Trash Bags, Step 3

Step Three: Joining Shell and Liner

Place the liner inside the shell.

Invert over your hand, using thumb and forefinger to guide the liner corners into the shell corners, pulling gently on the shell to get everything well-seated. Clip the raw edges together, matching the back seams. There is usually a bit of the liner showing beyond the edge of the shell.

Baste raw edges together, roughly 1/2" from top.

Trim excess liner and plastic, creating a neat top edge.

 

Handle and top border: 

Both 3" x 20.5" strips are ironed in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. 

 

For the handle, iron long edges to meet at the middle crease...

 

...then fold together for one long (20.5") 4-layered strip. Top-stitch close to both long edges. Short ends remain raw.

For the top border, iron half of the strip to the center crease.

Iron the other half of the strip off-center by 1/16" to 1/8". (This will create a little extra fabric to catch when attaching the border to the bag, to be explained later.)

 

Sew the short ends of the border strip together with a 1/4" seam. Press open and fold back up.

 

(My apologies for the confusing upcoming pictures. As I made more of these bags, I realized this first bag was made with a few awkward steps that could be done much easier. So please pretend I've pinned on the handle first and THEN pinned on the border. Thanks!) 

Pin each end of the handle (check that it isn't twisted) on either side of the back seam. Despite what this picture is showing, place the handle ends slightly below the top edge... 

...spacing them 1.5" to 2" apart (i.e. 3/4" to 1" either side of the back seam).

Pin the border to the bag, making sure the edge that was ironed to the center crease is aligned with the top of the bag. Offset the border seam a little from the bag seams to distribute bulk.

This is the time to do a quick size-check of the border, pinning in 5-6 places and seeing if all layers will fit together without any excess. Due to construction and fabrics, the border loop can sometimes end up being slightly too big for the existing perimeter. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO STRETCH THE BAG TO FIT! All that does is tear the plastic away from the fabric and ruin the bag. Instead, resew the border seam so it fits the bag.

 

The top crease (3/4" from the edge) is your sewing line. Sew the entire perimeter. It doesn't matter where you start. (If your machine has a free arm, use it. Mine does not, so I ended up having to turn everything inside-out from this point forward.)

 

Turn the border over the top edge and onto the lining side of the bag. Pin close to the seam (not in the seam)...

...checking that the unattached edge is getting caught in the pinning. The additional surface area created by the off-center ironing should make it easy to cover the seam seen on the lining side.

Top-stitch the shell side of the border near the bottom edge, starting just before the handle.

Just before returning to the starting point, fold the handle up and onto the border.

Secure the handle with squares.

That's it! (In my case I had to turn everything right-side-out again, and then that was it.) Estimate time to make: 90-100 minutes (once you've finished fondling fabric and playing in your stash).