My Ultimate Super Tote

A massive thank you to each and every one of you who left hits, tips and suggestions on my blog post and IG feed giving me your experiences in creating a Super Tote.  With your help, I'm delighted to say I have finished my very first Super Tote and I absolutely love it.

I have been watching so many of you make Super Totes with personal touches.  I knew when the day came that I made my own I wanted to tweak the pattern to suit my use of the bag. Needless to say, my chicken scratch covered the pattern within hours of my printing it.

The pattern is wonderfully written. Very clear instruction with easy to follow diagrams.  There are lots of ways to personalize your tote included as optional extras in the pattern itself, which was a nice touch.  

I started with the two large exterior pieces of  the bag.  I knew I wanted to use the Wordfind print from Playful as the "background" on the front panel.   The handles (and gusset) are of Essex Linen Navy because I wanted them to be extra sturdy.  The handles have batting inside and are a bit wider than called for in the pattern.  They're stitched...and quilted...and reinforced by stitching Xs at their base, giving them strength and form.  I used Annie's Soft and Stable as my interfacing to make the bag...well, soft and sable.  I wanted it to hold it's own shape, but squish under an air plane seat.  I found it to be pretty easy to work with even when at some points I was stitching it two layers thick plus several layers of fabric.  Not a bother.  On one side I put a slip pocket in Architextures and a key fob.  I also hid one side of a magnetic closure between the Wordfind print and the interfacing.  On the other went a internal zip with Architextures lining on the pocket.

That was as far as I could get in one day.  The next day I returned to add pockets to the front and I realized the Wordfind was just too much pink for me on the back.  I'd have to add pockets on both sides to break it up a bit.  Onto the back, I added a half pocket that I divided into two with basic stitching down the middle.  It was a nice way to also better secure the fabric to the interfacing.  The pockets are lined and have light, fusible interfacing between the two layers.  Instead of piping (as called for in the pattern) I just did a binding of Navy Essex on the top of the pocket to finish it.

On the front there's one massive pocket in Viewfinders  that again is lined, with interfacing and a binding on top.  Between the two layers I added the other half of the magnetic closure.  Boy it's hard getting photos of pockets on a bag, isn't it?

Next came the gusset of Essex linen backed with more Annie's Soft and Stable.   I pinned, and pinned and pinned and that worked well for me.  No blood was shed.  I hear, too, that Clover clips would work here as well.  I didn't have enough to make it all the way around so I had to stick to pinning.  Now, my gusset ended up being 2 inches taller on the left and right as compared to my bag (you can kind of see it in the photo).  I don't know why that is, but it was easy enough to cut that extra bit off.  I lost a bit of the pleat, though, on either side.  Next time I'll have to make the pleat it a bit longer to be sure I keep enough of it on the bag.

For the lining, I used the Jacks print from Playful.  I used interfacing between the layers on either side of the recessed zip.  I tried to get away without it, but you guys wouldn't have it.  I'm glad you stopped me from making  a huge mistake - I love it now that it's re-done and in use.

Inside you'll see another internal zip on one side and elastic pockets on the other.  I wasn't convinced that the elastic pockets would really be used (by me) or that they're high enough in the bag for me to find them (and the stuff in them).  I decided to give them a try, though, on one side to see how it went.  We'll see if they stay in my next super tote.

I used more Wordfind (scraps now) as the pocket lining in the internal zip.

And extra wide 1 inch thick elastic on the pockets.  I wish they were lined but at this point I was just getting tired and wanted this pretty finished.  It would have been easy enough to line them, though, so if they stay in the next Super Tote I'll add that to the pattern.

I do not like how the lining is just free floating inside the bag.  It seems kind of "baggy" and unrefined.   I can imagine myself snagging it when grabbing something at the bottom of the bag and pulling the lining fully out.  I flipped the bag inside out and added tacking stitches at 4-6 spots along either side of the lining gusset.  I just tacked the lining to the Annies hoping to keep it anchored a bit.

On the top of the bag the pattern tells you to top stitch along the upper edge.  I tried, but it looked just awful.  I'm pretty bad at that in general and this bag was no exception.  I decided to add another strip of Essex binding along the top and used navy thread that was then nearly invisible to stitch it down. I like it SO much more that way than as wobbly top stitching along the edge.

All in all I am delighted with how it came together.  It will come with me on a business trip later this week so it'll have the full test.  Stuffed with EPP and knitting, passports and reservation confirmations it will be shoved under the seat in front of me and strapped to a wheelie suitcase.  I'll let you know how it goes!

My photographic assistant, Miss Molly.  She's loving the first rays of the spring sunshine during our photo shoot.

Super Tote Inspiration!

It comes in the funniest of ways.  This time from two completely unrelated sources.

1. I am travelling at the end of this month and am itching to make something new to travel with me.  A zippy pouch?  I have many.  A purse?  Too fiddly.  What to make, what to make.....

2.  I was reading blogs over my lunch today and saw a super tutorial to make a tote bag. 

A tote!  But I need a zipping top to shove it under an air plane seat.  What's that, you say?  A Super Tote!!!  The light came on.

Oh, yes.  Paypal has this way of enabling spontaneous purchases.  Before I knew it I had a brand spankin' new Super Tote pattern printed out at my desk.

I am home tonight pulling pretty fabrics....

Clearly Playful from FSQ is my first choice, combined with two Essex linens.

and playing with Google image for a bit of inspiration/orientation.

Here is my question for all of you.  Have you made a Super Tote?  Do you have any hints or tips to share? Or any ideas of what you'd add into the pattern?   I see lots of cool suggestions like adding internal zipper pockets, using one massive cross-body loop instead of two handles, internal key fobs or external smaller pockets.  It's kind of fun daydreaming a bit, isn't it?  I'm totally jazzed to start stitching over the holiday weekend.  Bring it on!

Handmade Christmas 2014

Hello!  It's been a long long time since we have had a good chat.  I hope you are all well and enjoying the last week of the year.  I hope you are snuggled in at home with your family/pets/friends, lazying around, eating too much and sewing to your heart's content.  

Although the blog has been quiet, I have been sewing quite a bit lately.  There is a lot to tell you, but I am sure I will miss out on smaller projects like bee blocks, etc.  If you want to see it ALL, pop over to Instagram (@fluffysheepquilting) and page through my photos for the latest news.  

Where to start?  How about those super top secret Christmas gifts I was making but could not tell you about?  For now we will stick to the success stories - I will tell you about the total failure later.  

At the Modern Quilting Guild of Ireland meetup last September, we had a craft book swap.  I picked up a book on knitting animal hats.  I know  I am a bit too old/distinguished for this kind of get up, but I thought it might work well for my (nearly) 2 year old niece, Nieve.  

I choose a kitten pattern primarily because it's the only one that I could understand.

I am not the best knitter, but I am persistent.  This was in no way easy for me - I had to re-stitch the hat portion at least 4 times, had a hard time finding a semi-appropriate yarn and kind of made up a good bit on my own.  In the end, though, I had a kitten hat that any 2 year old might be proud (?!?!?) to wear...

The ears are slightly out of proportion and the cheeks a little mal-aligned.  It can be/was also mistaken for a rabbit.  But it fits Nieve and she seems to like wearing it.  We'll call it a success.  I will just need to become a much better knitter as she grows older....hiding my mistakes will become more difficult with time!

Nieve has also become interested in one of my most favorite pastimes: coloring.  While we were together over Thanksgiving, we spent a lot of time drawing, coloring and stickering our creations.

For Christmas, then, I wanted to make her a little tote and portable crayon wallet to bring her crayons and notebooks anywhere she goes.  I started with a little tote tutorial by Jennie of Clover and Violet that is the PERFECT size for this young lady.  It was a very well written tutorial that stitched up in no time.  I used Fancy Free fabrics from the shop as they're girly, but not overwhelmingly pink AND they have bicycles...which Nieve loves.

On the front there's a little ruffle detail on two of the rows...

and on the back an extra large piece of bicycle fabric for her enjoyment.

Sticking with Fancy Free fabric, I made a coordinating crayon wallet for this budding artist.  I choose a tutorial by Modest Maven as it was specifically crated to hold scrap fabric and not a store bought pad of paper.  The little crayon pockets also can hold the fatty crayons or the skinny crayons, so it will grow along with Nieve's skills.  

There's more bicycle fabric on the exterior WITH my very first snap.  I have to say, putting in a snap twisted my brain a bit.  I got there in the end.  

Fully stocked....

Or without paper so you can see the lining fabric.  How cute!

In a completely surprising stroke of luck, it turns out that the crayon wallet fits PERFECTLY into a pocket I installed on the inside of the tote.  Don't I look like a forward thinker?  Ha!

Thank you for brilliant tutes, Modest Maven and Clover & Violet.  You made my Christmas stitching easy as pie!  

Screen Printed Totes

I dipped my toe into screen printing recently, but went a little nutters taking pictures in the process.  Weeding through them to write a blog post was too much for me to take.  Things have quieted down now, so I would love to show you what I made if you can tolerate the over-abundance of photos.

Armed with an A3 screen, Karen's book and lots and lots of newsprint, I transformed my kitchen into a screen printing studio.  I had dedicated space to lay the tote down, to place my paint and to lean the screen when it was not in use.  What I had not accounted for was the abundance of printed totes that had to dry somewhere!

Our clothes drying racks and quilt display racks from the shop came in handy!  I quickly took over the front hall as well.

With so much new stuff in weird places to inspect, it was inevitable that miss Molly would also be painted in the process.

I needed 15 bags, so I printed 20.  The vast majority of them turned out reasonably well.  They were stuffed full of shop fliers, Frixion pens, Aurifil threads and fat quarters from local shops supporting our Modern Irish Quilters retreat.

Not all of my screen printed totes were good enough to give out to our retreat members.  There were paint smudges on the back, dribbles at the bottom...and on...and on.  I decided that I would take one of those totes, cut out the sewing machine and make a new pretty tote for myself.  

Using Avant Garden I made a 14x15 (-ish) inch tote with Clover Poppies on the exterior and for the handles...

...and Dot Seeds in Sky as the lining.  These fabrics are so beautifully soft they are a pleasure to sew.  A huge thanks to Eva who caught me assembling the interior-handles-exterior in the wrong order at our retreat.  Without her, it would have been an absolute mess!  

I forgot to cut the selvage off of the handles before sewing them into the lining.  There's a little bit peeking out.  I kind of like it there!

This little tote is already in use bringing your happy parcels from the house to the post office.  Your orders are travelling in style, I can assure you.

It should be noted that Molly, my photographic assistant, was not paying any attention during our tote bag photo shoot.  She was just pure messing.  

Ooops! I did it again.

It never fails.  When I am gathering up my goodies to go on a holiday or a fun weekend with friends, I suddenly realize there is something that I HAVE to make before I go.  Last trip it was the Alder Skirt.  This trip it is a (absolutely gorgeous must-have) tote bag.  How could I ever possibly live without it?  It would make everything that bit better, right?  I could bring all of my class supplies to the retreat in it.  And so I sew like a maniac to finish off a project before my flight takes off.  Why do I do it?   

I present to you my most recent obsession: the mahosive tote bag.  Ta da!

I took it out on my morning walk with Molly for a photo shoot.  

This was made using Judith's QAYG tote bag pattern.  I loved the colorful scrappy look of hers, but quickly realized I didn't have enough time (being a tote bag emergency and all) to QAYG the front and back panels.  I instead made two log cabin-esque panels for either side with Echino as the center focus, a Kona border, then Architextures (Curry) as the background fabric.  That piece of Echino has been held dearly in my stash for well over a year.  I've been waiting for the right project to use it in a large space to show it off.  This bag was the perfect project.

I will say, though, because I didn't QAYG (as the pattern clearly tells you to) my bag sides are a small bit squishy.  The bag can not stand up by itself.  I did quilt my side panels in 1/2 inch straight lines, but that's not enough to keep the sides rigid.  

As part of the pattern, there's a recessed zipper to close the top of the bag.  That's key if you're going to shove it under the seat in front of you on a flight.  This is my first recessed zip.  It's fine. It opens/closes and doesn't look awful, but now that I have made one I know my next one will be much better.  I used Dottie here and for the lining.

I wish I had a curry colored zip, but being totally unprepared for making this bag I had to run to the Galway shop to pick one up.  They only had browns, maroon and white.  White it is.

I was watching Sarah as she made her QAYG bag a few weeks ago and loved how hers came together.  She had added to the pattern two inner pockets, one slip pocket and one internal zip pocket.  In a bag this size, a zip pocket is an absolute must.  Sarah was such a huge help in giving me advice on placement, tutorials for the zip insertion, etc.  She's an absolute star.   This pocket is 8 inches wide, so I needed a rather large piece of fabric to make the pocket lining.  I wish I could have made it out of Architextures curry so that there's a piping effect along the zip and a fun surprise inside, but I had such a huge scrappy piece of the Dottie print I just had to use it.

And finally, for most trips I bring my ipad and travel docs slipped into a large external pocket.  I instead used a "scrap" of the Echino (12x12 inches) and made a slip pocket that will fit an A4 sheet of paper in a folder and my ipad.  Given that the external part of my bag isn't very rigid, the pocket does sag a big.  I will see how it goes for this upcoming weekend, but I think I may have to put a button on the top.  There's space, so that's easy to add in late.

That's my class supplies ready and my bag made.  If only I had clean clothes to pack and had the shop prepared!  Priorities, Cindy.  Focus.

Finish Along Q2 Goals

And we start off a new quarter with high hopes.  Here's what I would like to finish between now and June:

1. Rainbow Charm Swap
With 56 lovely ladies waiting, I aim to pack up and deliver an extra large charm pack to each one of them.  That means cutting nearly 3,000 charms and packing up over 6,000!  I have lots of yardage cut, so I just need to get down to business.

2. Pezzy Pizazz
The top is finished, she's layered and the quilted has begun!  I just have to finish the final 2/3 of the quilting and bind this cutie.

3. Tote
I have half of a tote made using this tutorial.  You see, it was to be a replacement Mouthy Stitches tote, but it was no longer needed.  I have the lining made using Summersville (with a little pocket) so I just have to make the exterior (out of Echino) and pop on two handles.  Easy peasy you'd think, but it's been sitting around my sewing room for months and needs to be finished off.

4. Liberty Love
Again, the top is done.  I even have most of the backing fabric here at home.  I need to do a little piecing, layer it and quilt like mad.  I was thinking of quilting it like this, then binding it in Liberty.  That's the plan at least.

5. Modern Stitching Bee
I have the most gorgeous bee blocks piled up here in my sewing space.  I so love them.  It's time to start assembling the top and get this pretty finished off.

6. Knitted Cap
I have a knitted cap made of the most beautiful home spun yarn, sent to me by Judy.  This cap is 95% finished.  I just have another little bit of knitting to do to finish the crown.  If only you guys could feel this...it's so soft, fuzzy and warm.  Gorgeous.  I can't wait to break it out next winter.

7. Knitted Purse
I have a green knitted purse that has been an on and off project for me since Christmas.  I have both handles done and one side.  The second side is 1/2 finished.  I just have to finish that last side and assemble.  I love this project.  I'm not sure why it's taking me so long to finish it.

8. Dorky Science Cross Stitch.
For those of you who may not know me well, I'm a total science dork.  When I saw this cross stitch pattern, who could resist?  I am about half way finished. It is not a masterpiece, but it makes me happy.  I can't wait to finish and hang it above my work desk.  Wouldn't that be hilarious?

I think those are the major UFOs that I can plan to finish in the next three months.  I had better get stitching!

Leanne, thanks again for hosting.  You know I love a good to-do list :)