Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Big Stitch Swap - in the end I made a cool bag

Big Stitch Swap bag

This bag is for my secret partner in the Big Stitch Swap. The cross stitched geese were made with two threads of embroidery cotton on 14 count Carolina Linen Aida cloth. There are 1,320 stitches in that little panel which is about 2.5" x 3.5". I am a very slow cross stitcher, each row took me about an hour to stitch, so that makes about 11 hours of stitching. I just made this pattern and the colour choices up as I went.

The bag is about 7.5" high, 8.5" wide and 5" deep at the bottom point. The coffee cup is there for scale. It currently has my morning coffee in it too.

Zippered bag in progress

After humming and hawing and resisting the idea of making the cross stitched panel into a bag, I got busy yesterday. Holiday Monday is a bonus day and so I spent much of the hottest part of the afternoon and the evening making a bag. First I gathered materials and drafted a pattern. I used Essex linen in a medium dark grey for the background.

Zippered bag in progress

A long while back, for the Q3 FAL Tutorial Series, my friend Katy, from The Littlest Thistle, shared a tutorial about how to do the math to make a bag with a flat bottom and straight sides, and I have long wanted to give it a try. It was no problem drafting up a pattern with the help of the tutorial and it worked just as Katy promised.

Zippered bag in progress

I decided that I best matchstick quilt the bag in that industrial modern style I like so that my partner would remember it was from me. I quilted onto cotton batting without a back. As I have no interfacing at my summer place, batting was going to have to do for giving the bag structure. I also figured the dense quilting would add more structure. But at this point I was regretting not putting a back fabric on when I quilted the front panel as I was really liking this as a mini quilt.

Big Stitch Swap bag

I had cut out the back piece from the pattern before the quilting began. To avoid it pulling out of shape, I stay stitched around the outside edge and quilted quite slowly. The quilting was all done with the light aqua Aurifil thread.

The back panel has a piece of the arrow print from Melody Miller's Mustang line which is part of the new Cotton + Steel fabric line. Those gold dots are metallic and sparkle just a little.

Big Stitch Swap bag

I auditioned the few coloured solids I have with me and the teal seemed to work nicely to frame the cross stitch. I left the Aida cloth in place to the edge of the teal frame so that the cross stitch part would not sit oddly because it is stiffer than the rest of the front panel and that seems to work.

By the way, you are not seeing things. The panel is a little off centre which looks just fine but was not actually my plan. I was paying attention to the wrong thing when I traced my pattern and did not notice until it was cut out. So we shall call that more industrial modern style, and call it a design feature.

Big Stitch Swap bag

Here you can see the value Katy's math tutorial - and well, the Pythagorean theorem - at work. You cut out the sides of the bag like wings (go and look at her tutorial here) so that you have extra fabric to box the corners. This means that the sides of the bag can stay straight when it is all sewn together because they are not pulled in at the bottom by the boxing step.

Big Stitch Swap bag

Another view to show off the construction. This is very simple to make but sure looks cool.

Big Stitch Swap bag

I tried to take a photo of the lining in the sun so you could see the shiny golden birds. That print is from Violet Craft's Brambleberry Ridge line of fabrics. I am in love with them and was so happy to be able to use one here.

Big Stitch Swap bag

The bag has a red zipper, well just because. And also because there was a limited selection at the store I was in last week in long enough lengths. I especially like how the red geese shine with this zipper in place. You can see I managed the zipper but it is not perfect - it works and that's what counts.

I am off to find some fabric scraps and mail this out later today to my secret partner. I hope she likes it, as I sure do. I have some other packages that are long overdue to mail too.

Fresh Poppy Design
Because I like this bag so much, I am going to link it up to some sharing posts too. Click the buttons to see all the other things being shared.

Best,


Leanne

36 comments:

QuiltingCyclist said...

This is simply delightful! What a lovely creation, again, from you. I am so blown away. I am getting better and better acquainted with my Millennium. Thank you once more for your support at set-up and start. Please keep sharing your talent.

Vera said...

It is really pretty and the quilting made it so very you.

Ann said...

Such a lovely bag and beautifully detailed. The cross stitch is gorgeous.

Sheryl said...

Your swap partner is going to be one very lucky person.

Kathy said...

It's outstanding and I sure she will be blown away with all your stitches!!!

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

Oh I really wish I could have fitted this swap into my schedule!! This is a really beautiful purse xxx

Susan said...

You have a very, very lucky partner! I can imagine this is going to be very hard to part with! Wonderful work Leanne!

Hilary said...

This turned out gorgeous!

Fran said...

This really is the most beautiful creation!

Katy Cameron said...

Oooh, it looks fabulous, rather jealous of your partner!

Cille said...

That's what I call a cool bag! Mega cool :) love the stitching and how it's framed, the matchstick quilting too.

Debbie said...

Beautiful and I love the dense quilting as always!

Judith, Belfast said...

That is awesome stitching L! Jxo

Kirsten said...

Such a gorgeous pouch - really love your beautiful cross-stitched geese!

Patti said...

I love what you've done with your cross stitch! Adorable pouch! Love the matchstick quilting!

Rebecka @ LadyM Quilts said...

Very cute, I really like the colors you choose. The shape of the bag is neat, too...I'll be checking out that tutorial!

Vicki said...

This is so interesting. I love your geese, and the quilting is wonderful. Thanks for the pouch link.

Valerie said...

Love this Leanne! Another stunning creation by you. Brilliant to combine the cross stitch and quilting!

Adrianne @ On the Windy Side said...

This is really nice Leanne - I'm sure your swap partner will love it.

Carla said...

Such beautiful stitching : ) A treasure of a gift

margaret said...

what a lovely gift to give, someone is going o be so pleased with this. Did pop over to see the tutorial but way over my head!

tracie c. said...

just lovely! personally i like when things are just a little off. it's taken a lot of therapy and self discovery to recover from the perfectionist ocd trap so i actually went... ohhhh that's just perfect!!!! i love the dense quilt stitching. i use it often in bindings, gives such texture and motion.

Teresa @ Aurea's Kitchen said...

I love everything about this pouch, the cross-stitching, the fabrics, the quilting, the red zipper... Your partner will be delighted!!!

pennydog said...

Red is my favourite zip colour :) It looks fabulous!

Joyce said...

What a lovely bag....great job!

Michelle@factotum-of-arts.com said...

Love it, great color choices in the thread for the cross stitch and I loved seeing how it came together

Danette said...

This is lovely! I'm going to try one of these.

Unknown said...

I just love this, thanks for sharing!

Elise Lea said...

This is just amazing! I love how delicate the embroidery is, but just so stunning! And even more beautiful as a bag.

Isisjem said...

The cross stitched geese just blow me away. The whole pouch is fantastic! I hope it's coming my way!

www.randomthoughtsdoordi.com said...

great bag. I didn't even hear about this swap! I've really been out of the loop lately

Anonymous said...

I LOVE THIS BAG! You made it perfectly beautiful! Thank you for linking to the tutorial! x Teje

Michele said...

It really turned out fabulous!

Anonymous said...

This is a lovely gift.

Karen said...

Such a cute bag! Lucky recipient :)

Very Berry Handmade said...

Lucky recipient indeed - thank you so much Leanne.. I love it!