A tote for the journey

Our quilt guild is putting together raffle baskets for our upcoming quilt show.  Each basket will represent a global destination.  My group had "Africa" as our destination and  we decided on "safari" for our theme.  My contribution to the raffle basket was a tote bag.

For the outside of the bag, I chose an animal print that I felt could be used by either an adult or a child.  I picked a grey tiger stripe fabric for the inside of the bag and tied it all together with an orange fabric for contrast:

To begin, I wanted to do some straight line quilting on the animal fabric.   Time to dig out the guide bar from my machine's accessory kit:

The guide bar attaches to the needle bar of the machine, and the length is adjustable. ( I set mine for about 2 inches.)  To start,  I pinned the fabric to a piece of batting and secured it with one line of quilting along the far right edge.  For my first  row of quilting, I eased the guide bar along the first line of stitches and my new stitches were automatically lined up about 2 inches to the left.

For my next  row of quilting, I eased the guide bar along the previous stitching line and my new stitches were automatically lined up about 2 inches to the left of that one.

I continued all the way along the fabric until I had several evenly space quilting lines on the fabric.

For the interior of the bag,  I followed my own tutorial for making an easy peasy pocket.

For the handles, and some other helpful totemaking tips, I referred back to another blog post from the past.  (Both blog posts were written back in 2009! 😁 )

I found a nice wooden button for the closure, and here is how it turned out:

In keeping with the "safari" theme, I added in a kids color-by-number coloring book with a cute lion on the cover:

Ready for their closeup!

Christmas Sewing

             

I actually managed a few handmade items for Christmas gifts this year....

 For my son and daughter-in-law,  I made a set of His and Her reversible aprons.  For my son, I chose  fabric with a coffee print, and also a chef print.  Then I added a Civil War repro fabric for the pockets.

For my daughter-in-law I paired up a cute Alpaca print with a little bird print in the same colors:

I use the same pattern for both aprons, but I make the men's apron a bit shorter and the pockets are square:

For the ladies aprons, I use a circular pocket with a matching binding:

Here they are, side by side:

For my mom, I made a totebag for her walker/rollator. 

Seeing as her rollator goes with her where ever she travels, I thought  a fabric with luggage stickers seemed appropriate.

I added some machine embroidery to the top, the bottom and the handles to give it some punch:

Inside are lots of pockets, and the straps are attached with buttons.

Mom's ready to roll!

The last bit of Christmas sewing I did  was these 2 adult clothing protectors that our guild collected from its members to be donated to a nursing home.

Since my sewing room doubles as a gift wrapping center, there is a lot of straightening up to do now that Christmas is over.  Got to start the new year with a clean workspace!

Tips for Tote-making

I finished the tote bag I was making yesterday.

The basics of making this carryall tote are similar to any general quilted tote. I created this list as a reminder for myself.

• Create 2 pieces of quilted fabric for the front and back of the bag. I use a flip and sew technique with the batting as the foundation.
• Trim the excess batting from  the quilted fabrics, measure for size, and cut 2 lining pieces to match.
• If you want to add pockets to the lining of the bag, you add them before you sew the lining pieces together. See this post.
• Sew the quilted front to the quilted back, on three sides. (left side, bottom, right side)
• Sew the lining front to the lining back on three sides, leaving an opening in the bottom seam for turning.
• Box the corners of the bag and lining to give the tote some depth.  ( Here is a handy online tutorial showing how that is done.)
• Make the handles, and the closure tab. (see tips below for making those.)
• Center the handles and closure on the outer fabric and baste in place
• Place lining  inside the tote bag, right sides together and sew around the top opening
• Reach through hole you left in the lining seam and turn the bag right side out
• Top stitch around the bag opening
• Hand sew or fabric glue the opening in the lining.

I like to make the handles using 2 different fabrics, but, of course they could be made using just one.  I cut two 2-inch strips of each fabric that are each about 30 inches long.  (I find the ideal length for tote handles is 25 inches, but I start with  30 inch strips  to be sure I have enough.)  I also cut two strips of batting that are also 30 inches long, but are slightly less than 2 inches wide. (approximately 1 7/8)

Stack 2 handle fabrics with right sides together, and lay a batting strip on top of them.   Center the batting strip in the middle of the fabric.

Sew with a healthy quarter inch seam down both long edges of the handle. Since I cut the batting strip a little narrower than the fabric strips, it allows me to see the edges of the handle fabrics as I'm sewing, and make sure they stay  lined up.

Turn the handle inside out, and press.  There will be some bulk due to the batting in the seam allowances, but that's okay.  It actually makes for a more comfortable, padded handle.

Sew a row of stitching right down the center of the ironed handles.  I use the markings on my soleplate as a guide.

Make two more rows of stitching approximately halfway between your center row of stitching and the edge of the handle.  (Use whatever is convenient on your machine to line them up, either a marking on the soleplate, or the edge of you presser foot as a guide. )  Trim the handles to 25 inches.



If you want to add a button and loop closure, you'll need to make a loop.  I use a half inch bias tape maker that I already had on hand. 

Start with a one inch strip of fabric for your loop  that is approximately 8 inches long.  Later, it will be trimmed a little shorter, but a little extra now helps keep your fingers out of the way of the iron in the next step.

Feed the fabric into the wide end of the tape maker. It will come out the other side with the 2 edges folded in towards the center.  Use your iron to press the folds as you slowly draw the tape maker along the fabric. Steam is good here, but WATCH those fingers!

Fold the bias strip in half, press again, and sew the fold closed.  What started as a one inch wide strip now measures 1/4 inch.  I trim the length to about 6 inches.

Pin the handles and the loop closure to the top of the bag, with raw edges all facing out.  Baste.    .

At this point your bag is ready to be sewn together with the lining.  See the last four steps in the list at the top of this post.









Here is the finished tote, with padded handles, a button and loop closure, and an inside pocket.   Enjoy!

Easy Peasy Pocket

 Here's a simple way to add a pocket to the lining of a tote.

I wanted my pocket to be 10 inches wide, and 4.5 inches deep, so I cut a rectangle of pocket fabric that was 10.5 inches wide and 9.5 inches long.

I folded the rectangle, right sides together, and sewed up the two short sides.

I turned the pocket right sides out, and pressed, leaving me with a pocket measuring 10 inches by 4.75 inches, with 3 finished edges and one raw edge.

My tote lining fabrics were already cut to size.  I took ONE lining fabric and laid it right side up, then centered the pocket. The raw edge faces the center of the lining, and the folded edge extends off the bottom.  Sew along the raw edge of the pocket. (Note: this is done BEFORE sewing the lining fabrics together.)

Fold the pocket up and press.  Sew the two short edges to the lining fabric with a narrow top stitch to secure.  I recommend backstitching at the beginning and end of each seam for strength.  Now you have a pocket!

I wanted to make a divider in my pocket to hold a pencil, so I measured 2 inches in from the right side of the pocket, and drew a chalk line.  Then I sewed right on the line, creating a narrow pocket.

Here you can see how the pocket will work.  Now you can go ahead and sew the two lining pieces together, and finish your tote! 

Here is how the pocket looks in the finished tote:

And then there were three...

 
I feel very fortunate that my sister and another lifelong friend are also members of my choral group. It really makes rehearsals fun.   After I made my music tote, I decided to make one for each of them too.  Here are  the 3 bags finished:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
and here's a closeup:

In order to set off the vertical black and white stripes from the black top and bottom strips, I added the red/black piping.  I cut a 1 inch strip of the red/black fabric, folded it with wrong sides together and pressed with the iron.  I laid the strips on top of the black/white fabric with the folded edges toward the center, and the raw edges facing out.  In order to place the piping strips even and  straight, I used a ruler and placed the folded edges against it.

I basted the piping strips with a very narrow seam before adding the black strips for the top and bottom.  After pressing, I loaded up a yarn needle with a double thickness of cotton yarn, and inserted it into the fold of the piping strip

and out the other side:

It gave the piping a little bit of dimension, rather than lying flat.

Easy as pie, right?

I have quilter friend who works with my husband.  (She doesn't have a blog, but she should because it would be so much fun to read!)  Knowing how much my life has been consumed with "all things doggie" lately, she sent these fabrics home to me via my husband.

 The black and white paw print fabric was perfect for my black and white tote project, and so of course it ended up being included.  Check out the 3rd strip from the right:

Now I have a bag that reflects both my love of music and my love of my dog!  Thanks Gwen!