On-the-Go Project Bag

After seeing my friend ooh and aah over my On-the-Go Project Bag, I knew exactly what to make her once her birthday rolled around. The pattern is in Svetlana Sotak's That Handmade Touch, and having made it a number of times, I was happy to make it again.

Knowing the exterior fabric was one of the things my friend liked about my bag, I hunted down the same graphic Essex print for the bag's main fabric. THAT's from the Balboa line by Erin Dollar @cottonandflax, and I absolutely adore it for this use. The bottom fabric is also an Essex - from Carolyn Friedlander's euclid. For the lining, I found a beautiful Jewel Tones Floral in Yellow by Makower UK. I'm not generally a floral person, but this I really love.

As I discovered in prior makes, Pellon 911FF Fusible Featherweight works great with this pattern. The bag has plenty of structure and stands on its own when empty.

For the leather handles, I purchased a 3/4" wide, 15" long strap set from Anna Graham's @noodlehead531 shop. For drawstrings, I used 5/32" cotton braided cording, which I already had on hand. They're sturdy, and I think, fit the weight and look of this bag.

The finished bag size measures 10" wide x 12" tall x 4" deep, and I really don't have any doubt that my friend will love it. I've been using mine for several years now, and I find it a handy size for not just the occasional project, but impromptu outings. Pretty sure I'll find a reason to revisit this pattern again.

Project Bag

A couple of years ago, I made a project bag for a guild swap, "personalized" with our guild's initials, SEAMQG. I remember at the time that my friend, Ellyn/@ellynz really liked it, especially considering she was soon to become president of her McKinney MQG. After that, I totally meant to make her one, just for fun, except that I never did. Until a few weeks ago.

As with the first, I used My First Alphabet by Diane/From Blank Pages for the letters. They are paper-pieced, and I made the 3" option, totally winging it on the lower case 'c'. The rest of the bag exterior was Essex natural, quilted onto batting with straight lines. Then the bag was lined as I installed the zipper, finishing at 12" x 18".

I decided to personalize Ellyn's bag using the new alphabet leather stamps hubby got me for my birthday. [Fact is, I want to personalize everything now!]

So I'm glad I finally got that made and sent off to Ellyn. Mark a long-time goal off the list....

Gifted Handmade

Last month when I made an On-the-Go Project Bag from Svetlana Sotak's That Handmade Touch, I told you it was my new favorite. So when I needed a handmade gift recently, I happily made another.

For fabric, I was glad to find I still had enough of this floral from Anna Graham's Forage fabric in my stash. I used another Forage print for the contrasting bottom, and one of Carolyn Friedlander's Harriot yarn-dyeds for the lining. Leather handles, once again, were from a 3/4" wide 56" length from Anna Graham's shop. This bag's shape and size (and those handles!) are really a nice combo, and I doubt this will be my last one.

For another handmade gift, I looked to 50 Little Gifts and chose the Fabric Basket designed by Jennifer/@EllisonLane. At 6" x 5" x 4", it's a sweet size, and has a fun and unique construction method. That hand-stitching, which was done with Auriful wool 12wt #8021, is actually what holds the basket together - decorative AND practical.

I liked it well enough that I dug back in my Cotton +Steel collection and found more coordinating prints and drafted a slightly smaller basket.

You'll have to look really closely (I probably should have used contrasting thread) but on the second basket, I hand-stitched X's, which I love.

So once again, it feels good to gift handmade....

On-the-Go Project Bag

OK, I have a new favorite bag! After making the Pleated Pouch from Svetlana Sotak's That Handmade Touch, I thumbed through looking for what would be next, and the Project Bag won. One thing is, its leather handles called to me, which took a little planning ahead, since I don't keep those on hand. Luckily, Anna/noodlehead does, so I ordered them pronto.

Fabric choices came entirely from stash, though I knew from the very beginning that the lining would be the Rifle Paper Co. floral I bought when the guild was recently retreating at Quilting Mayhem (Wildwood Garden Party for Cotton + Steel). I'm not really a floral fabric person, but this I love. I finally broke down and bought some to stash, and I'm sure glad I did. I love its sweetness paired with the more graphic Esssex print I chose as the bag's main fabric. THAT's from the Balboa line by Erin Dollar, and I absolutely adore it for this use. And the bottom fabric is also an Essex - from Carolyn Friedlander's euclid.



So just a few notes about my making of this bag:

• Take careful note of the orientation of the fabric. The pattern clearly states to measure width by height, yet when it came time to sew on the interior pocket, I mistakenly had my fabric orientated wrong and I sewed the pocket on facing sideways. Oops! Totally my error, and easily fixed, but just pay attention.
• Sometimes I have issues with medium to heavy weight fusible interfacing, so I chose to use Pellon 911FF Fusible Featherweight, and I'm happy with my choice. The bag still has plenty of structure and stands on its own when empty.
• I love the leather straps, and they were one reason I really wanted to make this bag. I purchased a 3/4" wide 56" length from Anna Graham's shop. It's high quality, easy to cut with a rotary cutter, and my 12/80 needle passed through it easily. Plus, I have plenty for another bag or other project.
• Lastly, about those leather ties. I used my favorite leather lacing that I usually use for zipper pulls, but it's a little stretchy for this use. So I'm thinking of switching those out. Love the look though!

Finished bag size: 10" wide x 12" tall x 4" deep

So no surprise here.... this one is one I'll make again for sure. When I'm deep in working on larger projects, I sometimes like to take a break to make a smaller project and actually finish something. This bag totally fit the bill.

SEAMQG Swap!

The annual quilted item swap is basically a tradition with the Seattle MQG. At least, we've been doing it for years and years. A good-natured event, the swapping goes round and round, and there's a very good chance you'll open one gift and go home with something different!



It's always a bit of a quandary what to make for it, but this year I decided pretty quickly that I wanted to make something with our guild initials on it - SEAMQG. So I perused letter patterns, and chose My First Alphabet by Diane/From Blank Pages. They are paper-pieced, come in both 3" and 6" tall, and I went with the 3". Just a note, this means the letters are 3" tall, but they do vary in width.





I used several fabrics in teal, our guild color - solids for the SEA, and an older Alison Glass print for the MQG - as well as the lining, which I stabilized with some fusible SF101 interfacing.



The background for the letters was Essex natural, as is the complete exterior of the bag. I quilted the linen with some nice straight-lines, added a simple zip and leather pull, and the bag finished at about 12" x 18".



The project pouch indeed got swapped around a bit and went home with Cordelia, who seemed more than happy to have it. So all's well that ends well, right?