Nova Tote Pattern - Now Available

I finally sat down to work on my canvas bag pattern. I hosted an Instagram contest to name the pattern, and Clover and Violet had the winning name: Nova Tote. The pattern is available for sell now on Payhip. Previously, I had the pattern available on Craftsy with my free patterns, but I moved to Payhip due to VAT collection required when selling digital patterns to purchasers in the EU.

I drafted this pattern several months ago with the idea in mind to have a rugged bag with quick construction that can go from beach to market and features some of my favorite quilt blocks. Over the course of months, I have I made several different versions of the bag in two different sizes - small and medium. I have made it in duck canvas, quilting weight cotton over duck canvas base, home decor with Peltex interfacing, lined and unlined.

Chrissy Lux of Sew Lux Fabrics unveiled the most gorgeous tricked out version of the Nova Tote for her quilted bag entry of Sewvivor. I am in love with all the added details and quilted panels!

Basic features of the Nova Tote include:

 Two sizes in one pattern

Approximate dimensions:

Large size: 20" W x 7" D x 14 1/2" H; bottom 13" W; handle drop 10"

Medium size: 16" W x 6"D x 13" H; bottom 10" W; handle drop 8 1/2"

Durable double layer of canvas

Contrast bottom and straps

Quick construction

Featured quilt block pocket

Instructions to make a double star quilt block pocket

Comparable sized quilt blocks can be substituted for a wide variety of options

Bias or twill bound interior seams

Optional lining

I am very excited to offer this pattern, but I would be lying if I said that I am not nervous as this is my first in depth pattern. I hope you'll take a chance on a fledgling pattern designer. 

Patchwork Baby Steps Quilt Tutorial

One day early this summer, my 11 year old daughter, K, and I were doodling on graph paper and she drew the inspiration for this quilt. It was perfect timing as I have a friend due to have a baby girl soon, and I wanted to make her a quilt. My challenge was to find a way to quick piece K's design and make it fat quarter friendly because that is the bulk of my stash. More graph paper doodling ensued, and I had a plan to use either fat quarters or jelly roll strips.

Quilt size: 36" square

The quilt is composed of different five types of strip sets, which are then cross cut into 2.5" wide subsection strips and assembled into five different 12" block sets for a total of nine blocks.

Fabric requirements*
24 assorted fat quarter strips - 2.5" x 21" or 12 width of fabric jelly roll strips
white background - 1 1/3 yards

Cutting instructions
8 white 2.5" x width of fabric strips, cut each strip in half to 21" length*
5 white 4.5" x width of fabric strips, cut each strip in half to 21" length* (you may substitute with two 2.5" jelly roll strips)

*Do not cut into 21" lengths if you are using jelly roll strips

Make strip sets
Using your color strips and white strips, assemble five different types of strip sets as follows. You will make TWO strip sets of each type if you are using FQ strips; if you are using jelly roll strips for the color portion rather than fat quarters, you will have one long WOF strip set. 

There will be excess fabric leftover from the strip sets. I find it easier to waste a bit of fabric than to cut multiple length strip sets, but you can reduce the length of the second strip set (if using FQ) from 21" to 10" for each of the fabrics if you want to eliminate waste.You may also notice that strip set 1 upside down is the same as strip set 4, and strip set 2 upside down is the same as strip set 3, so you can combine those for the second strip sets if you don't mind more repeat in fabric prints.

Strip set 1:
1 1/2 strip sets needed if using FQs

Strip set 2:
1 1/2 strip sets needed if using FQs

Strip set 3:
1 1/4 strip sets needed if using FQs

Strip set 4:
1 1/4 strip sets needed if using FQs

Strip set 5:
1 1/4 strip sets needed if using FQs

Cross cut strip sets into subsets
Cross cut your strip sets into 2.5" wide strips. Each strip will be 2.5" x 12.5".

Assemble quilt blocks

Assemble subset strips into quilt blocks as follows:

Block A:

Make three

Block B:

Make two

Block C:

Make one

Block D:

Make one

Block E:

Make two

Assemble quilt top

Assemble quilt blocks in the following order to make the quilt top:

Confessions of a Sew Together Bag Lady

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.

                   

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

                                  

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

                

                

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.

                 

                 

                 

                 

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.

                

                

                

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!

               

Cotton + Steel Sew Together bag with August gazelles exterior

               

               

               

Fast and easy tiny patchwork Sew Together Bag

I keep saying that I am done making the Sew Together Bag, but it is a hopelessly addictive pattern - not only for me, but my friends and family. As soon as someone sees the bag, they want one - and so I keep making them. This bag is my sixth bag, and though it has a detailed exterior, it is one of the fastest exteriors I have pieced because I used precuts and cheated a little on the piecing process. I'll detail my method here for anyone looking to make a fun, scrappy patchwork exterior.

I originally set out to make this bag a very simple patchwork with minimal piecing, as I needed to have it done quickly. As I started digging through my mini charm shoe box, I remembered trying piecing with fusible interfacing on a patchwork project when I first started quilting. Normally I would rather just chain piece, but I needed fast and these are little pieces.  Previously I used the fusible 1" grid from Joann's, but I remembered seeing a tutorial on Sew Mama Sew to draw your own grid on plain lightweight fusible interfacing. That method works best for the sizes of the squares in this project, and I happen to have a bolt of sheerweight interfacing on hand.

Materials used:
59 assorted mini charms (or any other 2.5" squares)
Pellon 906F fusible sheerweight interfacing 16.25" x 22.5"
the usual quilting supplies

From your 59 mini charms, subcut each charm into four 1.25" squares = 236 squares. You will have two more than you need. I was not overly concerned with extreme precision and stacked four or five charms together at a time. When you are done, you will have a pretty stack of tiny squares.

On your interfacing, draw 1.25" grids as detailed in the tutorial linked above. You should have 13 squares across x 18 squares down.

I won't detail all of the assembly instructions, as the tutorial I linked is comprehensive. The process moves quickly...unless you have a five year old helper and all of the fabric is not even remotely in the lines. Another word of advice with so many tiny squares - it was easier for me to line up a row or two at a time, fuse, then line up the next row or two at a time, fuse, until all rows are fused (also perhaps a byproduct of my five year old helper). They will look something like this after fusing - it is not completely perfect along the edges, and it doesn't need to be; it will be trimmed a bit to fit the pattern dimensions.

Sew your rows and columns and press the seams open. Pressing the seams is a bit of a chore - there are a lot of them and they are a bit more resistant to laying flat than plain quilting cotton or larger squares. I opted to then add batting and quilt the panel. Your panel will be 10.25" x 14". After assembling my interior panel, I only needed to trim off 1/4" from each side; the length seemed to work well with the interior panel, which is usually (in my experience) a bit longer than the exterior panel.

Attach your bag pieces, add your binding, and behold your scrappy bag:

My little helper, E, took some photos as well, complete with the customary finger across the lens:

First Blog Post -- Free Paper Pieced Whale Pattern

Though I am fairly active on Instagram and Flickr, this is my first attempt at blogging and my very first blog post. I have considered blogging when I have something more in depth to share, but it is a bit daunting as there is a learning process (meaning I am not really technologically savvy) and I tend to spend most of my discretionary time quilting or planning to quilt. However, it would be nice to keep track of some of my projects for future reference, so I am taking the plunge. My blogging will be a bit rough around the edges as I learn to navigate this new world, so bear with me!

First, I'll share my most recent finish - I made a nautical themed version of Grainline Studios Lakeside Pajamas for my oldest daughter. I used a combination of voile and lawn fabric with paper pieced blocks. It is fully lined to reduce sheerness and cover the quilt piecing on the back. I also added a small amount of interfacing behind the quilt blocks to prevent fraying over time. I used prepackaged binding, but I think making my own would have resulted in a softer finish.

I looked at several different patterns for the blocks and ended up merging some different anchor details into a paper pieced pattern I drafted, as well as drafting a paper pieced whale. 

For a fun detail on the back, I added an anchor to the top.

I am quite happy that it turned out as I envisioned - this is the first time I have added paper pieced quilt blocks to a garment, and with the added challenge of angled seams.

And now for the fun part. I am offering the little paper pieced whale pattern I drafted for free on Craftsy. It measures 5" x 6" finished, but can be easily enlarged or reduced to customize the size.