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witch

DIY

Go-Bag for the Urban Witch DIY

Lately, I’ve been trying to organize my life and efforts across the board. For the first time, I’m buying and using storage bins in my art studio. I’m categorizing notions and accessories and filing them away in their proper place. Part of this may be growing up, or an increased incentive to have a presentable and stress-free work/home environment. At any rate, I’m having a great time creating a place for everything and I’m super proud to bring you our first DIY tutorial! This DIY Go-Bag for the Urban Witch is a perfect weekend project and a great way to organize any magical supplies, sacred personal items, or even a small apothecary.

Sometimes you need to grab your supplies and hit the road in a pinch, whether it be the last minute work trip or a race to a sister in need, the best thing about this Go-Bag is that there are a ton of uses for it. It can serve as a sacred place for your travel altar or as a to-go apothecary/ medicine bag for when you’re on the move. The Go-Bag can even act as a general storage bag for magical items, stones, charms, and cards. The Go-Bag can serve whichever intention you choose. It’s up to you.

You can adjust the size of this bag based on when you intend to keep inside it. Increasing the 23″ measurement would make the bag taller/ deeper. Increasing the 15″ measurement would make the bag longer; you need the zipper to be 1″ longer than whatever your length measurement is.

GO-BAG SUPPLIES

Outer fabric 15″x23″
Fusible fleece
Inner fabric
Handle: 4×9 of exterior fabric and fusible fleece
Tab: 3×5 of interior fabric
16″ zipper

Optional:

4 flat bottom feet screws
1 round stud fastener

GO-BAG INSTRUCTIONS

Part One:

A.) Collect all your supplies with your fabric cut to the correct size: 15″ x 23″ for bag “body” and fusible fleece and 4″ x 9″ of exterior fabric and fusible fleece for the handle. Fuse your fleece (also 15″ x 23″) to the wrong side of your handle and exterior fabric.

B.) Fuse your fleece (also 15″ x 23″) to the wrong side of your handle and exterior fabric. Now the wrong side of your handle and exterior fabric will be the fleece.

C.) Place your lining (interior fabric) right side up. Right side up means the side that will be exposed when finished is facing up.

D.) Open your zipper and line it up with the 15″ edge of your lining fabric and place it on top with the other zipper half hanging down. The pull of your zipper will be facing you. The zipper aligned as pictured, with stops 1/2″ away from the left side of the fabric. Align the exterior fabric face down/ wrong side up on top and pin for sewing. Sew your zipper with 1/4 seam allowance.

Part Two:

E.) Keep your zipper open and flip the bottom raw edge of your top (exterior fabric) up so that it’s right sides are together and the bottom raw edge is now up with the zipper.

F.) Fold the outer fabric the same way to its right sides are together and its raw edge is aligned with the raw edge of the interior fabric. See in the photo below how each fabric is folded onto itself? Line up the zipper as before, this time with the zipper pull on the left.

G.) Pin as shown below and sew with a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Part Three:

H.) Turn the bag inside itself, so it appears as normal from the outside, with the interior fabric inside and exterior fabric outside.

I.) Top stitch your zipper on each side, going through both the exterior and lining, but not sewing it shut. You’ll have your zipper open to do this; it should end up looking top-stitched like pictured.

Part Four:

J.) Now place your bag flat, zipped up, with the zipper down the center and pin through all fabrics as shown.

Part Five:

K.) With your bag pinned, cut a 2 1/4″ L x 2″ H square at each corner.

Part Six:

L.) Make your tab:

For the tab, fold each long edge to meet in the center and press.

Then fold it in half width-wise, so the raw edges meet and press again.

If you’re adding a metal tab, add it now.

Top stitch the non-raw edges of the tab.

Part Seven:

P.) Make Your handle:

For the handle, make sure you fused the fleece in Step One. You’ll do three folds. I find it helpful to press after each. Fold the long raw edges lengthwise to meet in the middle.

Then fold it once more in half, so your only raw edges are the 1″ ends and topstitch.

Part Eight:

Q.) Attach the tab and handle by first turning your interior and exterior fabric, so the wrong sides are out/ right sides together. Make sure all layers are aligned and unzip the zipper a few inches.

R.) Pin your handle on the end with the zipper pull as shown. Sew the aligned and pinned edge with a 1/2″ seam (or whatever your bag/ zipper allows if you resized or made mistakes it’s okay).

S.) Pin your tab upside down and “finished” end-inside in the same manner and sew the aligned edge.

T.) Turn your bag right side out through one of the square openings that are left unfinished.

Part Nine:

Now we’ll do a French seam on the square edges. A French seam is where you first sew a raw edge; then you sew over the seam from the interior to “trap” the raw edge completely. Here’s a link for french seams if it’s confusing.

U.) You’ll first want to reopen your square edge to create a box seam, this is accomplished by sewing from corner to corner, as shown. Pin each corner and sew.

V.) Trim the excess down. If you made mistakes or had rough cuts, you have had to increase seam allowance. Trim, so you only have about 1/4″ of a raw edge.

W.) Turn bag inside out. Push out your new square bottom/ corners. Use your pins to mark the seam allowance needed to trap the outer seam. Sew to complete.

X.) Your interior will look like this. Add your bag feet now if you wish, using a seam ripper to poke holes first where they will go through to the exterior.

Your completed go-bag will look like this:

Each Go-Bag will hold three or four 7 day candles, three large bundles of sage, one tarot deck, and other items as needed (crystals, pendulums, poppet, sachets, charms, travel altars, etc..) Check back here for more DIY’s and ideas for living creatively mindful.

*This post first appeared on I AM A HEALER.

DIY Ritual Bath Bomb

This DIY Ritual Bath Bomb is ideal for a ritual soak/ cleanse. With the New Moon today, I thought I’d share this recipe to aide you in any intention setting and spellwork you might do. It’s a New Moon in Pisces/ Solar Eclipse and it’s a perfect time to set intentions rooted in emotion and honesty to oneself. Furthermore, you can take advantage of the new moon’s energy for a couple of days afterward, so please do! You’re not too late.

I recommend charging some amethyst or citrine under the new moon tonight for use in your future DIY Ritual Bath Bomb. You can use the charged stones as part of your rituals throughout the month. Oftentimes I strategize what color, essential oil, and crystal are best suited to my intention before making a bath bomb that reflects those things.

When I first attempted to make my own DIY Ritual Bath Bomb I was filled with such feelings of grandiose, it’s embarrassing. Like all of us, I’ve seen at least a dozen tutorials for bath bombs over the years. I figured they were missing something, though. As a witch and budding herbalist, I had a ton of ideas for bringing more intention and herbal remedy to the notion of a bath bomb.

I want to be 100% real with you here, I was certain that I was on the cusp of starting my DIY Ritual Bath Bomb empire—before I’d even tried to make a single bath bomb. The problem was in the execution.

I think I used a recipe that had too much moisture, which resulted in my bath bombs drying up and cracking and generally crumbling apart. I was pretty devastated. In the end, I used a recipe that makes smaller batches (2 large mold or 4 small molds) bath bombs. I’m so happy with the result! This is a perfect device to help you clear yourself of negative energies and to activate your intentions, inviting the things that you want into your life. Enjoy!

You’ll need round metal bath bomb molds, mixing bowl(s), a whisk, and a foil wrapped cookie sheet for drying.

Start by mixing all of your dry ingredients in a bowl. If you’re using dry herbs, you can mix those in with your dry ingredients or create pockets later. If you’re using powder color pigment, that counts as dry. However, if you’re using food coloring, that will go with your wet ingredients. Use your whisk to combine all the ingredients until it’s pretty uniform

Mix your wet ingredients in a separate bowl. That’s your essential oil, almond/ coconut oil, water, and optional food coloring. Use a spoon to slowly add drops of your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients. Whisk as you do this to combine them. If it starts to fizz a lot, slow down.

Once all your ingredients are combined you add any flower petals or herbs you’re using. Then you can begin to make the molds.

Press a handful of your mix into a mold until it’s flush with the top and smooth. Smooth around the sides of the rim to eliminate a rim from the final product. Each half should be just a tiny bit heaping.

Press each half together firmly. Flip so that one-half is sitting on top of the other. Carefully take the mold off the top half and set the bottom half down so the ball can begin to dry. That should take 15 minutes or so. After the DIY Ritual Bath Bomb has been drying a little bit, carefully flip it over so the exposed half of the bath bomb is down and carefully take the other half of the mold off.

Allow the totally exposed bath bombs to dry overnight for at least 8 hours before using or wrapping them.

Enjoy this DIY Ritual Bath Bomb recipe!

DIY Ritual Bath Bomb

Print Recipe

Serves: 2 Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

4 oz. of baking soda/ sodium bicarbonate
2 oz. of citric acid
2 oz. of corn starch
2 oz. of sea salts or Epsom salts (sea salt is more mineral rich while Epsom salt is just magnesium. Both will aide aches and pains, sea salt is better for clearing negative energy as you would before a ritual)
1-1.5 tsp. of water
1 tsp. essential oil (10-15 drops)
1 1/4 tsp almond/ coconut carrier oil
Molds or cookie cutter shapes
Optional: Color pigment or food coloring and dried herbs

Instructions

You'll need round metal bath bomb molds, mixing bowl(s), a whisk, and a foil wrapped cookie sheet for drying

Start by mixing all of your dry ingredients in a bowl. If you're using dry herbs, you can mix those in with your dry ingredients or create pockets later. If you're using powder color pigment, that counts as dry. If you're using food coloring, that will go with your wet ingredients. Use your whisk to combine all the ingredients until it's pretty uniform

Mix your wet ingredients in a separate bowl. That's your essential oil, almond/ coconut oil, water, and optional food coloring.

Use a spoon to slowly add drops of your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients as you whisk to combine them. If it starts to fizz a lot, slow down.

Once all your ingredients are combined you can begin to make the molds. Press a handful of your mix into a mold until it's flush with the top and smooth. Smooth around the sides of the rim to eliminate a rim from the final product. Each half should be just a tiny bit heaping.

Press each half together firmly. Flip so that one-half is sitting on top of the other. Carefully take the mold off the top half and set the bottom half down so the entire ball can begin to dry a bit (15 minutes or so). After the DIY Ritual Bath Bomb has been drying a little bit, carefully flip it over so the exposed half of the bath bomb is down and carefully take the other half of the mold off.

Allow the totally exposed bath bombs to dry overnight for at least 8 hours before placing them into a bath, cellophane, or packaging/ wrap.