The Grey Wrapped Tote Bag

Just a reminder that I am using the words "wrapped bag" to refer to a particular bag construction method, in which the front, base and back of the bag are one piece to which the two sides are sewn. 

the post where I diagrammed the various basic styles of bags is found here

I started with a pile of half square triangles made of gray and white fabrics.  I had started making them for a project, but they were going to be too small, so I set them aside... Until now.  

I wasn't sure how many of them I had, so I laid them out into a rectangle, into this very cute chevron variation that I had noticed on pinterest some time ago...

 

I dedided that this bicycle fabric would be perfect for the inside of the bag.  It was directional, so instead of using one large rectangle,  I cut two smaller pieces and seamed them in the center.  That way, when I look into the tote later, all of the bicycles will be right side up!

Then, one of my favorite parts of the whole process

--- the quilting!

Some straight line quilting following the zig zag of the chevrons, 

You can see here that I reinforced the area which will become the base by inserting some tim-tex (or decor-bond or similar stiff stuff0 in between the layers of the batting and fabric.  there is a much simpler pattern quilted on this area.

For the two side panels, I used the bicycle fabric again, for both sides, and Annie's soft n stable for the batting   It is really easy to stitch through.

I left the fabric larger on the back pieces to use as an integrated seam binding to cover the seams later on,

Here i am sewing the sides to the wrap around main part.  i had staystitching all around the central piece, so I was able to clip in to the corner area and just pivot the piece with the needle down at the corners

This shows how the extra binding fabric looks before it's sewn down,

Because i sewed the seams with the right sides facing out, the seams are on the outside of the bag where they sort of look like piping.

Instead of using fabric handles, I sewed on a pair of leather ones,

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it.  it stands up on it's own, but isn't too bulky, It's a good size for using as a book bag,

I think that now I've tried a bag with the seams on the outside, I might next try to incorporate some pockets into  this style of bag.

Zippered Pouch,

Another zippered pouch!

I have had a copy of this book for some time now:
It is the "textbook" that Sandy uses for her class "Learn to Quilt with focus on Improvisational techniques"

I fell in love with Sandy's quilt which she uses as a sample for the class, and I wanted to learn more about how to create such quilts,

So, because I am on this Handbag maging spree, I decided to make some sample blocks from the book and convert them to handbags. 
This is the first technique I tried,

I had a few scraps of beautiful turquoises left over from a quilt i did last year,

Remember me?

I combined them with a really cute black and white dot,
Making the block itself was pretty straightforward,   I cut a piece of freezer paper to about 12" x 15" and just made the block fit within that rectangle,

I quilted the sections with separate patterns.    The turquoise thread is quite heavy, a 10 wt, so I used a size 16 needle.  It worked well on straight lines, but when I switched to some free motion quilting, it didn't work so well, so I used a thinner ivory colored thread.

the bottom of the bag has boxed corners,

the inside,

its not lined, (which I have found out that some bag makers think is heinous, oh well) the side seams are just zig-zagged, and the zipper tape makes the facing over the top seam edge,

I decided to start adding some zipper pulls to my bags, 

For this one, i cut a wee strip of a thin leather that i had on hand and threaded it through the hole on the zipper pull.  To secure it, I just cut a bit of washi tape in half to make it about 1/8 " wide and wrapped it around the folded over leather to secure it.

I liked having the book to refer to.  I think i will definitely make more of this sort of block!

The handbag continues,

Over the weekend I got a lot of time to work on my handbag. Richard had left on Friday to go to a conference and doesn't get home until tonight so I've been on my own and doing whatever I feel like when I feel like. And what I felt like doing is making my handbag.

I decided to make this handbag from the Yoko Saito book called Strolling along paths of green.

I mentioned in my last post how I had appliquéd the front panel. Then I decided to keep to the pattern design and add the little leaves around the outer border, Even though the fabrics I was using are quite different than those pictured in the book.

I auditioned two different sizes and decided on the smaller size to fit well within the outer edge, because I wanted to be sure that I wouldn't lose the ends of them into the seam allowances.

There was no way I was going to hand appliqué such tiny pieces so I used fusible web to attach them.

I used machine blanket stitch to go around all the edges.

I did spend some time and embroidering the little stem and white berries.

I decided to do hand quilting all around the cat faces.

I wasn't sure what to quilt in the background, so I ended up just doing some almost vertical lines.

For the back panel I really liked the combination of the brown and white lattice fabric and the cat fabric so I just reversed the placement of the fabrics from that used on the front.  

Lots of echo quilting around the panel, and I used the lines on the brown fabric as a guide for the pumpkinseed design.

The interior lining is pretty bright fabric, this is a photo showing the gusset being attached.

It wasn't too hard to sew these pieces together. 

Then I went around each side panel and attached binding to cover the raw edges of the seams.

A couple of handles later and turned inside out, and voilà a new handbag.

You know how you always critique something after you're finished making it?

I am now resisting the urge to tell you the different things I would do next time, and will just enjoy having it finished.

Weekender bag, version 2

yesterday I became engrossed in making another version of Amy Butlers pattern for the Weekender bag.   I'm recording what I did differently this time, which might only be of interest to anyone interested in the techniques of bag construction....

I had gotten a turquoise blue zipper, so I pulled out fabrics to go with it.

I even found a little charm I picked up at a junk shop a couple years ago that fit the color theme. I thought I could use it for the zipper pull.

This time I decided to cut down the size a bit from the pattern but to keep the main shape. I made it about 3 inches shorter in height and a couple inches shorter in width.

As with anything, once you've gone through a process,  the second try seems a lot easier.

Again,  I started with the easy part. I made the pocket panels for the two sides, sewing the front and the lining on to some soft and stable foam batting.  

The pattern calls for piping, but that is just a bit beyond me at this point so again I used a false edge of the  polkadot fabric, wrapped around the upper edge of the pocket.

I quilted the two pockets and the two side panels. This time I'm not making a lining for the bag at all. Because of that the quilt sandwich is going to be the front and the back that you will see as the bag is used.

I kept the handles the same as they were on the pattern, just cutting them down a bit in length because of making a smaller version.

It looks like I forgot to take any pictures of how I did the zipper part. I just  sewed it between the two pieces used for the top edge of the bag, adding a 1-1/4 inch strip if fabric to use as a facing to cover the raw edges of the zipper, 

I ran out of soft and stable, so for the bottom gusset I just quilted the pieces onto bit of batting.

I was glad of this later because its  pretty tricky to sew the sides of the bag onto the gusset. The batting was a little more flexible than the soft and stable foam and so was easier to maneuver.  I can't even imagine how hard it would be if you used something as firm as Tim tex, as the pattern calls for.

I sewed just the top part of the gusset onto one of the bag sides at first in order to fine-tune the size of the gusset.

So the main thing that I did differently from the pattern was to omit the lining. In place of it, I put a type of binding over the raw edges of the seams.

On the top edge of the butt gusset, I had cut the lining about three quarters of an inch oversize all the way around.  I just wrapped the excess fabric over the raw edges of the seam and handstitched it down.  

For the bottom half of the bags gusset, the edges of the piece were too messy to do this, so I added in an extra binding strip

This is what it looks like when I folded it right side out. I think it turned out pretty well except that the seams tend to pull in toward the inside.  I think when it's full of stuff and has been used a bit this will go away

However it made me think that maybe if I sewed the bag so that the the seams were on the outside, the finishing binding strips would look like piping... Maybe that's something to try next time.

It seems that making these things can be a bit addictive.

And here's a shot with the zipper pull attached.