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.

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?