Magician's Secret Bag

Today's project turned out so cool! I'm giddy with my excitement about how neat it is that I hardly know where to start my story. I'll begin with saying that whenever the library offers a magic show we're there sitting front and center. My son is very intrigued by magic, and as cheesy as these school performers are they know their audience... grade school age boys are in awe. As we left he couldn't stop talking about doing magic when we got home. My mind went into overdrive to come up with a trick he could do. The library magician did a trick with bag that I was pretty sure I could duplicate. Here's instructions for my version of the magic bag.

Start by cutting 2 pieces of black fabric 9.75"x11" & 2 pieces of decorative fabric (the blue star fabric) 9.75"x12". You'll also need a 5" hoop, a 7"-8" zipper, and a strong magnet (you can buy these at craft stores, or save the ones from the backside of refrigerator to-do lists... they're great... super strong).

With right sides together stitch the black fabric along the long sides using a 5/8" hem. Do the same for the decorative fabric.

Attach the zipper to the bottom. Start by sewing the zipper to the decorative fabric, right sides together. Do this for both sides.

Bring the black fabric over the decorative fabric, wrong sides together. I hemmed the end first, or you can hem it at the same time you sew it to the zipper.

Stitch the black fabric to the zipper, sealing in the raw edge.

Turn bag right side out. Hem the tops of the fabric. This can be done by folding over the top just 1/4" to seal in the frayed ends, or by surging the ends like shown in the picture.

If using a refrigerator magnet cut it into 2 equal pieces. Sew one magnet onto the wrong side of one of the black pieces, using a small square of black fabric to hold it in place. It will actually go UNDER the square, not on top as shown in the picture. It's just there to show placing and pieces used on this step.

Sew the other magnet into the wrong side of the decorative pieces, again using a small square of black fabric to hold it's place. Put it where it lines up with the other magnet.

Use the hoop to measure how far to make a casing with the decorative fabric. Remove hoop and sew the casing, leaving a gap 1"-2" wide to insert hoop into later.

On the side of bag that does NOT have magnets stitch the black fabric to the decorative fabric along the same stitch line you just made in the casing. Leave the other side of the bag open.

Take the outer hoop and fold over the metal pieces that stick out. (I used some needle nose pliers for this part.)

Then thread hoop into the casing.

I left the gap open. You can close it up with some hand stitching. And you're done!

Now here's how to use the bag. Before performing trick take a piece of play food from the toy box and put it in the secrete pocket you've made in the bag between the black lining and the outer decorative fabric. Close the secrete pocket with the magnet. Open the zipper.

When ready to perform the trick say, "I brought a snack to share, it's just right here in my bag." Put your hand in the bag and it sticks right out the bottom. Act surprised that your bag has a hole and now you lost your snack. Close the zipper. Say some magic words, wave a magic wand if you have one. Reach back in the bag, only this time you secretly put your hand in the secrete pocket, and pull out the toy food. Ta-Da!! Take a bow and soak in the applause.