Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Confessions of a Sew Together Bag Lady

Sew Together Bag Collage

I have had several people ask me about how I construct the Sew Together Bags I make, particularly the binding method I use. I'll post a bit about how to hand bind around the zipper, and a few pics of the bags I have made to date.

My preference for interfacing bags is Pellon SF101 Shape-Flex. It fuses nicely and keeps the fabric soft and pliable. I have added interfacing to the back of the main panel twice, once to help stabilize hand pieced hexagons, and once to quick piece tiny patchwork squares. On those panels I used Pellon 906F fusible sheerweight interfacing to keep them from getting too bulky.

Each bag I have made to date has been quilted. I used fusible fleece behind the floral kitty bag, and I was not happy with how the shape warped when it was quilted. In the future I will stick to using quilt batting unless I leave the exterior unquilted.

I like to hand bind the bags with a ladder stitch for a cleaner look. It does take a bit longer, but it is so worth it. The only tricky piece to bind is the free zipper portion if you are using a thread color that does not match the zipper tape, because the stitches can be visible on the top of the zipper tape. To remedy this, I fold the binding to the underside, just over the stitching line, and rather than sewing through the folded edge of the binding, I grab some fabric just to the underside of the fold. When I take the stitch into the zipper tape, I make sure to sew behind the stitching line where the zipper tape is covered by the top side of the binding. It is a bit confusing to explain, but hopefully this pic will help:




And now on to the retrospective pics.

My first bag I made for myself using 1" HSTs.

                   Sew Together Bag

My bag gets heavy use and has been covered in coffee and tea (I am glad I opted to use a dark background fabric!)

                                  Springtime EPP at the park

Not all of my bags have been used for sewing; my daughter uses her Bonnie and Camille QAYG bag for makeup.

                Sew Together Bag - Bonnie and Camille fabrics

                Untitled

One of my all time favorite creations was a rainbow hexie bag I made for my friend Gwen. I love everything about this bag, including the interior.

                 Rainbow Hexie Sew Together Bag

                 Rainbow Hexie Sew Together Bag

                 Bonnie and Camille bliss dots with Riley Blake gingham - love!

                 Rainbow hexie sew together bag interior

I made a glorious yellow bag for my friend Inder of Inder Loves Folk Art. We share a love of gold, mustard, and groovy things in general. I drafted a panel in EQ7 to paper piece sunbeams and I am in love with the result. It is so very Inder. A very big thanks to my friend Gwen who sent me yellow scraps so I could have a large variety.

                Sew Together Bag #5 - sunshine edition

                Sew Together Bag #5 - sunshine edition

                Sew Together Bag #5 - sunshine edition - interior

The most basic bag I have made is the floral kitties bag for a dear friend. She picked the fabric and the layout. These kitties are so cute!

               Sew Together Bag - Floral Kitties Edition

Cotton + Steel Sew Together bag with August gazelles exterior

               Cotton + Steel Gazelle Sew Together Bag

               Cotton + Steel Gazelle Sew Together Bag

               Four of seven sew together bags

13 comments:

  1. I can see that this is going to be an awesome blog already, M! And OH MY GOSH PEOPLE MY BAG IS THE BEST. I filled it with hand-sewing supplies and it cheers me everytime I look at it or pull it out for a little sewing. It's like glorious yellow sunshine every time. <3

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  2. Ok, I am going to tackle this bag for sure. One question about the hexie bag - did you fuse the hexies to the interfacing, then quilt using batting?

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    1. Yes. I pieced, pressed, removed the basting papers, pressed a bit again, fused interfacing on the back, then quilted as usual. I thought it would help secure the hand stitching a bit.

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  3. Thanks for explaining your method. I have already sewn three of them, and every time I want to hand sewing the binding but I had no time. I'll try it the next time. The hexie bag is gorgeous!!!

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    1. It does add some time, but worth a try when you have it.

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  4. I loved seeing some of your bags in person at The Quilt Asylum today. fun fabric choices!

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  5. Wow! I just adore these!! I have the pattern and have been too intimidated to start. But now, seeing all if this loveliness, I am inspired to jump right in. And thanks for the binding tips! Xx! Lori

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  6. When you quilt your bag do you use a traditional muslin on the bottom of your quilting sandwich and then line your bag? I was wondering if that would be too bulky. LOVE the hexie bag. I have lots of Liberty of London hexies I was thinking of using for a bag.

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    1. Usually when I make quilted bags I do not make a full quilt sandwich; instead I just leave the batting open on the back. However, adding a layer of muslin behind does not make the bag too bulky. I do like these bags with shape flex interfacing (Pellon SF 101) fused to the back of the exterior for extra stability and then batting behind that.

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    2. Thanks so much. That helps tremendously. Cutting my pieces today.

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  7. Have you made this bag with any of the foam interfacing before quilting?

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    1. I have not, but it probably works fine if your machine can handles layers well.

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