Music Stand Bag
Introduction
When you buy music stands they usually come in a bag. There are 2 problems with my ‘bag’.
~ It is getting old and falling apart
~ when you put the music stand in the bag with the 2 parts joined together, the stand comes up higher than the top of the opening and you can’t close the top over.
So I decided to create a Music Stand Bag using remnants of black curtain and coloured upholstery fabric and a covered thin foam fragment from the base of an old bed mattress plus my new Brother Sewing Machine.
Laying Out Fabric
Here’s how I did it.
Materials:
Fabric: eg black and coloured remnants of curtain and upholstery fabric
Sewing scissors
Pins
Tape measure or ruler
Cotton eg black cotton
Equipment:
Sewing Machine eg Brother
Method:
1. Decide what pieces you need
I needed:
~ an outer layer, padded foam middle layer and an inner layer
~ a strap to carry the stand around
~ a short piece to go across from side-seam to side-seam near the top of one side of the bag. This is so the bit which folds over from the other side of the bag, can go under and keep the music stand inside without potential for it to fall out.
~ a design feature made from the coloured upholstery fabric.
I decided to have 5 strips going across the width of the bag on a diagonal with 3 strips on 1 side and 2 strips on the other. This is to represent the 5 lines of a musical stave in an artistic way.
2. Measure and Cut out Pieces:
The Outer Layer:
I already had a long rectangular black piece of curtain fabric, which I decided was my outer layer. I placed the music stand on the ground as the measuring factor. Then I folded the fabric over so that there was a single layer at one end, which would be the bit, which folded over at the top. The double layer of fabric was slightly bigger than the length of the music stand. I cut across the width so that the single layer measured about 12 inches.
The Middle Foam Layer:
I had a long rectangular piece just the perfect width and just had to cut it to size so that it was slightly shorter in length to the outer black layer. I decided that I would be folding the ends of the black fabric over the inner layers for a neat finish.
The Inner Layer:
This layer is the same size as the middle layer. So I used the middle layer as a pattern piece and pinned it onto the coloured upholstery fabric. I the cut round it.
The Carry Strap:
I worked out a length, which I thought would be a comfortable length to carry on my shoulder and a width double plus a bit more to what I wanted. The width needs to be double to have a strap of 2 layers of fabric. And the “bit more” is to cater for the seam allowance.
I used 1 side black fabric and 1 side coloured fabric.
The Short Piece at Top of Bag:
This is from the black fabric.
The length is the width size of the black outer layer from side-seam to side-seam.
The width was about 2 cm. Cut 2 pieces.
The Design Feature
I cut out 5 strips of coloured upholstery fabric.
The length of each piece was the measurement of the distance from 1 side of the black outer layer to the other side of the outer layer on the desired angle.
The width of each piece was about 5 cm.
Please note, that your measurements could vary depending on what you want.
And of course you could have a completely different design feature or none at all…entirely up to you.
3. Sewing It Together:
Make sure you have threaded the upper and lower threads on your sewing machine. Follow instruction manual or DVD if one came with machine.
Use a straight stitch.
i. Pin wrong side of inner fabric to one side of the middle foam piece.
Choose an edging stitch.
Sew all the way around. Cut and trim thread away right to the fabric.
ii. Prepare strips and carry strap
The short strip and strap:
Pin the right sides together.
Use a seam allowance of 3/8” and sew down each side.
Pull the right sides to be on the outside.
This step is fiddley especially on the smaller pieces.
iii. Prepare the design feature strips
Fold over each piece so that the right sides are in the middle.
Sew down the one side.
Pull the right sides to be on the outside.
iv. Iron all strips and carry strap
v. Pin and Sew all strips and carry strap on to the outer black piece
The Short Piece For Top
Firstly fold the black piece over so that there is a 12″ single layer at the top and a double layer a little longer than the length of the music stand.
Then fold the 12″ piece over.
The Short Strip will be positioned about 3 cm from the lower edge of this turned over piece.
Pin the strip across the inner side from side-seam to side-seam.
Sew in position quite close to the edge on the sides of the black piece only. You can follow a sewing line on your sewing machine.
The Design Feature Strips
Position these strips on the right side of the black fabric on the diagonal and pin into place. I put 2 strips on the inner side and 3 strips on the outer side.
Sew very close to the edge all the way around.
The Carry Strap:
Firstly turn the ends in and pin together.
Then position and pin the strap on the black outer side where you want. The ends will face inwards.
Sew in place with a rectangular shape and a criss-cross pattern in the middle.
vi. Sewing The Black Outer Layer To The Inner Layers
Pin the wrong sides of each piece together.
Sew completely around using a straight stitch 3/8 ‘’ seam allowance.
Pin the black outer ends of each end over the coloured inside pieces and sew across each end.
vii. Fold The Piece
Fold the piece so that right sides are together and that there is a single layer of slightly less than 12″ at the top on one side. I just made sure the music stand would fit.
Pin sides together.
Sew a straight stitch using 3/8’ seam allowance along the thinner layers of fabric.
Remember to trim thread to the material as you sew each section.
Pull the right sides to the outside.
VOILA a FINISHED PRODUCT with a Brother Sewing Machine
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