basic messenger bag for 18″ dolls

When my friend Victoria first showed me the library book bags she had made using the basic messenger bag on the mmmcrafts blog, I was very excited to get started on them for the girls. We have been going to the library more (instead of buying books) and the kid sized bags were great enablers of this habit. Unfortunately, I broke my rule of not adding to my stash, but couldn’t resist these Etsuko Furuya fabrics, and coordinating webbing and mini pompom trim from one of my favourite fabric sites, fabricworm.

At our house, if you really want something to catch on, you make a mini version for their dolls – I’m hoping to also make some mini doll books with the girls on the next rainy day. The measurements (in inches) I used for the doll messenger bags were as follows:

6.25 x 10.5 bag and lining
5.25 x 6 flap, 2.5 circle for corners
3.5 x 4 outer pocket
2.75 x 4 inner pocket
2 x 16.5 strap
1.25 outer pocket placement from top and bottom corners
1.75 from top for placement of inner pocket
for squaring the corners, I used a triangle base of 1.25

The bags are slightly over sized for their dolls, however, this was intentional as I wanted them to fit at least one doll outfit in the messenger bags (for sleepovers at their cousins’ houses). I followed the instructions for the full sized bags, using 1\4 ” seams. I had used scraps from the girls’ bags, but you could get the entire bag out of one fat quarter, plus some additional scrap fabric for the lining and pockets.