New Handbags

While my friend was visiting during the Quilt Festival she brought a pattern to show me of a bag she had seen in Virginnia Beach. I liked the style and the fabric choices on the pattern. She loved the actual bags that she had seen made-up in the store offering the patterns. She showed me the pattern within an hour of her getting here and we never saw it again until a couple of hours before she left.



Fast forward to the night before my surgery. I was sorting through the loot I had picked up from the Quilt Festival and found the two bag patterns I had purchased. Lo and behold but they were from the same designer as the pattern my friend had shown me when she first arrived. The company is called Quilts Illustrated (http://www.quiltsillustrated.com/index.htm). The bag she loved was the Bow Tucks Tote. I picked up the Weekender Tote and the The Desk Deli. All the samples at Festival had fabric kits available for them in fully co-ordinated color ways. They were also selling Pellon's fusible fleece, which they recommend as the inter-facing for these bags, which made me ask Paul to pick up some from WalMart so I could try these bags.



The Weekender uses fabric for the exterior that I received from my Fall Swap partner in Florida. I had just enough for the exterior and the handles so I don't have enough for the luggage tag that the designer included in the pattern. I used some fabric I bought a while ago for another project for the lining and added a small zippered pouch and an attached change purse to round out the tote. I used the fusible fleece to interface the interior and exterior but I did not use it to interface the pockets... that just seemed like over kill to me. The button is really fabulous but I think I need to move it up a little on the bag so that it fits better with the tote. I added, as suggested by the designer, a purse bottom made out of two layers of mat board and covered it with the lining fabric.



The Desk Deli uses the fabric from the weekender tote lining for most of the tote. I added another fabric cut on the bias for the trim. I admit that I misread the pattern (or maybe I just skipped over this instruction) but the tote is supposed to have a bottom that is two inches smaller than the top of the tote. Ths means mine does not have the nice slanted sides of the pattern. I also eliminated the fleece interfacing for the exterior and for the pockets to reduce the number of layers my machine would have to plow through. The pattern includes instructions for a two layered napkin and the suggestion that you make up five of them if you are giving this bag to a daily user. The interior pockets are set-up to hold disposable silver ware, the napkin, a blue ice freezer pack, snack bars and other condiments. The interior is large enough to hold a water bottle, a microwave meal and anything else you might want to take with you for an office lunch. I have not made a bag bottom but may in the the future.



These patterns are very well written but do require that you read each instruction in order. If I had, I would have made the adjustment required to the sides of the Desk Deli. Be aware that if you follow all the instructions that your sewing machine will be sewing through up to six layers of fleece so plan accordingly.



Watch out for these patterns if you are interested in well thought out instructions that return good results.