A Christmas Present for "Mamy": A Walker Bag/Organizer

Front of the Bag with 3 Side Pockets

Mamy's Special Christmas Present

After thinking about different ideas for Mamy's Christmas present and make it very special, I thought about making a bag for her walker. "Mamy" or "Mamie" is one of the special name to call your Grandma in French. My Mamy lives in France with the rest of my family. She has been using in her daily activities for almost a year now. I thought that it would be a prefect gift thinking back about a previous phone conversation on how she was describing her walker and uses it. The bag would definitively be convenient in some situations for her. I cannot wait for her to get it for Christmas... Mamy is so special to me.

Back of the Bag with 1 Big Side Pocket

Side View of the Bag

After spending some time online to search for a bag idea, I found the perfect pattern from Piecework Treasures and this great tutorial from Laura's Sewing Studio that I was looking for. I followed the basics of the tutorial and added my personal touch. It was interesting to observe all the changes I made along the way with the bag based on the initial design. 

Top View of the Bag

For this project, I had 4 different pieces of fabric to make the bag: 1 large piece of printed fabric pattern and 3 long and narrow (5 inches) plain pieces of fabric. Those 3 pieces were complementing the same color scheme of the leaf pattern. The color palette were: white, subdue pink, burgundy and dark blue.
The leaf pattern piece of fabric: base of the bag (front and back) and one side of a pocket (the one divided into three pockets)
Pink, Blue and Burgundy pieces of fabric: one side pocket, bias on the top of the two pockets and ties.

Below you will find some tutorials and ideas reflecting my personal touch. However follow the tutorial from Laura's Sewing Studio for building your bag.



Project: Bag/organizer for walker


I made some adjustment in relation to the design of the bag for 3 reasons. (1) I used the pieces of fabric that I already had. (2) The leaf pattern fabric was not enough to complete the different parts of the bag. To realize the bag, I had to create some of the parts with three different pieces of fabric. (3) I have not seen Mamy's walker and did not want ask any questions to my mom about the style, height, width, etc to keep this present as a total surprise. Some modifications were done for the ties to fit Mamy's walker.

• Drawing Sewing Template of the Bag: 

The measurements of the finished bag.

• Pocket with Layering (back of the bag)

- 4 length of the plain pieces of fabric (5 by 10 inches)


Sewed the 4 pieces next to each other and making sure that the width was 4.25 inches for the 2 pieces in the middle. 

- 1 piece of the plain fabric of your choice (3 by 15)

Fold it into two and iron.
Take one side and make a fold half an inch from the edge inside. Place the small fold inside the folded fabric. 
Repeat for the other side.
You should have a bias of one inch on each side. 



Place the bias that you just made over the 4 layered pieces of fabric that you just sewed. 
Make sure that the bias covers the edge of the piece of fabric on both sides.

Secure with pins before sewing. 

The pocket should still be 10 inches long with the bias.  







I followed the same steps for the front side pocket of the bag with the three pockets to create the bias. 

• Ties

I did not have enough of the same piece of fabric to have all the ties of the same color. I adjusted with what I had and ended up with each side of the 4 main ties to be a different color.

- 16 single ties measuring 17 inches long and 3 inches wide, which include a margin of 1/2 inch on each side and 1/2 inches on the top and 1 and 1/2 inches on bottom (part to sew on the bag). 

- 2.5 inches strips cut on the bias for bias.

Face the right side of the 2 pieces of fabric. Left an extra half inch in the top (bias) and sewed the longest edge. 
Place the needle of your machine at the exact same place where you started sewing the longest length. Start sewing the small width and move along to the shortest length. 
Pull the right side out and iron. 

Final length once assembled: 15 by 2
Repeat the steps above to complete the ties of your bag. 

You need a total of 8 ties: 4 on the top of the base of the bag and 4 for the sides. 

Place the ties were you like on the top of the bag and sew them. Make sure that they line up with each other.

For the ties on the side, sew them at the same time as you sew the entire side of the bag from top to bottom (bag and side pockets). As above, make sure that the bias and ties line up.

• Cross Stitching

To make this bag special, I decided to cross stitch my Grandma special name "Mamy". I used a previous cross stitch project for the template of the letters and matching DMC threads of the plain pieces of fabric. I crossed stitched with 3 threads on Aida.

A Personal Touch

I folded the edges inside, apply it on a piece of fabric and sewed it on the bag.

• A Special Label

Several years ago I found those cute labels from a craft store. They were just perfect for my project. I sewed my nick name (Titia) using the DMC threads as for the cross stitching. Then, I ironed it between 2 ties on the top of the bag and on the inside. 

The label is called Lovelabels by La Mode.