As much as I love creating quilts, it's rare for me to really love the process of using the sewing machine. It's usually a lip-biting, eyebrow-scrunching, nerve-wracking time - even when I have a fairly good idea what I'm trying to accomplish and/or the various steps I need to follow to get there.
I started a project the other night with only the vaguest idea what I wanted to end up with - and even foggier ideas how to get there. Despite that, I was literally grinning the entire time I worked on it. I have honestly never had so much fun while sitting at my sewing machine.
Neither of my sewing machines came with travel cases. And after taking one with me to Thanksgiving dinner (to get schooled on some issues by an expert relative), I realized that I wanted a better way of transporting it in the future. Sure, I could have hopped on Amazon or Ebay and probably ordered a hard case, but I wanted to do something a little more fun.
So, with little more in mind than that, I came home and started making a quilted bag large enough to fit either of my sewing machines.
I worked mainly with large scraps from one of my craigslist fabric purchases, and used leftover batting that was just sitting around waiting for me to make something smaller than a quilt.
After choosing fabric - based mainly on the size of the pieces available - I started by making the side panels. I wanted the top of these panels to be clean, so I treated that edge like a quick turn (sewing the fabrics wrong side together, binding on the back of the aqua/green piece). After trimming off the excess above that line of stitching, I flipped the pieces back into a traditional quilt sandwich (pink, batting, aqua) and did a little quilting. I couldn't bring myself to stitch across the faces of the people on the pink fabric, so I did lines across the free space or bodies, and tried to loosely outline any heads that fell in that 'line' of stitching. The stitching looks a little random when viewed from the floral print side, but it makes sense on the pink side.
Next I made a traditional sandwich for my wrap around piece and quilted it in what turned out to be a loose diamond shape.
The aqua floral is the same on all three pieces, with only a two inch by, maybe, six inch piece left over. While not quite my taste, it was really perfect for this project.
Next, I wasted too much time on handles that didn't work out. I'm still working on that part actually, but I'm not going to stop showing off my favorite new project just because of a little delay like handles!
Oh, and I made some quick pockets (rectangles folded in half) to attach to the floral side of the side panels.
Then came the tricky part - moving from flat pieces to something a bit more dimensional.
I lined the center of the large panel up with the center of the side panel, then pinned it together into something like this:
Stitching around the first corner was very intuitive and simple, but I struggled to make the second corner on both side panels. It ought to have been the same process on every corner, but I just couldn't make it twist quite right that second (and fourth) time.
When all four corners were done, I was left with something beginning to resemble a quilted bag!
Looking at the inside, you can kind of see the pockets on either side panel...
The floral side is fairly finished looking - but the exterior has some raw edges that will need to be hidden under bias tape or binding (I'm debating if I want to go on the bias or not for this).
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| Momo inspecting a potential new lair |
No, I don't think it'll be fully strong enough to carry the machine by the bag straps (even though I intend to wrap the straps completely under the bag rather than attaching only at the top) - but it'll give me a single bag for all the pieces I need to be in and something to keep the machine from sliding around in the back of my car too much. I'll probably also add a piece of plastic or cardboard under the machine for a little bit more support.
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