. Treat the seam the same as the others in this strip.
I used cording I purchased in the drapery department of JoAnn Fabrics for the inside of my strap. It is just a twisted cotton cording. I chose a size that is approximately 3/8” in diameter. That is the size I chose to fill the strap but make yours thicker or thinner – your choice. Cut a piece of cording a couple of inches longer than your fabric strip.
I like using the cording foot #59 for my Bernina sewing machine to stitch the strap or you could use a zipper foot or what ever foot you find with your machine to do this job. Before starting to stitch I took a piece of clear packing tape and taped one end forming a point (check out the photos.) This will come in handy to thread the cording back into the tube after stitching. Lay the cording (un-taped end at this end) along the center of the right side of the fabric strip and bring the raw edges together. Straight stitch across the end of the cording inside the tie fabric to secure. Now start stitching the length of the strap by enclosing the cording as you stitch along the length. This is where the #59 foot really comes in handy as the cording just moves along under the foot. I moved the needle position to stitch a little closer to the cord.
One thing to check is to make sure you are not catching the cording in the stitching and need the stitching not right next to the cording either. Give yourself a little slack to make turning the tube and inserting the cording back inside much easier. If the stitching is too close to the cording it will be tough to thread the cording inside after it is turned. You may want to experiment with a scrap of tie fabric and scrap of cording to figure out the best seam allowance. As you can see from the photos below the seam allowance is trimmed down to 1/4” before it is turned so I don't worry too much about the width of the seam allowance but just try to keep the tube width the same as I stitch with the cording inside it. Tie fabric is pretty slippery so if the seams slip apart it is no big deal since they are trimmed down afterward anyway.
Turn the strap right side out by pulling the cording. After the strap is turned inside out cut off the cording where it was seamed to the end. Insert thet taped pointed end inside the tube and work it to the other end filling the tube with the cording.
Next step is to cut a piece of the tie fabric 2” wide and about 4” long. Press 1/2” in on both sides. At this point you need to figure out how long a strap you need. As I mentioned earlier I make my straps long enough to carry the bag cross body so they are pretty long – 57”. I pin the strap to the bag in a position where the flap will fold over. This strap is stitched together in a circle so take that into account too. Stitch the two ends to the sides of the little strip then wrap it around the corded strap trimming off the excess if not needed. The end is turned under and stitched down to secure the join in the corded strap. I hope this is not too hard to understand – check out the photos to help.
Fold the flap over so the point meets the end and mark with pins. This is the place where the strap will be stitched. Stitch across the strap on each end, positioning the joined ends on the inside of the flap. It is important not to stitch across from one side to the other end as the end of the bag will be open from the tip down and extra “stuff” can be carried in this pocket too.
The last step is to stitch a large snap to the tip and base of the outside pocket. Ta – Da….it’s done!
Here are the 13 bags I made from neckties. One thing I didn’t say was I purchased most of these ties from Goodwill or thrift stores. I do believe most of them were brand new ties so I didn’t have to worry about stains.
Well – this is certainly a long post and photo heavy but I needed the photos to help tell the story since my explanations are not always clear. I believe in the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words.
Until Later,
Lynn
My sister Jeannine solved that problem by giving me this very practical and useful travel tray, plus it is pretty too. It is basically a quilted, rounded off square with Velcro in the corners to make it close up to make a shallow tray. When I am ready to head home I pull the Velcro apart on the corners to make it lie flat again and slip it into my suitcase. 
I decided to make these for my friends, daughters and granddaughters for Christmas. (when my grandson’s get older I will make them each one to pack but right now at ages 10 and 13 they are a bit young and wouldn’t know what to do with them.)
I cut 2 squares at 9 1/2” and one piece of thinner batting about 10 1/2”square. I chose prints for the outside fabric and a lighter more solid fabric for the inside of the tray. Left over pieces of batting work great for this project.
Round off the corners for ease of construction. You can use a template, old CD or DVD or any other round object to trace around on the wrong side of the lighter fabric to round it off. Mark all 4 corners.
Layer the two pieces of fabric right sides together then place the fabric on the batting and pin to secure. As you can see the batting peeks out around the two fabrics. Easy to stitch so you don’t have to worry about it creeping away from the seam lines when stitching.
Stitch 1/4” around the rounded square leaving an opening on one side. Back stitch at the beginning and the end. Trim the excess batting away from the seam line leaving just a bit caught in the stitching line. This will eliminate some of the bulk at the seams.
Turn it right side out and use your finger or blunted object to push out the corners. Press flat keeping the seam line on the edge of the square. Turn under the fabric at the opening and press then pin the opening closed. Top stitch around the entire edge pretty close so it catches the area you left open for turning.
Mark a line 2” across each side with something that can be removed or not show after stitching. Stitch on those markings and also a diagonal line in to the 2” lines from each corner like the example below.
At this point you don’t really have to do any more stitching if you don’t want to but I like to machine quilt the entire piece to make it more dense and a little stiffer. Cut Velcro pieces about 3/4” long and stitch the small pairs of Velcro to each corner. (Tip – make sure you have one loopy side and one hooky side for each corner!) 
As you can see the outside (below) is a blue print and quite busy but the inside (above) is a light color so items placed in it will show up. A busy print for the inside would make it hard to see small items placed in the tray – keep inside light and more solid looking.
This is what it looks like with the Velcro corners pinched together and with some jewelry inside.
These are very quick to make and wonderful gifts to give to friends and family.
Check the next post for more photos of all the finished travel trays I made for Christmas gifts. 
