Welcome to my day on the Island Batik/ByAnnie It’s in the Bag Blog Hop! Our challenge this month is to make our choice of pattern from ByAnnie.com, using beautiful Island Batik fabrics! For my project, I am using fabrics from our “surprise” package that was sent to us by Island Batik.
And here are the gorgeous fabrics I received in this collection named Country Charm by Carol Moellers Designs for Island Batik!
The ByAnnie pattern I chose was A Place for Everything 2.0. This pattern has a great video you can purchase that gives you so many great tips. I love ByAnnie’s patterns for that very reason! Here is a photo of all the goodies I received to make this bag.
I started making the bag by quilting the outside and lining fabric on my longarm. Last year, I cut the pieces individually and then quilted them on my domestic machine. Honestly, quilting everything first was awesome and much easier for me. You just make that quilt sandwich with the main fabric, Soft and Stable, and lining fabric. You can also do this on a domestic machine if you don’t have a longarm! That way, you only cut once instead of three times!
One of the things I love about these patterns is the fact that they are well written and have check boxes. Just check off the box when you complete each step! Plus there are many videos that are free on the site for making handles, putting in zippers, etc. I made a LOT of zippers! I received two rolls of zippers with pulls to complete this bag. I think I made 11 different zippers, some with a single pull and some with a double pull. The pattern recommends doing all the prep before putting the bag together. A sheet of labels is even included so you can keep up with everything. Here is a photo of all my prepped pieces.
Now the fun part began…putting it all together! I used Aurifil 50 wt thread in a gray color and a 90/100 Chrome Schmetz needle. Actually I used three needles because I hurried along and broke one and bent one! LOL As you will see in my finished photos, I used a combination of vinyl and mesh for the pockets. The choice is yours, so I used both! In making this bag, I discovered a new to me product – fold-over elastic! I used it to bind a couple of the vinyl pockets. It adds stretch and makes the pockets easier to get into. Now without further ado, here is my finished project. This will be so great for carrying all sorts of things, both sewing tools as well as larger items. The two pockets on the inside are removable and makes a very nice, deep bag. The pockets make it great for seam rippers, scissors, thimbles, thread, needles, presser feet, etc.
This collection of fabrics, Country Charm, is shipping to quilt shops now! Here are a few of the shops where it can be found: Creekside Quilts – Oregon, The Sewing Basket – Wisconsin, Jambearies Quilt Co in Florida, Hunters Quilt Mart in Missouri, and Laurel’s Fabrics and More in Minnesota. You can also find these gorgeous fabrics online at such places as Hancock’s of Paducah and Missouri Star Quilt Company.
I wish to thank Island Batik, ByAnnie.com, and Schmetz Needles for supplying the products used in making this bag. I also used Aurifil thread from my stash. This project was so much fun and will be very useful!!
Here is the schedule for this week’s blog hop. Please visit my fellow ambassadors and leave them a sweet comment! We all appreciate your comments so much!
November 6:
November 7:
November 8:
- Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine
- Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood
- Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights
November 9:
November 10:
Blog Hop Round-Up Week 2 and Giveaway
And…the second week’s giveaway is live! This time Island Batik is giving away two Fat Quarter bundles of Limerick and Country Charm collections by Kathy Engle and Carol Moellers Designs respectively!
To enter for your chance to win one of the two prizes above, follow the simple Rafflecopter prompts below.
a Rafflecopter giveawayThis giveaway ends November 10th at 11:59 pm PDT. Two random winners will be notified by email on November, 11 and announced on our Facebook page on November 14th. If the winners do not respond within the first two days after being notified, two new random winners will be chosen and notified. Please check your spam folders!
I’ll be back next week to share the schedule with you and the opportunity for another give away! Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a very quilty week! Until next time…
Well done!
What a gorgeous finish! Wow, you quilted it first on your longarm, I am so impressed. You did a masterful job, very inspiring. Something quirky from my experience? When I first visited the shop to enroll in my first quilting class, the lovely lady who waited on me directed me to Christmas fabrics to choose for the class. I had no idea how much fabric to buy and for some reason did not ask, so I bought several yards of Christmas fabrics when I actually only needed 1/4 yard of each fabric. It was Fruitcake by Basic Grey, and I still have bits of those fabrics, 13 years later. I still love them and regret that they are mostly gone now and hard to find.
Beautiful bag… love it !!!
Your bag came out fabulous, Brenda! The first time I heard of and used foldover elastic is when I tested a bag for Annie many years ago. Foldover elastic comes in several widths too, so I got myself several widths and colors. Annie has so many great bag designs and I have made quite a few of them. Lucky you that you can quilt on your longarm machine because I am sure it is way easier that quilting on a domestic machine!
I do love your bag! I did a Call Me Bag and have the Ultimate Travel Bag cut out! The colors are fabulous!
Nice bag! Quirky thing…I machine quilted a batch of placemats and found I had sewed some loose fabric to the back of one!
Great bag!! Love all the pockets and zips. Beautiful fabrics too. My quirky/not so funny- made a quilt label this week on the embroidery machine….and background fabric is white with white stars….on the back of the label. Somebody failed to check if the fabric was right side up when I put the hoop on the machine! OOOPS…doesn’t look to bad but boy I was annoyed at myself!
Great bag, you can use it to organize so many things.
Great job on the bag, Brenda!!! Chic model, too!!!
What a fabulous bag and fabric! Always an inspiration to see what you make! I have never used fold over elastic – I love learning about new techniques and products! Thank you – have a great week!
Stunning bag, great fabric choices and lovely model!
Your bag turned out amazing and love that it has so much storage compartments. Such gorgeous fabrics. Well I wish I had a funny anecdote about sewing, but I will share something that always happens to me and I am sure happens to others as well- Nine times out of time, when I am just about finished piecing a project or adding binding with an inch or so to go , I run out of bobbin thread. It happens so much now I just expect it. LOL. Happy quilting. Hugs.
Love your bag Brenda.! I love that it is big and roomy, just the type I like. You did an awesome job! And the fabrics are gorgeous.
Nicely done and beautifully modeled. You should be so proud!
Oh yes, the fold over elastic is great. Beautiful finish Brenda.