Making a quilt as you go (flip and sew) striped tote bag

52 Week UFO Challenge - Project #39

After finishing my Flying Geese quilt for QUILTsocial I had a whole pile of leftover striped fabric (that I had trimmed away from the flying geese). There was NO WAY that I was going to throw them out, so I had to find a project to use them in.

The quilt-as-you-go method can be used for all types of projects, but I like to use it most for small items such as table runners, place mats and tote bags.

For this bag we aren't going to have any batting, so it's technically not a "quilt", but the same technique and steps are used.

I'm using a medium weight interfacing to "quilt" on. This will give the bag some stability, but won't make it really heavy.

The first step is to draw a straight line across the interfacing. I like to do this line on an angle so that it's not as noticeable if some of my strips down go down perfectly straight. Next you lay down one strip of fabric right side up along this line and you keep adding strips until you have covered the entire piece. In my picture I have already sewn a few strips to the interfacing but you can see that they are on an angle and the seams are nice and straight.

The next step is to place your next strip on top RIGHT SIDE DOWN and pin in place with one raw edge lined up along the edge of the strip underneath.

 You sew your seam through all three layers and then FLIP your strip over and press.

You then add your next strip and pin, sew, flip and press. 

I alternated one striped strip and then one plain blue strip.

I had one flying gees strip left so I used it for the front of the bag.

The next step was to trim the two sections so that they were the same size.

I used some of my Northcott fabrics to make a lining for the bag and some of the leftover black polka dot fabric to make handles.

Here it is - the finished bag!

Well, that was a great use for my little striped strips of fabric!! This is all I had left from my pile:

The quilt as you go (flip and sew) method is super easy for making quilted items. Try it out with some of your leftover strips of fabric. I'm happy to say that another UFO is complete. I've got this little bag for sale in my Etsy shop - check it out at fairfieldroaddesigns.

Felted Wool iPad tote

52 Week UFO Challenge - Project #24 - stitching sample made into an iPad tote

This little stitching sample has been sitting in my sewing room for almost two years!! I just wasn't sure what to use it for, but then I got inspired!! Why not attach it to larger felted wool pieces and make it into a tote bag?

The edges weren't even, so the first thing I did was to trim all four edges even with the outside border stitching.

Next I found some royal blue felted wool (which was once a wool coat that I scored at Goodwill) and I cut two rectangles that would be big enough to house my iPad. I machine stitched my embroidery sample to one of these pieces. And then turned over the top edge of each piece and machine top stitched each of them. This gave the open edges a nice finish.

Next, I auditioned different straps. I had a few different ones to pick from but decided on the cream coloured heavy cord.

To attach the cording to the bag I cut a small piece of wool and sewed this, with the end of the cord tucked inside, to the top edge of the back of the bag. By sewing all around the edges of this piece of wool mu cording was secured to the bag and the end wouldn't unravel.

The next step was to sew the front and the back of the bag together. I just topstitched along the sides and bottom and - VOILÀ - the felted wool iPad tote bag was done. Now I can carry my iPad in style - or - use it for a gift for a friend!

The completed iPad tote with the embroidery  front.