Conversation Bag Tweaks

Have you seen the fantastic free pattern for the Conversation Bag over on Sew Sweetness?  I made one! It was also in the first issue of Modern Quilting which is where I worked from and where I saw it first and decided I MUST MAKE ONE.

If you fancy making one too I thought I’d pass on some tips and flag up some parts of the instructions I misinterpreted to prevent others from possibly doing the same (or it could have just been me being an idiot in some cases).

1) You need 34 charm squares, not 33 for the patchwork. I was 3x 2 1/2″ squares short when I made the panels up so I had to cut more.
2) The magazine says the interior side panels (both from interior fabric and interfacing) measure 15 1/2″ x 14″. This is a misprint, it should be 5 1/2″ x 14″. It is correct on the blog.
3) Fusing fabric together- Nothing is mentioned about the fusible fleece for the flap and I left mine out. You could do the same or fuse it on top of the heavy interfacing like it is supposed to be, the same as the patchwork side pieces. The blog is correct, it’s just the magazine again on this one.
4) After the patchwork the sewing allowances are 1/2″ NOT 1/4″. I did not know this til I finished the bag and looked at the blog instructions, which are correct.
5) When you’re putting the magnetic snap in and you “fold in half lengthways”, this means folding so that the two shortest edges are together. This took me an embarrassing length of time to figure out.
6) READ AHEAD on the outer pocket assembly. The top is the rounded edge but it doesn’t say this until after the snap is put in. So obviously I put mine in the wrong way round with the rounded corners at the bottom. That’s why mine has a lace detail… (this doesn’t matter for the blog instructions as ther shape has changed to a much easier rectangle)
7) The magazine says you align the flap with the topstitched interior main panel which is confusing. The blog has a helpful picture and omits the word “topstitched” which makes more sense. You are actually aligning it with the unfinished edge otherwise you will end up sewing your pocket up!
8) When sewing the zip, hand crank over the teeth. I broke two needles.
9) When you’re sewing the zip panel to the main pieces, do pin. I decided not to and my curves are not perfect.
10) It is really hard to sew the Y seams to join the bottom if- like me- you’re not used to 3D sewing, you have been warned!

Other than that though I would say don’t let me put you off. Go by the blog instructions– they’re a lot more accurate and there’s more step by step photos to guide you. It really opens your eyes to how bags are put together and you learn lots of things along the way. And of course you get a pretty bag at the end. It’s also an excellent way to use up scraps and give you an excuse to get a Big Shot with 2 1/2″ die….

I must say I love working with these handles, they really set the bag off and give me an excuse for hand sewing. I bought these from this Etsy shop.

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Tutorial: Easy Peasy iPhone Pouch

I wanted to blog about a couple of things but they may have to remain secret. So I’ve broken my blog silence with a tutorial. I thought you might enjoy!

My original measurements were well out- any idea what I could use a mini pouch like this for? It’s 11cm tall so it could hold a couple of lipsticks…

So on to the tutorial!

YOU WILL NEED
Two 6″ x 4″ pieces of outer fabric
Two 6″ x 4″ pieces of lining fabric
One 4″ x 4″ piece of pocket fabric
Two 6″ x 4″ pieces of cotton wadding
A bit of buttonhole elastic
A button

1) Take the pocket piece and fold the top edge over by 1/8″ – 1/4″ and press. Fold over again and press. Then top stitch to hold your fold in place.

2) Position the pocket on the front piece with right sides up and sew the sides of the pocket into position as close to the edge of the fabric as you dare and definitely less that 1/4″ seam allowance.

3) Layer a lining piece and the top right sides together followed by a wadding piece and sew along the top of the pouch. Set aside.

4) Cut a piece of button hole elastic so that it will go round your button when you eventually sew it on, plus  1/2″ extra. Fold it in half. Find the middle of the top of the back piece of the fabric, layer with wadding underneath and position the elastic in the middle, raw edges matching. Sew across less than 1/4″ from the top, reverse over and then sew again to secure in place. Layer the lining piece right sides together and sew along the top as with the front piece.

5) Press open. Then, with right sides together, match the lining pieces together and the outer pieces and sew round the edge. I started 1/3 from the corner on the lining and finished 1/3 way past to leave 1/3 in the middle of the lining to turn it the right way round. Clip the corners and turn right side out through the lining gap.

6) Fold the lining raw edges into itself and sew close to the edge. You can whipstitch the opening by hand if you prefer- I’m just lazy! Fold the lining inside and press. Sew on a button to the front. Choose one a good size for the elastic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do you like this pattern?

I’ve just been having a play with Electric Quilt 7 again and come up with a paper pieced block that looks like this…

Which when made into a cushion panel will look like this- pretty!

Once I’ve sewn one up I’m thinking of submitting it to a magazine as a pattern.

But I can’t think of a name for the block! Any ideas? Stars are so hard to name!

Help me out and win your own pet quilt

I have absolutely no idea if this will work or how much people will get behind me, but I’m asking you to help me out, and I’ll give you something in return 🙂

I confess, I have a weighty credit card bill that is on my shoulders every month and has been for years. Even though it’s on 0% interest right now, the minimum payment is still around £200 ($315) a month. I want rid of it. SO what have I decided to do?

Well I’m asking you to help me. For every £1 you donate to the cause on THIS SITE (and this site only!) you will get an entry into my raffle draw for your own custom, turned edge applique, lap size pet quilt wallhanging of your dog, cat, goldfish, snake, whatever! I will draw the winner when target is reached, so it’s in your best interests to spread the word 😉

For donations of £5 or more (and £5 is the minimum annoyingly, I was hoping it would be £1!), not only do you get 5 entries but I give you this quilt pattern which comes with a table runner variation included…

And for donations of £10 or more you get ten draw entries, the Wallander quilt pattern AND a box of 6 trufflepiglet chocolates (UK only)… assuming you reply to my email with your postal address of course (make sure you check your spam folder just in case).

If you’re not in the UK and you want the chocolates, the donation amount is £15 because of the extortionate postage costs- sorry about that.

So yes, I would be enormously grateful if you donated, or even just shared the link to my GoFundMe page with your friends or Twitter followers. I’ve even made a button you may use wherever if you really want to get behind me.

Please link the button to this link: http://www.gofundme.com/creditquilt

And I will be posting little target posts every now and again to remind you 😀

Thanks everyone!

Pattern testers wanted!

I’ve finally got my first pattern pretty much ready for release!

This is High Flying Birds…

I’m looking for a couple of people who might want to make a block- or even the whole quilt if they wish- from a new pattern that I’ve put together with the intention of selling it on Craftsy and Etsy. Leave a comment on this post before Monday if you’re interested in this and I’ll randomly select two people to receive the PDF pattern by e-mail. All you would have to do if you are one of the testers is to let me know if something doesn’t make sense, or give suggestions to make the instructions easier to follow. You’re allowed to say that it was fine and easy to follow if you genuinely thought it was. And that’s it!

Free Paper Piecing Pattern: Daisy Star Block

I drew this up the other day on Electric Quilt. Of course it is unfinished, so the edges will meet the side points. It’s actually quite an easy block to do and consists of four pieces. There are loads of tutorials on the internet for how to paper piece so I’m not even going to attempt to talk you through it as it would be rubbish in comparison, however I will say that to match the four main segments up after piecing the other bits, I like to keep the paper in, trim to an exact 1/4″ seam allowance along the edges to be joined, pin through the layers at the points to make sure they match and then pull out the paper before stitching them together.

For the template, just click here, it’s sized to a 6″ block but feel free to size it to whatever you like!

You will need Adobe Reader to open this file. Go ahead, make this block into quilts, bags or anything you wish, just please don’t sell my actual pattern, cos I’m letting you have it for free…

And because I haven’t shared a picture of my animals for a bit, here’s Fletcher in my sewing room…

Savvy Star Bee Block Tutorial

So the UK Borders Agency Quilting Bee now has all the members it needs, and now I am working on my centre block. Well, sort of. I haven’t actually sewn it yet but we have a couple of weeks so I’ll probably do it on Sunday after the craft fair.

This is what I am planning on making- I’m not sure of its traditional name- and there’s bound to be one- I’m just calling it the Savvy Star for now. I’m going to go for bold colours but they may not exactly be these shades when I’m done. I’m probably going to use some baby blue Sherbet Pips dogs in the centre.

If you fancy stitching one up at the same time as me, you can find the templates here and here’s the instructions below… You could do it using freezer paper piecing if you prefer.

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1) Trace the outer lines of the pattern pieces onto card or template plastic. For a one off block you can probably get away with printing, cutting out the paper pieces and pinning to your fabric and cutting out that way. Or if you’re feeling clever you could transfer the lines straight onto your fabric.

2) Cut out all the pieces from fabric using your templates- you will need 4x A, 4x B, 4x C, 4x D, 1x E, 4x F (or invert your C template and cut four) and 4x G. That’s a total of 25 pieces.

3) Make the centre block first. Align the corner pieces (marked D) and sew into place onto E. Always use a 1/4″ seam allowance otherwise the block won’t work!

4) Next, make up triangle blocks in the same way, making four pieces with B and C sewn together and four of  F and G.

5) Sew the BC and FG blocks together to make four rectangles.

6) Next, arrange in rows, so you will need to make the top row by sewing block A to a BCFG (making sure it’s the right way round- refer to the diagram if you’re not sure) and then to another A.

7) Continue the method with the middle row and then the bottom row, then stitch the rows together to complete.

Other option… You could paper piece this together by hand by making paper templates of the inner shapes and folding and stitching fabric around them before piecing together (here’s my way of doing English Paper Piecing)

EDIT: I have now completed the block!