Dyed/Bleached/Printed Messenger Bag

The perfect "catch-all-for-the-girl-on-the-go" bag

Posted by edie d.

About

OK, here's one project I really threw the kitchen sink into. Starting with a couple of bleach pattern techniques, I then dyed a bit of this and screen printed a bit of that and tada... a super cute messenger bag!!

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You Will Need (7 things)

  • 1 yd Cotton Fabric
  • Bleach Pen
  • Rit Petal Pink Dye
  • Screenprinter
  • Needle & Thread
  • Rubber Gloves
  • Plastic Table Covering Covering

Steps (4 steps, 120 minutes)

  1. 1

    This 15"x25" panel makes the body of the bag. Using the wide tip of a bleach pen, I made the stripes. After washing/drying the fabric, it was overdyed.
    Here's the recipe:
    Mix 1/2 bottle RIT Petal Pink dye and 2Tbsp Scarlet dye in 1 gallon of very hot 140º water. You can heat the water in a tea kettle if your tap's not hot enough. Immerse in dye bath for about 15 minutes. After removing from dye, rinse in cool water til it runs clear, wash with mild detergent and hang dry.

  2. 2

    Then I made 2 pockets for the bag.
    The small YUDU screen printed pocket was 6x7. I just like to use my fun screen printer for this type of thing but you can use anything like a design cut from an old Tshirt maybe.
    The larger, 8.5x9.5 pocket was bleach'd with dot pattern using the fine tip of a bleach pen. So easy, I love these bleach pens!!

  3. 3

    OK, this looks a little tricky so bear with me.
    The striped panel gets folded into a box construction making the front, bottom, back, and finally the top flap looping around. I cut strip of fabric 8x48 for the shoulder strap. Fold this in half lengthwise and sew up like a tube. Then I sewed the strap (from the reverse side) from the front, around the bottom and halfway up the back creating the sides and square bottom of the bag.

  4. 4

    And there you have it! One super cutie of a messenger bag.