How to Sew a Baguette Bag With a Ruched Strap Out of a Fluffy Towel

Tools and materials:

• Microfiber towel
• Quilt batting
• Lining fabric
• Free printable PDF pattern
• Scissors
• Measuring tape
• Sewing pins
• Sewing needle
• Thread
• Sewing machine

1. Cut out the baguette bag pattern

Download the free pattern and cut out the pattern pieces.

Lay the pattern pieces on your microfiber towel and cut out the pieces from your fabric and lining material as indicated in the image above. The square-shaped piece is the body of the bag, and the bottle-shaped piece is the bottom and sides of the bag. All pieces should be cut on the fold of the fabric.

In addition to the bag and lining pieces, cut out the same number of pieces from your quilted batting.

2. Assemble the baguette bag

With wrong sides together, pin each fabric piece to its matching quilted batting piece.

Sew the bag pieces to the batting first by sewing down the middle and then sewing around the perimeter.

Sew the bag bottom to the batting around the perimeter.

3. Attach the bottom/side piece

Mark the center bottom of one bag piece and the center of the bottom piece. With right sides facing, pin the bag bottom to the bottom of one side of the bag at those center points. 

Then pin the rest of the bottom piece to the bag, pinning it up the sides as shown in the image above.

Sew the bottom/side piece to the bag along the outside edge.

Pin the other side of the bag body to the bottom/side edge piece and sew it in place.

4. Make zipper tabs

Cut four zipper tabs from your microfiber towel, measuring 2 x 4 centimeters (0.8 x 1.6 inches) each.

Pin 2 tabs to each end of the zipper, one tab on either side of the zipper. The tab at the open end of the zipper should be inset from the end, and the tab at the closed end of the zipper should be flush with the end of the zipper.

Sew the tabs in place along the outside ends of the tab.

Now, flip the tabs out, and you have zipper tabs that will extend outside your bag.

5. Attach the zipper

With right sides together, pin the zipper to the top edge of your bag and sew it in place on both sides. Don’t sew down the tabs.

6. Add a bag strap

Cut a 62 x 2-centimeter (24.4 x 0.78-inch) rectangle of strap material.

Now cut a 124 x 12-centimeter (48.8 x 4.7-inch) rectangle of microfiber towel fabric.

With the right side facing in, fold the microfiber rectangle in half lengthwise and sew the long open edge. Turn the tube right-side out and thread the strap through the microfiber tunnel. The microfiber cover will bunch up around the inner strap.

Pin the ends of the strap to the inside top of each side of the bag and sew the strap in place. Because of the thickness of fabric at this point, you may need to hand-sew the straps in place instead of using your sewing machine.

Now trim off the excess tab fabric at the ends.

7. Sew the bag lining

Follow the same instructions as in steps 2 to 3 to sew the bag lining, but leave a 6-centimeter (2.3-inch) gap on one side at the bottom.

8. Attach the lining

With right sides together, insert the lining into the bag and pin it in place. 

Using the zipper foot on your sewing machine, sew the lining to the bag along both top edges near the zipper teeth.

Hand-sew the lining to the bag and the two top corners.

Feed the bag through the gap in the lining and then sew up the gap.

Push the lining back into the purse and zip up your purse!

How to sew a baguette bag

Here’s the final super-soft, scrunchie baguette bag. Fill it up, or, in a pinch, use it as a pillow! Make one for yourself and then let me know how much you love it by leaving a comment.