Bank Robber Money Bag Tutorial

Ever since I made my rice-filled bed warmers from Ashley’s tutorial, my boys have been running around the house with them, calling them Money Bags.  I think it has something to do with Larry the Cucumber being framed for thievery in Little Joe.  Well, it’s time for me to stop searching around the house for my foot warmers on cold nights and giving the kids their own money bags so they’ll leave mine alone!

 I thought a tutorial might be fun because it’s hard to find things to sew for boys.  If you want to see more ideas, check out the Handmade Crafts for Boys Flickr Group.  Obviously this isn’t rocket science, but sometimes an easy tutorial is great for beginning sewers and, of course, easier for me to write.

 

You will need:

• 2 pieces of fabric 9″ wide x 22″ tall (one for the exterior of the bag, one for the interior)  For this tutorial the exterior is the plain fabric and the interior is the print fabric.
• 1 small scrap of fabric for $ sign
• 1 print-out of a dollar sign ($) on paper (I used Franklin Gothic Medium Cond set to 300pt font size)
• a small piece of iron-on adhesive (I used Heat N Bond Lite)
• 20″ of ribbon
• ~4 cups rice

1.  Make your applique $.   Tape printed dollar sign to window with ink side toward window.  Place iron-on adhesive  on top of $ with glue side toward the window.  Trace dollar sign onto paper side of iron-on adhesive.  Dollar sign will be backward.

Fuse iron-on adhesive scrap with dollar sign traced on it to WRONG side of fabric scrap.

Cut out dollar sign and peel off backing paper.

2. Fuse and stitch $ in place.  Fold exterior piece of fabric in half.  Center dollar sign 2″ up from the fold and fuse in place.  Stitch around all the outer edges of the dollar sign about 1/16″ from the edge.

 

3. Assemble exterior and interior of money bag.  Place exterior and interior fabric RIGHT sides together.  Pin and stitch together all the way around with a 1/2″ seam allowance, leaving a 3″ opening at one short end for turning.

4. Turn right side out.

Clip all corners as shown and turn right side out.  Press crisp seams around the outside.  Press raw edges of fabric into the opening so that the edge is straight all the way across.

 

5. Topstitch.  Topstitch both short ends using a 1/8″ seam allowance, closing up the opening as you go.  (You can see the topstitching in the picture below.)

6. Attach ribbon.  Measure 2 1/2″ down from the top center of the short side on the opposite side of the dollar sign.

  Place center of ribbon on dot and stitch in place as shown.

7. Assemble bag.  Fold bag in half with exterior sides together.  Pin in place.  Position the  ribbon so that is is pointing out of the bag as shown.

Stitch up the right and left sides of the bag using a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Turn bag right exterior side out through the opening at the top.  Press both sides.

8. Stitch up top.  Draw a line ~2 1/2″ from the top of the bag just above where the ribbon attaches.  Stitch across this line, leaving a 1 1/2″ opening right where the ribbon attaches.  Make sure the ribbon is still pointing toward the top of the bag so that you do not stitch through it.

9. Fill bag.  Through the openning in the top of the bag, pour rice into the bag.  It will be handy to have a chopstick to help the rice go down into the opening  easily.

 10.  Close up the opening.  Stitch the opening closed on your machine.

11) Finish the bag. 
Fold up the top of the bag accordian style.

Tie the ribbon around the top.  Aaaaaaannnnnddd – you’re done!

© 2009 Craft Apple Creations