Bags

Saturday Quilting Bring and Share (265)

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Welcome to Saturday Quilting Bring & Share. Bring along your project(s) and share in the conversations and inspiration circulating our Worldwide Quilting Community. Be part of the sharing by leaving a message in a comments box when you click on any of the links below 🙂

It’s taking me a while to adjust to the pace of life now lockdown restrictions are lifting! A few hours working at Purple Stitches, a few hours teaching patchwork 1:1, socialising (generally outdoors) have impacted negatively on my blog reading/writing routine. I am the sort of person who finds socialising an enjoyable but energy sapping activity rather than an invigorating one so I know I need to factor-in rest and ‘alone time’ following a social event. No doubt I’ll be finding socialising less tiring as it becomes ‘normal’ once again 🙂

Learning bag-making techniques continues to be my main occupation in the sewing room. In a recent blog post I wrote about three bags I’ve made with varying success. I can now reveal my latest make…

This is the ‘Reversible Hobo Bag’, pattern by Mrs H Sewing Patterns. I bought the pattern along with the bag hardware (I’ve got all the bag lingo now 😉 )and text print fabric from Purple Stitches. It is the biggest bag I’ve made.

I found the pattern reasonably easy to follow although some of the photos didn’t quite match up with the text instructions. I’d say this pattern might leave a complete beginner a bit frustrated but being a large bag in a simple style does mean there are few, if any, fiddly sections to negotiate.

I used woven interfacing to give body to the contrast (black) side of the bag and attached fusible fleece to the text print fabric. First up I used a fusible interfacing that was too stiff. I tried to persuade myself it would be OK but fortunately, having slept on the decision, came to the conclusion that softer, lighter, woven interfacing would be more in keeping with the slouchy styling – thankfully the black fabric was a freebie from a friend of a friend and there was just enough to make cut out more panels to fuse with the lighter weight interfacing.

The roomy Reversible Hobo Bag has two zipper pockets. I like the soft style, wondering if I could make a smaller version…

In other sewing news: I continue to make heavy going of the English Country Garden QAL – the May Marigold block remains incomplete… ; I’m booked to run a Beginners Class at Purple Stitches starting September 18th; and I may be able to schedule a patchwork skill-builder or a bag-making class too 🙂

I hope you are able to set aside time to be creative. Maybe you’ll find inspiration via one or two of this weeks links into our Worldwide Quilting Community:

Amy Friend brings a distinctive style to foundation paper piecing. Her latest project, Briar Quilt, displays that style very clearly. I like the muted colour palette Amy has chosen.

The Quilt Spot monthly post by Melony features a change of quilts between the films Paddington and Paddington 2. I won’t mind watching those two films again just so I can point out the quilts to my family! 😀

Melva shares another instalment of Marian Russell’s recollections of life along the Santa Fe Trail in the 1850s. I was struck by the readiness to provide education for the local girls as well as the boys. There were so many hard lessons for such young children to learn outside of school – including the fate of political prisoners.

Christmas in July! I know! It’s a concept I just can’t grasp but there’s a lot of it about on social media. Carole’s Christmas in July post contains a whole host of seasonal sewing/patchwork projects including a quick tutorial about turning a panel into a table topper or wall hanging.

I’m amazed anyone can come up with an original quilt block – surely there are only so many ways to sew pieces of fabrics together into squares? 😀 Kirsty has designed a new block, the ‘Alex Quilt Block’. Using four fabrics/colours she says the Block is an ideal scrap buster. Go to her post for the full tutorial which includes helpful suggestions for creating different looks by the careful placement of fabrics.

Happy Stitching!

Allison

Three bags: two wins, one fail, learning all the time!

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Phew! First of all let’s get the weather chat out the way! Of course it is the number one subject here in the UK 😀 After months of cool, very wet weather the temperatures have suddenly ramped up. Here in central southern England we have had a succession of days in the high twenties. The forecast is for rain at the weekend followed by a dry week with much more comfortable low twenties temperatures. My poor tomato plants have gone from being completely water-logged to being fried! Not sure there will be much of a crop to enjoy this year.

Anyho! Some sewing has been going on between sweaty trips to the allotment (we are harvesting raspberries, courgettes and beans at the moment).

I bought a metre each of these Debbie Shore fabrics a few weeks a go with a friend in mind. She loves nature and keeps Doves as pets so the

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Scrappy Scrap Basket tutorial for The Summer Scrap Elimination 2021

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Scrappy Scrap Basket. The Why? I often use scraps of fabric as an on-going leader-ender project. I have a bin of scraps within easy reach of my sewing machine and select a couple of scraps to stitch together each time I start or finish chain piecing patchwork units. On the other side of my sewing machine I have a basket ready to receive the stitched leader-enders as I snip them off the strings of chain pieced units. When the basket is full to over-flowing I know it’s time to press the seams of the leader-enders before throwing them in the box ready to become bigger units in a scrappy patchwork quilt 🙂

I’ve made several of these baskets and love just how scrappy a Scrappy Scrap Basket can be! For this tutorial I made a basket not only from fabric scraps but also interfacing scraps and wadding scraps. Funny how I still have loads of scraps…

It’s  Week 4 of the Summer Scrap Elimination 2021 blog hop and I’m very happy to be sharing this Scrappy Scrap Basket tutorial as a contributor to Swan Amity Studio’s annual event.

Scrappy Scrap Basket. The How?

Materials to make a basket approx. :

  • Ten 2½” x 5″ rectangles of fabric (outer sides of basket)
  • Two 2½” x 10½” rectangles of fabric (outer base of basket)
  • Two 1¾” x 10½” rectangles of fabric (outer top of basket)
  • Two 4½” x 6½” rectangles of fabric (tab handles)
  • Two 10¼” x 8″ rectangles of fabric  (lining of basket)
  • Two 10″ x 7¾” rectangles of medium weight interfacing
  • One piece of wadding 11″ x 22″
  • Top stitching thread

Note: Use ¼” seam allowance unless directed otherwise; reinforce start and finishes of all seams with reverse stitching.

Step 1: Basket Outer

  • Stitch together the 2½” x 5″ rectangles along their long edges to make the basket back and front each measuring 5″ x 10½”. Press seams open or to the darker fabrics.

  • Stitch the 1¾” x 10½” rectangles to the upper edges of the basket back and front. Press seams open.

  • Stitch the 2½” x 10½” rectangles to the bottom edges of the basket back and front. Press seams open.
  • Apply iron-on interfacing to the reverse sides of the basket back and front pieces.

  • Lay the back and front pieces side by side on the strip of wadding. Baste using spray or pins.

  • Quilt both using a design of your choice (I used a walking foot to quilt a twisted ribbon design and echoed the seam between the vertical rectangles and the horizontal fabric at the top of the basket).
  • Trim away the excess wadding so the basket’s back and front each measure 8¼” high by 10½” wide.
  • Boxed Corners: Place the basket back and front right sides together. Mark a 2¼” square in the bottom corners.

  • Stitch the sides and bottom seams together – back stitch at the start and end of each seam and across the marked lines.

  • Cut away the bottom corners along the marked lines.

  • Pinch the two open edges of a cut corner together, aligning the bottom seam with the side seam.

  • Stitch the open edges of the boxed corner together making sure to back stitch at the start and finish of the seam.

  • Repeat with the opposite corner.

Step 2: Tab Handles

  • Fold a 4½” x 6½” rectangle in half – short edge to short edge – to find the centre and press along the fold. Open out the rectangle and fold both short edges to the centre crease. Press and then fold edges together along the centre crease to create a 1″ x 6½” tab.

  • Top stitch 1/8th inch in from the edges along both sides of the tab.
  • Fold the tab in half. Centre the open edges against the top of a side seam of the outer basket – right sides together. Using an 1/8th inch seam allowance baste in place.

  • Repeat to make the second tab handle.

Step 3: Basket Lining

  • Lay the two lining rectangles right sides together and mark 2¼” squares in the bottom corners ready to make boxed corners.
  • Stitch the side seams starting with a ¼” allowance at the top edge gradually moving to ½” allowance at the marked line. Reverse stitch at the start and beginning of each seam.

  • Stitch a ¼” seam along the bottom edge leaving a 3″ opening to turn the basket right sides out. Reverse stitch at the start and finish of each seam.
  • Cut away the marked corner squares.
  • Make boxed corners in the same way as those made for the outer basket.
  • Press open the side and bottom seams.

Step 4: Create the Basket

  • Place the outer basket inside the lining, right sides together.
  • Align the side seams and pin or clip together the top edges of the basket outer and lining.

  • Stitch together using a ¼” seam all around the top edges of the outer basket and lining.
  • Turn the basket right sides out through the opening in the lining.
  • Carefully roll and finger press around the top edge of the basket.

  • Top stitch ¼” around the top edge of the basket.
  • Machine or hand stitch closed the opening in the lining.

Congratulations! Your Scrappy Basket is finished and ready to receive it’s fill of scraps!

Of course, this basket pattern can be adapted in many ways depending on the shape and size of the scraps you use. It would be possible to use a stitch & flip method to attach strips of fabric to the wadding or to make the basket sides using a Crazy Patchwork technique. If you choose to make a larger basket I’d recommend using two layers of wadding or a foam interlining to make sure the sides are rigid enough to stay upright.

If you have any queries about this Scrappy Scrap Basket tutorial please do get in touch 🙂 Don’t forget to follow the link to the home of the Summer Scrap Elimination 2021 project at Swan Amity Studios where you’ll find Swan’s scrap elimination tutorials and links to other contributors of this years blog hop.

Allison

 

 

 

Saturday Quilting Bring and Share (262)

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Welcome to a belated edition of Saturday Quilting Bring & Share. I hope you have had a weekend full of creative opportunities. Hopefully you will have just enough time to click on the links below to pick up some of the creative inspiration and know-how being shared by members of our Worldwide Quilting Community 🙂

I’m still on my bag-making thing! This week I tried a bag pattern which includes a bit of hardware (bling :-D). The Ana Crossbody Purse by Bagstock Designs was quite a challenge for me but thankfully Julie the Juki was up to the job of powering through multiple layers of fabric, interfacing and foam interlining. Between us we managed to produce a bag with – even if I do say so myself – quite a professional finish 😊

To help with stitching through multiple layers I fitted a Janome Purple Tip needle to my machine. The blurb on the packet reads, ‘The purple tip needle effectively prevents skipped stitches when sewing stretch fabrics, quilt layers and also for sewing across the hem.‘ The needle did produce fairly even sized stitches through the thickest seams and worked well with the Aurifil 40wt thread I used throughout this project.

When it came to top-stitching the narrow ¾” bag strap I came up with a wizard wheeze to keep all the layers together and the open seam edges neatly on top of each other: I threaded the adjustable slider onto the strap and just kept moving it down the long strip of fabric as I carefully stitched the 1/8th inch seam. Worked a treat!

My Ana bag is now listed in my Folksy shop.

I must put my bag-making supplies away now and concentrate on a couple of projects that have imminent deadlines: first my contribution to the Summer Scrap Elimination 2021 goes live on 8th July; second I’m planning a one-to-one beginners course due to start on 9th July. The latter has been particularly good for me; for one it’s exciting to be getting into the teaching groove after a very long break, also preparing the course has got me back designing quilts, something I just haven’t felt in the mood to do for months.

I hope you have your creative sew-jo in motion, giving you a lift and a break from the everyday 🙂 If you are in need of help to get stitching (even though you know it would do you good) I recommend Jo Westfoot’s ‘find your sew-jo‘ article published a couple of months into the first lockdown.

And so to a few of the blog posts that could help inspire us and/or improve our patchwork quilting skills:

It’s Week 2 of the Summer Scrap Elimination 2021 and Swan has a great tutorial showing a way to use up left-over fabric triangles. She also shares a link to Tammy’s scrap busting blog tutorial. Tammy has been experimenting with weaving skinny strips of fabrics on a a simple frame loom – she shares loads of handy tips.

Carole has been given a Quilt of Valor to quilt on her longarm machine. The repeated block design on the quilt top is a chunky Churn Dash with a Sawtooth Star in the centre. It really is a very effective combo. Took me a while to recognise the Churn Dash design – wonder if you see it straight away or have to squint at the photo for a while?

Ever considered Creating an Ombre Quilt? Brittany has made several and has a whole host of tips re. design and fabric choices.

Linking with Michelle for the Beauties Pageant. Linking with Sandra for the DrEAMi link up as my Ana bag certainly wasn’t a planned project and did cause me to drop everything and make it! Also linking with Cheryl for the Favourite Finish Monthly Link Up – there’s a lovely gallery of quilts and more to look through and admire 🙂

Happy Stitching!

Allison