Since it hard for me to access my design wall in the way I like, due to my foot, I decided that I would work on small projects this week. This included the lillyella Mini Maker Case Sew-a-Long. Yes, I am also still doing the Journey2Nebula. I really just want to win the prizes they are offering. Not really, though a little bit. I like the push to keep up and get these projects done.
Mini Mkaer Case SAL fabric
This is a cute little train case looking tote. It is designed for the Oliso mini iron, but you can use it for other things as well. I chose the fabric for the project this week.
I started out with the couches fabric and wanted more purples, but the couches fabric is more red-violet, so I found other fabrics to match. I might also make one in the same fabrics as my All Rolled Up Tote.
BAM had its first Zoom workshop the other day and I took it despite some challenges. First, we had to do some prep work, which I did, but I think I went a little beyond, because I had a presentation and wouldn’t be able to join until late.
Catch All Caddy prep-complete
The Catch All Caddy was a bag that was given away at the 2013 retreat. I think it was one of the best bags given out when bags were still being made for retreats. Since then people who attended that retreat bring them to Sew Day and workshops, using them to organize tools and carrying their other stuff. Everyone else is envious, thus Lynette decided to teach the rest of us how to make the bag.
I felt good about my progress Friday night when I finished for the evening.
As mentioned, the BAM meeting was on Saturday. I am in charge of the door prizes and we are still choosing a winner despite having the meetings via video chat. Ii have a great team and couldn’t put together such great bags without them.
Woven Tote by Carrie P
We first made items to fill the bag, then partway through the year I asked for volunteers to also make tote bags. To date I had been using random shopping bags, which isn’t as nice. Carrie, who is actually a glass artist, made the woven tote I filled on Saturday.
It is different than a quilted/sewn tote bag. The texture is fabulous and I love the detail on the handle straps and the beaded bit hanging down.
Tim has done great work again. He was inspired by Cyndi, another guildmate, so they are making Range Backpacks in tandem. Tim has made three so far and I am very impressed with his work.
The Range Backpack is a Noodlehead pattern. Tim likes it very much and says it is concisely and clearly written. He made some changes after making the first one such as using only SF101 as the interfacing and using a lobster clip instead of a buckle for the closure.
This is the pattern that spurred our discussion of the Hump Jumper.
I have a favorite dress that was made for DH’s Grand President events. It is the one dress for which I forgot to make a matching cell phone wallet. I have used others, thinking they looked ok, but I like the matching ones.
I still wear these dresses when I go to certain types of events, so this project was sort of on my list. One problem was that I didn’t have anymore of the fabric and it was so old I couldn’t get anymore. At the January CQFA Mini-Retreat, I saw Marie with some of the fabric and asked her if she had more. She found a little more than a FQ and gave it to me. The fabric has been languishing since then. I was on the phone for an extended call and decided that was a good time to start cutting out the piece.
I didn’t have enough of the fabric for the whole thing so I used an AGF solid pink I really like. The outside will match the dress.
I am working on another Running with Scissors Tote and am heading towards finishing. It is another gift, so I can’t show the whole thing right now.
Running with Scissor Tote -Mesh Tape Trick
I did want to show my tape trick, though. The directions say to mark where to sew – to divide the mesh pocket in half. It is difficult to mark mesh, so I had a brainwave and used blue tape.
I did not sew through it, but sewed next it, where I would have marked a line on regular quilting fabric.
I am kind of proud of myself for this little idea. I hope you can use it, too.
My organizational system for officer bags is a mess and part of that is not posting about this bag. The last time I mentioned it was when I was having a zipper challenge.
I finished it quickly, which I think was a direct result of making it right after Mom’s tote. There are some quirks to this pattern, which hit me even after making a couple of these. One of them is the handle details on the front and back. Makers have to make sure they cover the raw edges of the front and side panels.
Officer Poolside Tote – inside
I am pretty pleased with the fabric selection. I would like to figure out how to put a slip pocket on the inside. I don’t think it would be terribly difficult. I think it would just require some deft measurement and having an already made up tote on hand might be the way to figure that out.
A five month project finally came to a close over the weekend.
Every year for the past few years I have gotten a group together to make gifts for the officers. At first, I didn’t think they needed anymore quilt projects, so I had the idea of making them a bag and having guild members fill the bags with small gifts. This has proven to be very successful. In the last few years, I have brought postcards, so people who cannot bring gifts can convey their thanks in writing.
Both Angela and Rhonda posted photos of their gifts, which is a good way for you to see the variety of made and bought gifts. Rhonda’s bag was a quillow, so she got a bonus and the colors are perfect for her as she loves the Japanese indigo style.
We had an extra bag, so I took mine back and will use it for something else or for next year. I have to think of a way to be better organized as I forgot one person who had agreed to make a bag early on.
I don’t think I really had a good tag for this post, which means I will probably never be able to find it again. 😉 It is all about zippers.
I am faithfully following the pattern for the Poolside Tote. This is the third Poolside Tote I have sewed. I am not sure why, but I always have trouble with different parts.
This time I struggled with the facing. I also wondered about the zipper. On mom’s version and on my knitting bag, I just used slip pockets. On this version, I cut zipper pockets, which I didn’t remember. I guess it forced me to make pockets with zippers.
Zipper pocket
The directions for the pockets were pretty good. I didn’t have much trouble except for lining up the stitching. One side is hidden, so I leapt that hurdle. The only question I had was about the size of the zipper. The pattern called for a 10 inch zipper and that just seems weird to me. It seems too small. There are holes at the ends and no directions for zipper tabs. Obviously, I can make my own zipper tabs, but I just wonder why the designer asks for such a small zipper. I wonder if a 12 inch zipper would be better?
Are there rules for the size of zippers one includes in patterns??
This is not the end of the world. The zipper works fine and nobody will put something so small in the pocket that it will fall out if the bag falls over. This is just a puzzle about which I am curious. I might try the bag again with a 12 inch zipper.
I have worked on this project a little bit over the past several months, but decided I needed it out of my workspace. I finished it on Sunday.
It is big!
I thought of using it as an officer bag, but I really like the fabrics I used. I think I will keep it and use it to carry my hand quilting project around.
Mondo Bag lining and handles
Again, the method of construction foiled my attempts at organizing the fabrics. I still think it looks good and I really like the lining and handle fabrics.
I originally planned to publish this post on September 19. Somehow, the time got away from me. While I did finish the Running with Scissors tote, this post has mostly to do with working with vinyl. I thought it might still be of interest.
Marking vinyl
One thing that happened while I was working on my project was I had to develop some tips/tricks of my own.
The pattern, in general, is really good. It says, however, in the vinyl pocket part of the pattern to mark the vinyl to make smaller pockets. It didn’t say how to mark the vinyl. I didn’t have access to the video at the time, which may have some tips. I didn’t want to use a Micron pen, though I know that the ink can be washed off of vinyl pretty easily. I also don’t have one of those wash away pens, so I decided tape would work. I used tape to mark the lines I needed to sew along.
Sew along the tape
I sewed right next to the tape. I didn’t want to go through it, because that would create a mess. This was tricky, because I also needed to sew with the vinyl covered by tissue. As I have talked about many times, you need to take care when working with vinyl. I didn’t have my teflon foot with me (duh, oversight), so I used the wrapper from the vinyl. You don’t need much, but you do need longish strips. The only issue was that there was a little residue left on the vinyl from the tape. I’ll clean it off later.
Sewing over zippers
The zippers from ByAnnie are gorgeous. You can imagine that I was a little annoyed when I had to sew over the zipper ends.
I had to open the zipper – move the slide to the center, so it wouldn’t end up on the wrong side of the sewing line. That left the end of the zipper tape flooping around. I wanted the zipper teeth that would remain in the bag (not cut off) to be as close together as possible. I held it together with some tape.
This project has a lot of steps, but it does go together very well.
After Sew Day, I sewed the panels together. They look really nice! As I said, I am glad I was able to spend so much time arranging them. I sewed some Soft & Stable to the panels, but realized I have to rip it out. The directions were a little difficult to interpret on this point. I need to sew the Soft & Stable (or other lining/batting) to the lining fabric. All of a sudden, I have a lot of projects in play. I need to get at least one finished, so I can think properly.
I told you that I finished this project back in January. According to the pattern, I did finish it. However, ever since then, I have been contemplating handles. Mostly, I have been thinking of adding handles because of the way Vanessa (Crafty Gemini) stuff the thing full of tools, notions and everything sewing imaginable in the video introducing the Organizer Club**. I just couldn’t imagine how I could carry this thing around.
So, the bag sat until last weekend. Post Flying Around, I am finishing up bag projects. I talked about the 4 Zip Organizer and the Running with Scissors tote. On Sunday, I turned to this bag and decided that Sunday was the day this bag was getting handles.
All Rolled Up tote with handles
I thought I would make really good progress on the Poolside tote I am making, but I spent most of the day slowly working on the handles for this bag.
For some reason, I am convinced that these bags need to be supported. Part of it, again, is the videos showing how much stuff can be stuffed into these bags. The other part is that I don’t want to be trying to repair bags whose handles have ripped off. Thus, you may see some similarities between the handles on this bag and the handles on the 4 Zip Organizer.
Taking good photos of these handles was a challenge. In the above photo, you can see how far they extend off the top. I made the initial strip about 80 inches long. The black & white Peony Brocade fabric acts as an enhancement, but the outside of the strap is meant to blend into the outside of the bag itself.
All Rolled Up tote with handles: showing accent fabric
All Rolled Up tote with handles
All Rolled Up tote with handles: open
Adding the handles also made the bag have more of a defined round shape. I tried to install the handles so they wouldn’t interfere with the wide opening of the bag. I think I achieved that. I think, though, that the bag takes on a different shape once holding the bag by the handles.
I am still not sure how I am going to use this bag. I wrote a dissertation about that before so I won’t got into it again. I do think that I will put Wonder Clips in one of the pouches.
**N.B. The Organizer Club is still available for purchase, but this is the club that was new in 2018, so any announcement of early bird specials is no longer valid.
The Running with Scissors tote is finally finished. This will be a gift for a friend, but I think I will make another one. I wasn’t 100% happy with the process. I think if I make another the process will go more smoothly.
I think the ByAnnie pattern was written really well. I do really need to get hold of the video that Mrs. K bought for me. I think it will tell me why I have leftover pieces. 😉
Running with Scissors tote: with protective pad
Running with Scissors tote: with protective pad (back)
This bag has some interesting features. An add on project that comes with the bag is a pad that can be used to protect your tools from rubbing against each other when the bag is closed.
You already know that I used the center facing with thread holders on the 4 Zip Organizer. I learned about those in this pattern.
Running with Scissors tote: back
Running with Scissors tote: front
The bag also has a lot of zippers. This wasn’t much of a challenge for me since I have gotten used to dealing with zippers. In this case, however, I had to move the zipper pull from one zipper to another. That was a hassle, but it worked out in the end.
I cut the stripes wrong so the viewer doesn’t get the full effect. I want to try that again. Because of my fabric choices this bag came out a lot more Hallowe’en -y looking than I intended. I hope the giftee doesn’t mind and notices the Philip Jacobs fabric rather than the Hallowe’en look. I also need to figure out why I have extra pattern pieces. LOL!
I finished the 4 Zip Organizer on Saturday after a nice long day of sewing! I am pretty excited about the recent finishes, and this one in particular because it has been hanging around for so long.
I used fabrics that went with the All Rolled Up Tote. I am trying to create a matching set of bags and totes, but I keep switching fabrics!
4 Zip Organizer: Pen/pencil holder, D-Ring
As you can see, my Organizer has 3 pockets and a pencil holder. The pattern talks about making 4, but I used the directions from the Classmates tote to make the pencil carrier instead. I had to add another facing to the vinyl pocket above it. Though, Vanessa’s video didn’t say to do this, I figured it out from how she explained what pieces were covering others to finish them. I had an extra zipper facing, so I was all set.
4 Zip Organizer: D-Ring in action
While I was taking photos, I decided to try out the D-Ring. I grabbed one of the vinyl pouches I made for the All Rolled Up tote and clipped it on to the 4 Zip Organizer. I filled it a little too much for this bag, but it will work.
I didn’t want to put any fabric pockets in this bag, but somehow the bit of vinyl I had left disappeared after the Retreat, so I made one fabric pocket. I fussy cut the flower and think it looks nice.
Kam Snaps tools & Supplies
After watching Vanessa’s video about snaps, I was shocked when I opened the KamSnaps supply bag. The device that secures the snaps was included! I knew I bought some snaps, but was convinced I had forgotten the device. It took me a few tries and some wasted snaps, but I finally was able to install the snap closure.
4 Zip Organizer: Thread Holder
The Running with Scissors tote had thread holders on the center facing. I decided that I would add the same thing to this bag. Why not? I know I said I would use it for knitting, but who knows? I may need some thread or storage for Wonder Clips is always needed. Fortunately, the center is kind of round when the bag is closed so it can accommodate some thread or Wonder Clips. I bought the double fold elastic from ByAnnie.
I used a variety of colors of zippers from the selection I bought recently. I was pleased that I had a few extra for this project. I thought the zippers I used would be too small, but I had to trim less zipper tape on these.
4 Zip Organizer: outside with handles
4 Zip Organizer: closed with pen holder in view
4 Zip Organizer: closed
I am pleased to check another Crafty Gemini Organizer Club project off my list.
