Simply "Bow"dacious

Today I completed the March installment of Stitchin Heaven's 'Perse'anality monthly tote bag series. From Artful Offerings, this bag looks like a delicate little purse complete with bow and feminine fabric, however, it is large enough to be a real workhorse during a shopping trip. At eighteen inches wide and eleven inches tall (before handles) this bag is definitely a tote. Here's how mine came out:


The instuctions were well written and there was more than enough fabric, unlike last month, to complete the project. I still wonder why quarter inch seam allowances seem to be the norm for this type of pattern especially when you are trying to keep two layers of fabric, two layers of batting and two layers of heavy duty interfacing smoothly sewn together. Half inch seams makes more sense to me even if you have to cut them down later.


A couple of other details in the pattern also bugged me.

• There are only two pattern pieces but they are printed on top of each other so you have to copy at least one onto another piece of paper. The addition of another pattern page would have been nice.
• After quilting the exterior, you use those pieces to create the lining pieces. I am sure there is a better way to create the lining pattern... if if the exterior shrinks a tad during quilting that doesn't really impact the lining all that much. Then again it may just be me.
• The use of the Sulky products referenced in the pattern do not add to the project at all. I know there are some people out there who always buy whatever is shown as required in the materials list. If everyone who bought the pattern also bought all the 'required' materials they'd spend more than twenty dollars unnecessarily.
• On the other hand, one of the materials required was 'Firm Iron-on Interfacing'. I would have appreciated which of the many available interfacings is the recommended one for this type of project.

There is a cute little cell phone case pattern included which I may attempt this evening while watching the last episode of Battlestar Gallactica. Watching that show and completing the case sound much better to me than watching College Basketball.