Adding a Cross-Body Strap to the Lindsay Wristlet - Part 2

October 22, 2016Michelle Burke

Today is day six of Lindsay Wristlet Week! I am excited to finish sharing with you a tutorial on making a cross-body strap for the Lindsay Wristlet! Yesterday we cut out the fabric and interfacing and gathered everything we needed. We also made and added the second anchor piece for the cross-body strap to attach to. Today we will make the strap itself!

To make the cross-body strap, we need to start by sewing the two strips of fabric together. I like to do this on the bias because it makes it so that the adjustable slider can more easily go over the seam in the strap. Place one end of each strip right sides together so that they are at a right angle to each other. Draw a diagonal line across the square made by the intersection of the two strips of fabric from one corner to the opposite corner (see the photo on the left below). Make sure the two short ends of the strips are on one side of the line and the two long ends of the strips are on the other side of the line. Pin the strips together and sew on the line. Trim the seam allowance to ¼” and press the seam open. Now you have one long strip of fabric!

Next, it's time for interfacing. Following the manufacturer’s instructions, fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric, centering the interfacing down the middle of the strip of fabric and leaving 2” at each short end of the fabric strip with no interfacing. You may need to cut your interfacing strip shorter so that you have 2” of fabric without interfacing at each short end. If you don’t have one long strip of interfacing, just butt the ends together as you fuse them to the fabric. I fuse the interfacing right over the seam in the strap.

More pressing ahead! Fold both short ends of the Cross-Body Strap to the wrong side ¼” and press. Now fold the strip long raw edges wrong sides together and press. Next fold the raw edges of the long sides into the center fold that you just made and press. Give the Cross-Body Strap one more good press with all the folds in place and we are ready to sew! Top-stitch 1/8" away from each long edge of the strap through all the layers.

Adding the hardware to a cross-body strap can seem a little daunting the first few times you do it. Start by putting one end of your strap over the center bar of the adjustable slider so that 1” of the end of the strap overlaps on the other side. Sew this strap end in place with a little square near the end of the strap going through both layers of the strap.

Loop the other end of the strap through one of the swivel snap hooks and then bring that end back to the adjustable slider. Keeping any twists out of the strap, put the end of the strap through the adjustable slider - up one side, over the center and down the other side of the adjustable slider.

Now you just need to add the other swivel snap hook in the same way you added the adjustable slider to the first end of the strap.

Your cross-body strap is now finished and ready to clip onto your Lindsay Wristlet! I love that the Lindsay Wristlet can still be used as a wristlet, but now can be used as a cross-body bag too!

Don't forget the SALE that is going on all week! You can get 15% off all Uniquely Michelle patterns by entering the coupon code LINDSAYWEEK during checkout in my Website Shop or in the Uniquely Michelle Etsy Shop. You can also purchase patterns from the Uniquely Michelle Craftsy Pattern Shop where I have reduced the prices to reflect the 15% off. The sale runs through this Sunday, October 23rd at 10:00pm (MDT).

Please share pictures of your Lindsay Wristlets and any other Uniquely Michelle creations you make on Instagram (#UniquelyMichelle) and on the Uniquely Michelle Sewing Patterns FB group! I love seeing everyone's creations!

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tags Uniquely Michelle, Lindsay Wristlet, Bag Pattern, Bag Making, Lindsay Wristlet Week, Sewing Tutorial, Cross-Body Strap

Adding a Cross-Body Strap to the Lindsay Wristlet - Part 1

October 21, 2016Michelle Burke

Welcome to day five of Lindsay Wristlet Week! Today I have the first of a two-part tutorial on how to add a cross-body strap to the Lindsay Wristlet. Having a cross-body strap is a nice way to make this cute little bag easy to carry completely hands-free. I have found my Lindsay Wristlet perfect to take to school events, sporting events and when I just need the necessities when I am out and about. Adding a cross-body strap makes it so that I don’t have to worry about keeping track of a small bag and I can still clap, cheer or shop! The following tutorial will give you a cross-body strap that can adjust from an approximate length of 31” to an approximate length of 60”. If you don't yet have the pattern for the Lindsay Wristlet, see the links at the end of this post!

Here is what you will need (above and beyond what you need to make the Lindsay Wristlet*):

1/8 yard exterior fabric*

1/8 yard 20” wide fusible woven mid-weight interfacing (Shapeflex 101)*

1 - ½” D-ring

2 - ½” swivel snap hook

1 – ½” adjustable slider

*You probably have enough exterior fabric and SF101 to make the cross-body strap if you get the amount of fabric called for in the pattern!

We will start by cutting the fabric and interfacing.

From the exterior fabric cut:

Width of the fabric x 2” & 25” x 2” These will be the Cross-Body Strap

3” x 2” The Second Anchor Piece

From the SF101 cut:

1” x 50” (this can be pieced together as you iron it to the strap fabric, it doesn’t need to be one long strip)

Before you finish sewing up your Lindsay Wristlet, you will want to make the second anchor piece. All you need to do is make two anchor pieces instead of just one by following the directions in the pattern. There is one change I would make though, I would omit the interfacing on the anchor pieces. The interfacing makes the anchor pieces more stiff, which is fine for a wristlet but when you attach a cross-body strap, you want the anchor pieces to flex easily so that the bag hangs well. Easy enough, you get to skip the step of adding interfacing to the anchor pieces – woo hoo!

When adding the second anchor pieces, just clip/pin it to the opposite side of the front piece from where the first anchor piece is placed. Then just sew it in place in the same way you are instructed to sew the first one in place in the pattern.

Now that we have everything cut and we have made the necessary adjustments to the Lindsay Wristlet, we are ready to make a cross-body strap . . . but we will break for now. Tomorrow we will make the cross-body strap!

Don't forget the SALE that is going on all week! You can get 15% off all Uniquely Michelle patterns by entering the coupon code LINDSAYWEEK during checkout in my Website Shop or in the Uniquely Michelle Etsy Shop. You can also purchase patterns from the Uniquely Michelle Bluprint Pattern Shop where I have reduced the prices to reflect the 15% off. The sale ends this Sunday at 10:00pm (MDT).

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