boom box bag

a sewing pattern by
 boom box bag
sewing tutorial

boom This bag was inspired by retro technology like cassette tapes, floppy
disks, and boom boxes. On it’s own is a gusset-style bag with a detach-

box bag able strap, lots of inner pockets, and outer piping.

difficulty : makes :
Most of the bag is pretty straightforward, but the little one bag that is 14” wide, 9” tall, and 3” deep
details like the piping, back pocket, and curved corners
push it over the edge into intermediate territory.

materials & tools

• 2/3 yd. of medium to heavyweight own
fabric for outer bag, strap, and • 2 3/4 yds. of bias seam binding
handles tape, or fabric to make your own
• Optional: 2/3 yd. of medium weight • Matching sewing thread
fusible interfacing • Basic sewing tools (sewing machine,
• 1/8 yd. or a 12” x 12” scrap of scissors, iron, needles, pins, fabric
contrast medium to heavy weight marker, seam ripper)
fabric for strap and handle tabs • Appliqué supplies:
• 3/4 yd. of lightweight fabric for lining • 8” x 8” of gray appliqué fabric
• 18” zipper (at least) • 10” x 5” of silver appliqué fabric
• 10” zipper (at least) • 4” x 4” of blue appliqué fabric
• Four 1” metal rings • 8” x 8” of black appliqué fabric
• Two 1” D-rings • 4” x 4” of white appliqué fabric
• Two 1” hook rings • 1/4 yd. of 22” wide lightweight or
• 2 1/2 yds. of contrasting piping, or heavyweight fusible web
cording and fabric to make your

before you begin :

1. Print out the project pattern, pages 4. Mark the fabric pieces with the guide-
15-20 lines from the pattern
2. Assemble the printed pattern pieces
3. Lay out the pattern pieces on your
fabric/interfacing and cut them out

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 boom box bag
sewing tutorial

1 First is the appliqué, and

it’s a real doozy XD I
wanted to get a lot of
all the little panels and
knobs and such on my bag, so
applied all the little fabric shapes
you see here.
You’ll want to cut them out of
your appliqué fabric and adhere
them to either light or heavy
weight fusible web. Then arrange
them according to the pattern
guidelines (note that the layering
of the speakers goes black, dark
gray, white, light gray) and iron
them in place. I used lightweight
fusible web then stitched them
on with a zigzag stitch.

2 At this point, if you’re

adding fusible interfacing
to your bag you’ll want to
do it now, Be sure to fuse
it onto the back side of your
fabric pieces.
I personally used fusible fleece
interfacing. Because it’s so thick, I
trimmed off the seam allowances
to avoid extra bulk.

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 boom box bag
sewing tutorial

To make the little tabs for

attaching your handles,
start by layering two of
your handle tabs together
3
with right sides facing. You’ll
see here I strengthened my
contrast fabric a bit with some
interfacing, since I was using
some flimsy blue corduroy (cute,
but it needed to be stronger for
a bag). Sew around the perimeter
of the tab, leaving an opening in
the side as the pattern indicates
for turning the tab right side out.
Repeat this three more times
with your remaining tab pieces
so you have four total. When
complete, trim the excess seam
allowance and turn the tabs right
side out.

Press the tabs nice and

flat, then edge stitch
around the finished tab to
both close up the opening
4
in the tab and also make the
edges look neat and pretty.

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 boom box bag
sewing tutorial

5 Now we can use those

tabs to attach the metal
rings for our handles.
Fold the tabs in half while
looping one of your metal
rings through it, then lay it down
on your bag front where all the
appliqué is. Sew it down around
the overlapped space where the
pattern indicates (so it looks like
one of the sliding knobs). Repeat
this for the other tab on the
front of the bag as well as the
last two tabs for the back of the
bag.

6 This bag has an extra

zippered pocket on the
back made from inserting
a zipper into a little fabric
window. You start by layering
one of your back pocket pieces
over your bag back with right
sides together. Line them up
according to the zipper opening
guideline on the paper pattern,
then sew around the rectangle
guideline marked on the pattern.

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 boom box bag
sewing tutorial

After the rectangle’s sewn,

go in and clip the inside
of the rectangle open.
The pattern guidelines will
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give you an idea – you’ll need
to cut down the middle of the
rectangle in a long slash, then
cut outward towards the corners
as close to your stitching as you
can get without accidentally
snipping your stitches.

Using that opening you’ve

just cut, turn the fabric
pieces right side out. It
takes a little finagling and
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won’t feel quite right, but if
you do it correctly you should
end up with a little window
where your rectangle was and
your fabrics should have wrong
sides facing together now. Give
that window a good ironing so it
stays flat.

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 boom box bag
sewing tutorial

9 With the window complete,

you can now add in your
10” zipper. Layer the zipper
beneath your outer bag
fabric so it’s centered within
that little rectangular window.
I like to hold my zipper in place
with scotch tape, but you could
also use fusible web, pins, or even
a glue stick to hold it in place
while you sew around the edge
of the rectangle. Be sure your
zipper slider is moved to the
middle of the window while you
sew.

10 To complete the pocket,

simply take your other
back pocket piece and
layer it over the piece with
the zipper, right sides facing.
Sew completely around the
perimeter of the squares and
that finishes your pocket! No
need for turning or clipping here
:D

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 boom box bag
sewing tutorial

Now onto the lining. The

pattern calls for four lining
pieces for the front and
back when you typically
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only need two. Take those
extra two and fold them in half
lengthwise with wrong sides
together. Line up the raw edge
of one folded piece against the
bottom edge of one of your
unfolded lining pieces.
Baste those layers together
around the edge and a few lines
down the middle to create the
inner pockets. Repeat this same
process with your last two lining
pieces so that both the front
and back of your inner bag has
loads of pockets for organizing :D

When your pockets are all

complete, baste your lining
pieces to your finished
outer bag pieces. Make sure
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the right sides are both facing
out and the top sides are aligned
when you do so. We want the
front and back bag pieces to act
as one for the rest of the project.

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 boom box bag
sewing tutorial

13 Next you’ll want to baste

the piping to your bag
– this is where I made
my own. I had some extra
cording lying around that I was
able to use up. With some 1 1/4”
wide bias fabric and a piping
foot, I wrapped the cord with
the bias and sewed the cord in
the middle, stitching as close as
possible to the cord thanks to
my piping foot.

14 Whether you’ve made your

own piping or purchased
yours, you’ll need to baste
it to your bag now. Baste
the piping to the edge of the
front and back pieces of the bag
so the cording lies just inside of
the stitching line. When you add
the sides of the bag later the
cording will peek out perfectly.
Overlapped the piping along the
bottom middle side of the bag to
be less noticeable. It is possible to
go back and rejoin your cording
so it looks continuous, but this
is a nice alternative. Just repeat
this with the back of your bag,
and now the front and back of
your bag are complete!

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 boom box bag
sewing tutorial

Now we can finally move

onto the sides! For the
top section of your bag,
sandwich your 18” zipper
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between one of your outer
fabric top pieces and lining pieces
with right sides together and raw
edges lining up with the zipper
tape. Sew them together with
a 1/4” seam allowance and press
the fabric away from the zipper
when you finish. Then repeat
this with the other side of your
zipper tape and the remaining
bag top pieces.

Next up the side tab for

your shoulder strap. Simply
fold the tab in half and
sew one side together to
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make a little tube. Turn it right
side out and press it flat with the
seam in the middle instead of to
one side. Repeat this with your
other side tab pieces so you have
two total.

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 boom box bag
sewing tutorial

17 Loop the tab through one

of your D-rings and match
up the raw edges. Trim
your excess zipper tape
from step 14, then line up the
raw edges of your side tab over
the zipper tape and baste the
tab in place. Repeat this with
your other tab piece on the
other side of your bag top.

18 With your bag top all ready

to go, you can now add
your bag bottom. Simply
sandwich the short end
of your bag top between the
bag bottom outer fabric and
lining pieces (with outer fabric
facing outer fabric and lining
facing lining). Sew all these layers
together, then press the fabric
away from the zipper. I personally
did a little edge stitch afterwards
to keep all the layers in line
after ironing. Then you’ll want to
repeat this with the other side of
your bag top and bottom. When
you finish you should have a ring
of fabric.

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 boom box bag
sewing tutorial

With your bag sides all done you can

then start to attach it to your bag front
and back. You’ll need to use a piping foot
again if you want your piping to show.
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Begin by pinning the layers in place, wrapping
the long edge of the bag sides around the edge
of the bag back. Clip the seam allowances of
the bag sides so it curves nicely around the
corners of the bag back. The seams that join
the top to the bottom should match up with
the square markings from the paper pattern,
and the center fold of the bag bottom should
match up with the single notch.
When everything is lined up nicely, start sewing
around the perimeter of the bag. When you
finish, open up your zipper a bit so you can
turn your bag right side out later, then repeat
this whole step with the other edge of the bag
sides and the bag front.

I personally wanted to
cover up all of those raw
edges inside my bag, so I
20
used some extra bias tape
I had to bind up those seams.
You could use homemade bias
tape as well.

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 boom box bag
sewing tutorial

21 To make the strap and

handle, begin by folding
under the short edge of
each handle and strap piece
by 1/2” and iron it flat. Fold the
entire strap in half lengthwise
with right sides together, then
sew them along the long edge
using a 1/4” seam allowance. Turn
the straps right side out then
iron them good and flat.

22 To keep them looking

crisp, I personally edge
stitched down each side
of the strap (with some
contrasting thread for fun).

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 boom box bag
sewing tutorial

To complete the handles,

simply fold one end of one
of your handles through
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the metal ring back from
step 4. Overlap the fabric
by about 1 1/4”, then sew it in
place with a box stitch. Repeat
this with the other end of your
handle and the remaining metal
ring on that side of the bag
(being sure not to twist the
handle along the way). When
that’s all complete, repeat this
whole thing again with your
remaining handle piece and the
other side of the bag.

For the shoulder strap, it’s

pretty similar. Fold over
one end of the shoulder
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strap through one of the
hook rings and overlap the
fabric by about 1 1/4” and sew the
layers in place with a box stitch.
Repeat this with the other end
of the shoulder strap and the
remaining hook ring. Now you can
attach your shoulder strap to
the D-rings on the side of your
bag whenever you wish! Now go
load up your awesome new bag
because YOU’RE DONE!

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 Boom Box Bag
P A T T E R N
STRAP www.cholyknight.com
Chain this pattern from end to end
3 times making one long strip. TOP/HANDLES
This creates the strap pattern. Cut 4 from main fabric
Cut 1 from main fabric Cut 2 from lining
SIDE TABS

Cut 1 from fusible interfacing Cut 4 from fusible interfacing

3/8” seam allowance

¼” seam allowance ½” seam allowance (top)

Cut 2 from contrast fabric

¼” seam allowance (handles/strap)

B1 B2
BUTTON
Cut 5 from gray

Cut 2 of gray, 1 of blue

UPPER PANELS
DECK WINDOW/
CASSETTE DECK

turning
Opening for
3/8” seam allowance
HANDLE TABS
Cut 8 of contrast fabric
LARGE KNOBS
Cut 2 of white, 2 of gray
Pg. 1/6

SPEAKER LAYER 3/

A1 A2
 A3 A4
Pg. 2/6

B3 B4
strap
placement
cut on fold

A1 A2
3/
6

y
/6 Pg. 3/6

Boom Box Bag

P A T T E R N
www.cholyknight.com
BOTTOM
Cut 1 on fold of main fabric
Cut 1 on fold of lining fabric
A3 A4 ½” seam allowance

Boom Box Bag

P A T T E R N
www.cholyknight.com
BACK POCKET
Cut 2 from lining fabric
½” seam allowance
B5 B6
 Boom Box Bag
C1 C2

P A T T E R N
Pg. 4/6

www.cholyknight.com
FRONT/BACK/LINING
Cut 2 from main fabric
Cut 4 from lining fabric
Cut 2 from fusible interfacing
½” seam allowance
applique placement
B1 B2
 C3 C4
Pg. 5/6

Cut 2 of black
B3 B4
Cut 1 of gray SPEAKER LAYER 1
CASSETTE DECK
p strap
ent placement
Zipper placement
Boom Box Bag

C1 C2
P A T T E R N

/6
 B5 B6
/6 Pg. 6/6

SLIDING KNOB
Cut 4 of contrast fabric

SPEAKER LAYER 2

Cut 6 of black
Cut 2 of gray

BAR
SMALL KNOB
Cut 4 of black

C3 C4 SPEAKER LAYER 4
Cut 2 of light gray