Simple lunch tote

In initially thinking about making a gift bag, I was going to design one from scratch, but then I got smarter. Several bloggers have shown how they use a pre-existing bag to make a template. Bingo.

I cut up a small paper bag that I've used over and over again because it is the perfect size to hold lunch or other small things. Then I laid it directly onto canvas and traced the size, adding a half-inch seam allowance on all sides. To the top and bottom I added a 1.5" seam allowance.

After some fiddling, measuring and back of the envelope math, I figured out that I could cut up a fat quarter into two pieces measuring 10.75" x 11" to make the exterior. The result is a perfect-sized tote bag to hold lunch or other essentials. And the canvas is nice because it lends some the bag some rigidity.

The seal gives a sense of scale.

The bag finishes 7" x 8.25" x 3".

Comments

Nautical quilt 2 finished

This quilt was a lot of fun to finish. There's just something about red, white, and blue that is so uplifting and cheerful.

The design is fairly simple. A panel in the center with the pieced blocks acting as a border and a very fun blue and white stripe fabric for the binding. It actually took me some time to accept this simple design. I kept wanting to fussy it up a bit, but sometimes simple is best.

For the back of the quilt, I had a variety of nautical themed fabric that I wanted to incorporate. The pieced back also was a great way to use up some of my fabric stash.

Tell me more >>

Tutorial: Travel Wallet

In preparation and anticipation for an upcoming trip, I decided to make a travel wallet to hold my boarding pass, hotel reservation confirmation, and other miscellaneous papers (letter size and A4); a moleskine notebook; pen; passport; and frequent flier card so that everything is in one place and I don't have to fumble around in my purse or backpack.

Version 1 of the travel wallet ended up being too wide for my tastes, so I altered it. What follows below is the tutorial for the original version (Version 1) and the edited version (Version 2).

Feel free to email me at serendipitijoy at gmail dot com if you have any questions or if some of the directions are unclear.

The travel wallet is not limited for just travel, but can be made for every day use as well.

Tutorial: Travel Wallet
Version 1 Finished Size: 10" x 10" (when closed)
Version 2 Finished Size: 7" x 10" (when closed)

To start:
Cut out all your pieces. To provide some additional stability, I fused Pellon…

Tell me more >>

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Jewels

Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side has been great about hosting a virtual quilt show on her blog. If you have a quilt that you would like to share with the rest of blog land, go ahead and sign up for the fall 2010 festival. It runs from October 29 - November 5.

The quilt that I'm sharing about is one that I made for my mom and took me approximately 1.5 years to finish and was my first (and probably last) king-sized quilt. Not necessarily because the piecing was difficult, but more because I couldn't make up my mind about the layout design and then later, the actual quilting.

Roughly into my second year of quilting, my mom kind of jokingly asked when I was going to make her a quilt for her bed. So I eventually came up with an initial design and bought a boatload of fabric in early 2009. However, during the course of the year I kept changing my mind about the quilt design because the fabric and the designs didn't work. I couldn't find the right fit between the fabric…

Tell me more >>

SerendipityJoy

Search This Blog