Sewing a kid’s bag with Free Sewing Pattern

Today, I’d like to show you how to sew a kids’ bag. I really hope you’ll like it. This kids’ bag is relatively quick to sew and incredibly versatile. It can make for a great upcycling project using old jeans, and it also looks lovely as a patchwork bag. You can also adapt the kids’ bag to the current season with your choice of fabric. Most of my time is often spent selecting fabrics rather than sewing. Perhaps I’m not alone in this.

Large and Small Bags

In the first photo, you can see the larger bag and, partially resting on it, the smaller bag. The difference isn’t just in the size of the bags but also in the handling of the straps for carrying.
The smaller bag features an adjustable strap, allowing you to tailor the strap length to the child’s size. Both bags have the same snap-button closure. However, you could also sew the closure flap of the kids’ bag with Velcro if preferred.

Bag Bottom

Unlike the larger bag, I’ve added darts to the bottom of the kids’ bag on both sides. I think this gives the sewn bag a lovely shape. However, you’re welcome to sew the bag without darts if you prefer.
I might incorporate this modification for the bag bottom into the next large bag I sew.

Size of the Kids’ Bag

The body of the finished kids’ bag measures approximately 27 cm wide and 26 cm high. Thanks to the darts, the bag has a depth of about 7 cm.

Optional Inner Pocket

You can sew this small shoulder bag with or without an inner pocket, and you can also add a loop to attach a key or other small items to keep them secure.

Embellishments

At home, I’ve accumulated a small treasure trove of different beads. It’s quick and easy to add some embellishments to the bag.

Sewing Instructions for the Kids’ Bag

Materials

• Outer fabric approx. 30 cm x fabric width (110 or 140 cm)
• Lining fabric approx. 30 cm x fabric width (110 or 140 cm)
• H630 interfacing approx. 30 cm x 60 cm
• Strap approx. 2.5 cm wide and 120–130 cm long
• 2 D-rings, 25 mm
• 2 snap hooks, 25 mm
• Optional embellishments

Of course, you’ll also need a sewing machine, an iron, and various sewing tools, such as:

• Pins
• Fabric clips
• Point turner
• Tape for assembling the printed pattern pieces
• Marking pen
• Paper scissors
• Fabric scissors

Download Free Sewing Pattern

You can download the bag pattern as a PDF using the following link:

Kids bag pattern A4

Please download the pattern to your computer and print it without resizing, i.e., with a scale of 100%. The small 4-cm square serves as a guide to ensure the printout is correct.

Seam Allowances

The pattern does not include seam allowances!
Add a 1 cm seam allowance around all fabric pieces and cut the interfacing without any seam allowance. Do not add any additional seam allowances to the darts.

Cutting

Once you’ve downloaded, assembled, and cut out the paper pattern for the kids’ bag, you can use the templates to cut out the fabric pieces and interfacing pieces.

Overview of All Fabric Pieces

Now you should have all the necessary pieces for the kids’ bag in front of you. The darts should already be cut out. Next, iron the corresponding interfacing pieces onto the back of the outer fabric pieces. The H630 Fusable Interfacing has adhesive dots and must be ironed on with steam. Please follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
Note! Don’t be confused—I spontaneously decided to make the outer and inner sides of the bag contrasting. This gives the bag a “face” with two different sides.

The outer fabric pieces are reinforced with interfacing, while the lining fabric remains without interfacing.

Inner Pocket

As mentioned earlier, you can sew the kids’ bag with or without an inner pocket. The size of the inner pocket is also up to you—you can customize it to your liking.

You can also sew a loop into the inner pocket, which you can make from pre-made ribbon or fabric. To make one, cut a fabric strip (4 cm x 19 cm), fold the edges in by 1 cm on all four sides, press them, and topstitch.

I like to sew the loop into the turning gap of the inner pocket and topstitch it onto the lining fabric, as shown in the photo below.

To prevent the loop from being caught in the seam later, you can secure it inside with a pin or tape.

Preparing the Bag Closure

You can choose the type of closure for the bag. For younger children, I think Velcro might be more suitable than a snap closure. A magnetic closure is also an option and has the advantage of being easier to use.
It often depends on the manual dexterity of the child who will carry the bag. Or you can skip the closure altogether and sew the kids’ bag as a simple bag.

Darts

The darts are marked on the pattern and should already be cut out. Now sew all four darts and press them to the side. I wouldn’t recommend trimming them, as they are quite narrow, and there’s a risk of cutting too much.

Sewing the Bag

Once the darts are sewn, sew the two outer fabric pieces together, leaving the top open. Do the same for the two lining fabric pieces.

Turning Opening

Since the children’s bag has a relatively round bottom, I would recommend planning a turning opening of about 10 cm, not at the bottom but along one of the side edges. 

Here you can see the pink outer fabrics of the front side.

And in the following photo, you can see the blue backside of the outer bag.

Align the flap at the center of the upper edge on the right side of the back outer side and topstitch it narrowly with the sewing machine to prevent it from shifting when sewing it together with the inner bag later.

Strap Attachment

Cut two strap pieces measuring 25 mm x 80 mm and loop a D-ring into each. Attach these pieces to the upper narrow sides of the outer bag on the left and right. Here you can see again that I sewed both outer fabrics oppositely:

Sew these attachments narrowly with the sewing machine as well.

Outer Bag and Inner Bag

Keep the outer bag turned right side out and slip the inner bag, with the wrong fabric side out, over the outer bag. Sew the edges together.

In this picture, you can see how I pull apart the sewn bag parts after stitching them together.

After turning the bag parts, shape all the edges and iron them well.

Adjustable Bag Strap

I’ve already explained in detail how to sew an adjustable bag strap for the children’s bag. You can view and follow the instructions here (only in German, but I hope you can tell by the pictures! If you have any questions about this step, please let me know in the comments): 

Adjustable Bag Strap – Made Easy

Alternatively, you can simply sew a basic strap onto the bag. 

Big and small, a wonderful mother-daughter bag or a gift bag for a daughter’s friend. I’m sure you’ll come up with more ideas to gift such a sewn children’s bag.

And just as a side note: I think this format is not only for children… big kids like me might enjoy it too. 🙂

Happy sewing, dear ones! If you don’t have time to sew, I’ll let you in on a secret: I sometimes sell such children’s bags in my shop.

Warm regards, Katharina
RaabArt