{"id":3012,"date":"2009-09-16T06:30:31","date_gmt":"2009-09-16T13:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/?p=3012"},"modified":"2016-08-30T08:02:53","modified_gmt":"2016-08-30T15:02:53","slug":"multi-tasker-tote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/multi-tasker-tote\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Multi-tasker Tote"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"AMH<\/a>
AMH MTT in progress<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If I didn’t think Anna Maria Horner<\/a> was a goddess already,\u00a0 I do now.\u00a0 I spent the day on Sunday, minus a short chauffeuring task, with the Multi-tasker Tote<\/a> (AMH MTT), a recent pattern from Ms. Horner. As I suspected, I did have trouble understanding the directions. It is the way I learn and not completely about the directions. I do think there were a few tiny parts that could have been clarified just a little bit more. I know they have a certain number of pages they can use to create a pattern and have to worry about font, enough photos, etc, so I really am not going to complain too much.<\/p>\n

In all fairness, I think making 20 or 30 of the Eco Market Totes gave me a feel for what should be going on in the tote making process. Doing a multitude of those totes and making little changes in the pattern made me understand the bones of tote-making. The AMH MTT is much different than the EMT, but in the end they are totes and their goal is to carry things.<\/p>\n

\"Multi<\/a>
Multi Tasker Tote Pattern<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In general, however, this is an amazing pattern. The way it goes together looks completely mysterious one minute and the next minute it is gorgeous and elegant. I was completely blown away, because it made me think about tote bags in a new way. I don’t think it is a beginner pattern, however I would say that any intermediate sewist who has a few tote bags under her belt could use this pattern to make a bag.<\/p>\n

\"AMH<\/a>
AMH MTT in progress, detail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the above photo, you can see the bit that is folded over to accommodate the straps, including my lovely top stitching. \ud83d\ude09 I haven’t finished the straps yet, so there is another photo of this project to which you can look forward!<\/p>\n

\"AMH<\/a>
AMH MTT, Step #8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the steps I had trouble with was step #8. I really couldn’t figure out what the directions were trying to accomplish. Finally, I realized that she wanted me to sew the bottom of the pocket together! To accomplish that I had to pop the pocket (pattern piece is called pocket panel) out a certain way. When you do orient the section correctly, the whole thing looks like the section above.<\/p>\n

\"Box<\/a>
Box corners<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Remember I mentioned<\/a> the gusset tutorial in the Bag Bazaar book? I didn’t have a chance to try it out. I found AMH’s directions to be stellar. You press a crease into the side of your bag, then you line up the bottom seam with that crease and you have a perfect triangle. I drew a line (not part of the directions), because of my A type personality. Perfect box bottom. I did it before I realized what was happening and was amazed at the results.<\/p>\n

I love the fabrics that I chose for the current tote, individually.\u00a0 I am not happy with the two of them in combination in this project. Too many flowers, I think, which means that none of them stand out. Yes, I will be making another! As I mentioned in a previous post<\/a> and as you can see from the photos, I used the Denyse Schmidt fabrics as a trial run.<\/p>\n

\"MTT<\/a>
MTT #2 Bag Fabric<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My biggest challenge with this project is the requirement of Pellon Peltex Double-Sided Fusible Ultra Firm Stabilizer #72. I didn’t have any in my fabric closet, which didn’t worry me. I sewed and fused two pieces of Timtex together and the put Steam-a-Seam 2 on the outside and fused it to the bag. Having a stiff bottom is GREAT! It makes the thing stand up and much less floopy. Using my jerry-rigged method, I could easily see where something already stiff and fusible would be a lot easier. I searched the web and found it by the yard for $10+.\u00a0 I also found a bolt of it for $99+. Huh! I can’t make another of these using my jerry-rigged method, because I am out of SAS2. I have to decide whether to get a bolt (seems like overkill) or pay, what seems like, and exorbitant price for a yard. Anyone of you have any perspective on the price of Pellon Peltex Double-Sided Fusible Ultra Firm Stabilizer #72?<\/p>\n

Kristin LaFlamme\u00a0 reviewed<\/a> this pattern\u00a0 on her blog as well. It is a very complete review. She mentions a couple of the inconsequential typos I also saw and does some interesting things using recycled materials. Her rendition of the pattern makes me think about adding additional pockets to the outside. Adding a pocket to the outside would be especially successful when I don’t have a focus fabric (as shown on the pattern above) or fabric suitable for broderie perse.<\/p>\n

\"Julie<\/a>
Julie Bag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Update<\/em>: this was given to Dolores as a gift.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If I didn’t think Anna Maria Horner was a goddess already,\u00a0 I do now.\u00a0 I spent the day on Sunday, minus a short chauffeuring task, with the Multi-tasker Tote (AMH MTT), a recent pattern from Ms. Horner. As I suspected, I did have trouble understanding the directions. It is the way I learn and not … Continue reading “Review: Multi-tasker Tote”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[389],"tags":[352,86,330,216,353,255,66],"class_list":["post-3012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-389","tag-construction","tag-off-topic-crafts","tag-other-artists","tag-pattern-review","tag-process","tag-project-bag","tag-tote-bags"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3012\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}