How to reinforce the bottom of a bag

Have you seen my latest pouch and bag patterns?
In spite of the sophisticated look, these are not hard to sew patterns and actually, there are not too many steps involved!

The bag pattern includes instructions on how to add a stiff bottom insert to the bag- very easy…

You can reinforce the bottom of a bag in other ways as well, here is what else I made for this pattern- I did all the job on the exterior side of the bag.

It is not only functional, but it also adds a beautiful detail to the design.

You need a piece of STIFF interfacing  (like Decovil Heavy or Pellon Peltex or Fast2Fuse) in the size of the FINAL size of the bottom of your bag. You need to keep this interfacing out of the subsequent seams you need to sew.

You need to cover the interfacing with a piece of fabric 3/4” bigger than the interfacing, if you use 3/8” seam allowances for your bag.
Center the interfacing on the back of  your fabric. I used faux leather because my bag is made out of faux leather but you can use it even on bags made out of canvas or other cotton fabrics.

Place double adhesive tape on the long edges of faux leather.

Remove the paper backing and tape the long edges of the faux leather to the interfacing.

Add again double adhesive tape along the long edges of the piece.

Remove the paper backing.
Tape the interfaced piece on the center of your bag panel.  Topstitch close to the long edges of the added faux leather piece (see the green marking lines).
Then finish your bag as usual.

All the measurements are included in the pattern, but as I said, now that you understand this technique, you can use it on many bag designs.
All you need to keep in mind is that the interfacing must be kept out of seams and try to add as less bulk as possible to your seams.
The measurements are important too!

Does this make sense? I hope so, I think I will make a tutorial for a regular bag design too!

If you want to stitch bags like this one, check out my
Raphaela and Blache pattern here!

Happy sewing!