Measurements for cChildren's bags

Hi Gudrun and welcome 😀 Thanks for your question about the size of bags for children. I love your plan to give bags away to kids using your local library! 😀

I guess the answer depends on the size of the children the bags are for – you don’t want the bags to be dragging on the ground.

You can vary the size of your morsbags as much as you like to fit the fabric you have and the people they’re for. So long as you have a functional bag that fits the job it’s for, that’s fine!

I often suggest making a morsbag about 2/3 size for a child, and that works out a bit larger than the size of an A4 piece of paper.

You could make a trial bag and get some of the children to try it out. If it takes books of the size they borrow and the children don’t have to lean over or lift their arm up so the bag doesn’t drag on the ground, it should be OK.

For a bag 2/3 of a normal sized one you want a piece of fabric about 66cm long x 30cm wide for a bag with a fold at the bottom. (That’s 26″ x 12″ for people who work in inches) If your fabric is smaller than that you can make a two-piece bag by cutting 2 pieces that are 33cm x 30cm (= 13″ x 12″) and joining the bottom with a french seam the same as the sides.

All these measurements don’t have to be precise and you can make the bags fit the material you have available.

A couple more tips –
1) About handles- I usually make the handles the same length as the width of the bag. If it’s being made for a particularly short person I make them a bit smaller than usual and angle them inwards when sewing them up into the “upwards” position.
2) Another one for shorter people that may help with bags for kids, especially if they are borrowing picture books – you can turn the bag body around so it’s wider than it’s long (I think of these as like a beach bag). So for a normal sized bag you’d cut material to be 90cm long x 50 cm wide (36″ x 20″). Kid’s size “sideways” bag would need material cut to 60cm x 33cm (24″ x 13″).

Hope this helps and isn’t too confusing! Please ask if you need more help 😀

ps I have found that a normal size morsbag fits on a little shoulder nicely!

At hand outs we often find that children choose a full size bag and the adults choose smaller bags.

If you have a lot of smaller pieces of fabric to use up you may want to join them to make bits large enough to make a bag. I use a felled seam to join them securely.

You can also make morsbags the traditional way, using separate pieces for the front and the back – they don’t have to match, and neither do the handles! 😀

Yes good for party bags as they are usually made of plastic.

Double post! Again!!