Your Maker's Tote

Yes, this could be YOURS!

I've just completed this adorable Maker's Tote, designed by Anna Graham of Noodlehead. It is a wonderful pattern that is really pretty straight forward and easy. There's no turning, no squashing of batting/interfacing/outer bag and long handles through tiny lining openings. The trickiest part is sewing the bias binding on the bottom corners, but slow and steady (and Clover Wonder Clips) win the race!

There's a slick zipper installation (optional magnetic snap instructions for those folks nervous of sewing straight lines that will show on the outside of the tote).  You use an opening zipper for a true wide-mouth bag that you could probably stuff a baby quilt into. It's size large for sure!

There's another zip pocket on the back side of the tote!

I used the adorable Heather Ross print in linen for the outside. After all, what crafty maker can't relate to the creativity of little girls playing with their horses? A Denyse Schmidt  print for the side panels and handles, a Mochi linen dot for the inside slip pocket and an older, sweet Amy Butler print for the lining. The body of the bag is supported ByAnnie Soft and Stable. I chose special fabrics that I love because I'm sharing this bag with one Lucky Maker!

I hope to get around to making another for myself, but first I'm going to stuff this one with about $200 worth of gorgeous modern fabrics from my generous blog partners and a bunch of gifts from me. This will be the prize for my epic 5K follower giveaway on Instagram! If you're not on IG, I'm sorry that you won't be able to win, however there will be another fun giveaway right here around Valentines Day just for blog followers. Everybody gets a chance, just as soon as the prizes arrive and I can photograph everything in it's epicness. 

Around Town Take II

I whipped up this tote for a friend's birthday the other day. It's very straight-forward pattern and a satisfying make. There's something so familiar about rugby stripes - I just love the design of this Around Town Tote Bag.

The pattern can be found in the Liberty Love book by Alexia Marcelle Abegg, one of the uber creative and talented Cotton & Steel designers. The book is out of print now, but you may find one hidden online, or second hand. It's a book on my sewing room shelf that I return to often.  The pattern calls for Liberty tana lawn for the accent strips, but I substituted Anna Graham's gorgeous Ripple canvas from her new Rain Walk line printed by Cloud 9 fabrics (purchased from Fabric Spark). The offset stripes are Essex Linen.

I added an interior pocket and key clip. It's a deep bag and it's a long way down for keys! I also modified the pattern a little bit by adding 1" of depth to the bottom print strip and sewing a 1" gusset into the corners of the tote for some added capacity.  The lining is a sweet Moda print called Be My Honey by MaryJane (I've had it for a couple of years in my stash).

The patterns calls for using an upcycled leather belt for handles, but I have some vinyl on hand so I cut 4 strips and sewed them WST in pairs (for extra strength).  I used my 9mm wide zig zag set to 0 length to make the X stitches, then sewed extra security straight stitches in a box around the X's.  Last time I made this bag, I used gorgeous deer hide for the handles but sadly I don't have enough left to cut more long handles.

I'm slowly making my way through a very long list of fun sewing to do for myself and others. It's always slow-going in summer...especially this exceptionally HOT and dry one here in Vancouver. We're in a rare drought with strict water restrictions. Our lawn is crispy and our garden limp and sad. I've been sewing downstairs where it's cooler as my south facing sewing room is quite a cooker, even with the UV coating on the window.  

I've got a new toy to share with you just as soon as I make enough space to take it out of the BOX!!! So excited.

A Supertote for Superknitter

Ever have that feeling that you're being watched? Ever since my Mom figured out how Instagram works, I've had to clean up my act, haha. When B and I travelled to Italy last fall and my parents stayed here to keep the kids alive, my mom was all like "hey, how can you see pictures of the trip?" to our kids.  A few days into our travels, I got a notification on my iphone home screen: SUPERKNITTER is now following you. I instantly knew it was my mom (after all, she is Superknitter) and I laughed. She loves that she can keep an eye on her kids and grandchildren now. It's super cute because she leaves very sweet comments on all of our photos.

I made her a Supertote a few years ago, but because she carries everything and a kitchen sink with her everywhere she goes, a new one was required. She and my dad cruise around in a classic white MG convertible (that she gave him for their 25 wedding anniversary, and in which he drove me down the driveway to my front yard wedding ceremony).  They are part of a fun MG club that has organized drives a few times per year to various small towns and car shows. For ages she's been searching for MG-themed fabric and finally someone designed one on Spoonflower!

Now Superknitter can knit in style at the show 'n shines. Did you know at the big rallies they not only give trophies for cars, but last year she won a crafting award for a gorgeous cross stitch she did of their car (I'll try and get a photo to share)?  I used fusible fleece for interfacing this time to give the tote extra body. I also top-stitched and stay-stitched the handles like crazy so they wouldn't rip away from the bag. Those kitchen sinks are heavy!

I thought I might as well have fun and included the measuring tape fabric so that the tote didn't become too car-ish. After all, it will contain everything from hand quilting to knitting to cross stitch at some point. I used darker linen this time to help keep the bottom of the bag from showing too much dirt as I know it has to travel on the floor of the car at Mom's feet.

I just put elasticized pockets on one side and regular pockets on the other.

This is truly a Super Tote and I've been lugging mine everywhere, including to QuiltCon, London and Inuvik! It holds a ton of stuff and is really comfortable to carry. If you'd like to make one, get the pattern from the lovely Anna Graham of Noodlehead here.

Cargo Duffle Cameras

Along with five of my fun quilty peeps, we're heading off to our annual long weekend sewing retreat on Mayne Island in a couple of days. This calls for a new travel bag, n'est-ce pas?  Who am I kidding, I rarely need an excuse to try a new bag pattern!  Plus I love everything Anna designs and knew I'd make her Cargo Duffle as soon as I saw her first one posted. The best part? This pattern is 100% FREE! Thanks Anna.

I was recently in Seattle and had a lovely visit with Keli at my favourite little fabric shop, Drygood Designs. I was thrilled that she had new Echino cameras in stock, so I purchased a yard to use for my duffle. In addition to sewing, photography is another passion of mine, so I just love this print.

(just cause photography is a passion doesn't mean I'm an expert...pardon the sunspot!)

All of the panels of this bag are quilted. I decided this was the perfect project to try ByAnnie's Soft & Stable for the first time. I'd heard good things about it and it didn't disappoint!  It's 3/8" thick foam batting/interfacing that has some sort of fabric-y surface. It's not fusible, but the surface took 505 spray baste very well.   It cost about $18 for enough to make this bag, so it's more than triple what cotton batting would cost, but I think well worth it for the structure it adds to this bag. It was no harder to sew through than batting and it has almost no weight.

I quilted the Echino panels with a cream Aurifil 28 wt cotton thread and a 4.5 stitch length. I pieced the bag using polyester Gutermann thread for strength.  Although I followed the pattern and covered the seam allowance (on the inside of the bag) where the bottom and zipper gussets meet with a single fold binding, I decided not to tackle covering the main seams with the binding.  I just wasn't confident I could do a nice job of it.

Instead, I followed this tutorial and lined the bag with a quilting cotton. In lieu of pinning the lining along the zipper tape (as recommended in the tute), I first held the lining in place with Clover Wonder Clips, then glue-basted it prior to topstitching all along both sides of the zipper.

Finally, the only other change I made was to add in a fabric pull-tab at each end of the zipper.  I love this duffle and will definitely make more in the future. I think that I'll add 3" or more to the width next time to make it a larger bag (and that will necessitate slightly longer straps, as they'll sit further apart).

Fabrics used:

Echino cameras

"Deer Valley" by Joel Dewberry (handles and pocket lining)

Essex yard dyed linen in black (handles, panels)

"County Fair" by Denyse Schmidt in home-dec (weight outer pockets).

"Giverny" by Marianne Elizabeth for Bernatex (main lining)

Super Duper

My first retreat project was to sew up two Super Totes using Anna's newest bag pattern. My mom has a birthday and I have a trip coming up in July so I thought I'd make two at once. Mom's a full-time knitter and I know this will be a perfect bag for her projects. I love the size and shape for myself to use as a shopping tote - this will accompany me to the FQ Retreat in London where I hope to fill it with Liberty lovelies.

I took all of the pattern pieces pre-cut to retreat so that I could start sewing right away (I really don't like to do lots of cutting/prep work while on retreat because I will often make mistakes while chatting!). Turns out I wasn't paying enough attention at home either, I forgot to cut the lining side pieces of both bags so the very final assembly had to wait until I returned home! Since the .pdf pattern was loaded onto my iPad bookshelf, I only had to print the actual pattern pages. I followed all of the assembly instructions on the iPad.

This one is my Mom's and B was able to personally deliver it thanks to a last minute business trip (which is why I finished it at midnight and took Ott-light photos before his crack of dawn departure to Toronto).

The pattern calls for piping across the top of the large outer pocket. Due to my long recovery from the Weekender piping fiasco, I opted out of this cute design feature. I still wanted an accent there, so I cut my lining an extra 1/2" longer than the pocket piece. The seam allowance is 1/2" on this bag, so after sewing the lining to the outer pocket piece RST, I pressed the seam allowance in half to 1/4", then folded the lining to the wrong side, wrapping it around the 4-layer seam allowance. Then I used my stitch in the ditch foot to topstitch right in the seam along the front (which you can't actually see in this picture, above!). Presto: cheater piping.

This one is for me. I love the bright red flower centres of this print.


I only had FQ's of the AMH flower print, so I used the linen on the 'back' of the bag. I just had enough print to cut the top strip so there would be consistency around the top of the bag.

Lining of my tote showing the non-elastic pockets. I read several pattern reviews that mentioned they would probably not make elasticated pockets on both sides if they made the bag again, so I took the hint and did a straight/lined pocket on one side.

Mom's lining showing the elastic pockets (as per the pattern) and the key fob I added. The fob is at one end of the zipper and  slips in and out without having to unzip the bag.

A last-step option is to satin stitch across the end of the pleat to secure the seam and attach the lining to the outer bag. I like this detail very much!

As with all of Anna's patterns, the instructions are clear and easy and the results fabulous. My friends tease me that I have way too many bags, but I absolutely love making them and never tire of trying new designs. This is a seriously Super Tote and not difficult to make. The zipper closure is not only clever, it's a breeze (if Zipperphobes aren't convinced, it's completely optional - Anna explains how to make your tote without one as well).  

Are you going to give it a try?