Selfish Sewing :: Guilty

So have you been participating in Selfish Sewing Week? When Rachael/imagine gnats asked me to be one of the featured stitchers, I knew right off what I wanted to make - the Brookfield Bag! The pattern, by prolific bag designer Sara/Sew Sweetness, was offered free on Sew Mama Sew a while back, and I was smitten at first sight.

Now in general, I'm not known as a bag-maker, though I did once survive making a Weekender, and count that as one of my major sewing accomplishments. But anyway, the Brookfield Bag looked doable to a quilter like me, and I began gathering supplies.

I'll tell you right off, the prep was half the work. You know, cutting all the fabrics, fusing them with interfacing, etc. etc. And of course it took me a while to even decide on my fabrics. In the end, I selected 2 Indelible prints by Katarina Roccella for Art Gallery Fabrics (Doiland Gloss Plum for the exterior and Threaded Shreds Dim for the interior), accented with Kaufman Essex Yarn Dyed Linen in Black. And I can't say I regret those choices one bit!

Purse hardware isn't my forte, but I was thrilled with what I found at Emmaline and for the Soft and Stable I went straight to byAnnie. I was stocked up on Pellon SF-101 Shape Flex and the other bits I needed, so that part was easy.

The pattern itself was clear as day, and I just followed it step by step with no problem. Sara gives plenty of "Helpful Hints" along the way (marked in red even!), so I found it all quite straightforward. Two "ah-ha" moments were:

1. The Soft and Stable - wow. I had never used this product before but I'm a believer. It sews like a dream, and gives just the right sturdiness to the bag. 
2. The metal twist lock was my one piece of frustration. (As I said on Instagram, "That hardware took 30 minutes, 4 hands, several random notions & tools, but thankfully only 1 episode on hands & knees looking for a teensy little screw.") The trouble was getting that tiny screw on the back-plate secured in the right place, and I'm thinking next time I need to hunt down my grommet tool and use the small punch to make a clean hole. So I'll be researching that further, so there's less frustration next time, but the result of said frustration is one I'm pretty pleased with.

Another detail I'm quite proud of is the piping. Following Sara's instructions, it came out as neat as can be.

I made a couple of little tweaks to my bag, just due to personal preference. One was sewing in 1 pair of pockets, where the pattern calls for 2. 

The other is that rather than a shoulder bag, I usually prefer a cross-body bag. To give me the flexibility for both, I just made an extension piece about 8" long finished, using the same directions and hardware as the main strap. Perfect.

Essentially, making the Brookfield Bag was a delight and I'm more than pleased with it and have already put it into daily use. Quite the successful selfish sewing interlude, for sure.

Stop by imagine gnats for the complete lists of featured stitchers and indie pattern designers, and you can see all the linked up projects over at co-sponsor Kollabora!

Monday, Monday

There's two things to tell you about today!

First, I have a new quilting roundup over at Sew, Mama, Sew ~ 8 Modern Quilt Backs. Not only are there several tutorials, but oodles of inspiration if you follow the links to the free class, flickr group, and Pinterest boards at the end of the post.

I usually find both planning and stitching those larger quilt backs a challenge. I try to keep some larger "quilt back worthy" prints in my stash, so at least I have more options. But I do really like a multi-pieced back too, so there's always a quandary. Anyway, let me know what you think. And if you have a go-to method or especially love a new technique you see, I'd love to hear about it!

Also, here's a link to last month's Twelve Fundamental Quilting Skills if you missed that.

The other thing I want to mention is that Rachael/imagine gnats just announced the kick-off of Selfish Sewing Week!

Believe it or not, I was invited to be one of the featured stitchers, and I'll be blogging all about my week's project on Saturday. Meanwhile, what I'm working on is making the Brookfield Bag by Sew Sweetness. It's a free pattern on Sew, Mama, Sew, and I thought it would be perfect for every-day. So far I have all my pieces cut and prepped!

So stay tuned, and I hope you join in and do some selfish sewing for yourself this week!

Fissures

Fissures was first started in an Improv Slice and Insert class I took with Katie Pedersen and Jacquie Gering several months ago, and is loosely inspired by "Shattered" in their book, Quilting Modern.

It began with these 9 blocks, 7 of which I had made in class. Fabric-wise, I used a background of Kaufman's Carolina Chambray in Natural, slicing and inserting with the additions of Anna Maria Horner's Field Study multi-colored butterflies and Kona Olive. Eventually the small blocks (7" finished) were grouped together and 'bordered' with more of the Olive.

For quilting the center blocks, I used Aurifil 50wt #2000 (Beige) and did small, squarish spirals in each little section. This was alot of fun, and I'm super pleased with the interest it adds to what I considered the focal point of the quilt.

In quilting the border, I switched to Aurifil 50wt #2910 (Foliage Green), and began by following all of the solid green inserts out to the edge. From there I echo-stitched, using those lines and any seam lines as guides, with lines about 1/2" apart.

Quilting as I did gave quite a variety of angles and actually made the solid green quite busy. I had a few issues with puckers with all the turning I was doing, and I was temped to wash this one up to hide some of that. But for the sake of full disclosure and sharing process, I opted to just put it out there as is.

For the back, I pieced the last of my Field Study {bummer} with large blocks of In the Beginning's Dit Dot. Yes.

This quilt is one of those that was pretty much satisfying from beginning to end. And I'm gonna come right out and say that one of the things I love about it, is that when I was back in the class and showed Jacquie the fabrics I was planning on using for my slice and insert blocks, she commented something like, "nice fabrics but I've never done this technique with prints."

But by the end of class, she was encouraging me along with a smile and a hearty, "It works!"

This project was on my Q3 Finish-A-Long list and also on my selfish sewing week list. Linking up with Fabric Tuesday and Finish It Up Friday.

selfish sewing week :: the plan

When I heard about selfish sewing week {September 23-29} sponsored by imagine gnats and Made with Moxie, I was totally up for it. Totally. Now that it's here, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with the other things I've got going - you know deadlines, bee blocks, WIPS! But I'm going to try to at least focus on myself a bit - not huge goals, but all things I would enjoy:

• a new mug rug for my office - easy peasy, but I've been wanting to do this for a while now.
• a new bag - maybe a Nora Clutch; I'd really like to make a 'For Pleat's Sake' Tote too, though I need to see if I can find the handles in the U.S. If I could even find them and order them this week, that would make me happy.
• quilting on my improv quilt - something I'm already working on, but it IS for me, and I'd really like to get it done by month's end. 
• a scrappy quilt - I had the lofty goal of making one a quarter in 2013, and I've only made two. I'd love to get another one going though I haven't decided on a pattern yet. Something fun would be good - suggestions?

Are you planning some #selfishsewing this week? If so, do join the flickr group, and there's even a Pinterest page. Hoping you can find even a little time every day to sew for yourself! Kinda hoping that for me too.