Thursday, May 29, 2014

Not So Easy


I've finished up the tote I was working on yesterday.
I wanted to make a patchwork bag and had visions of sewing up all kinds of one of a kind totes-perfect for, well, toting things around-in my mind-yarn and crochet hooks or sketchbooks...
I have tons ( o.k, 'lots')of scrappy fabric pieces, that, like a fabric hoarder, I cannot part with.
I loved the rounded shape and the way the handles were set on the bag from the 'Japanese Quliting piece by piece' book I have from the library. I did not have the patience for all of the log cabin work, or the gusset. I like the look, but I needed something less monochromatic and 'rulesy'. So I cut out a basic rounded shape, started with the rose print and went from there. A long time ago I bought the Denyse Schmidt's Quilts book and loved the 'Foundation Piecing Method' for quilting.I made a few of the scarves. 
For this bag, I basically used the same method for sewing the pieces to a cotton backing then added batting and voila. Or not so, voila-
The hardest part was: the handles. I just sort of made it all up as I went.  Anyhoo-Yeah, the handles were tricky.I set the whole thing aside to ponder how to sew the lining in and be able to turn it right side out.If you make bags you'll probably realize why this might be tricky.





I got an idea this morning and just went with it and it seemed to work out. I will be making more bags-however next time I will:

  1. make it bigger-as you can see this is just large enough for a small needlework project.
  2. maybe just make life easier and go with a straight across top with 'easy to attach' handles.
What do you think? Do you like patchwork bags?

prints and ribbon for handle by Anna Maria Horner,  some scrap pieces by Amy Butler and I'm not sure who makes the dictionary print?Anyone?

1 comment:

vintage grey said...

It turned out beautifully!! xo Heather

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