Bags of fun
When I went to my first Festival of Quilts this summer I saw lots of people carrying beautiful quilted tote bags. “Genius!” I thought, “what better way to carry lovely fabric than in a handmade bag the exact size and shape I want with just the right number of pockets?” Fast forward to the Handmade Festival at Hampton Court Palace last month, and I still hadn’t got around to making one and had to rely on a carrier bag and my friend’s rucksack. With the Knitting and Stitch show coming up this weekend I was determined not to go to another show without one!
With a helping paw from the ever-curious Aurora I set about cutting into some gorgeous geometric copper printed fabric that I picked up at FOQ19. I’ve been saving it for just the right project but even so it was hard to make that first cut!
Using a vague idea of the basic bucket bag shape and measurements from another bag of almost the right size, I have to admit I pretty much winged the construction - not my usual style at all!!
I carried my somewhat ad lib approach through to the quilting itself where I used a fractured quilt pattern from Walk by Jacquie Gering (highly recommended by the way) that actually works so well with the geometric pattern. Totally worth the extra time it took, and definitely one to use again!
All in all, I’m really happy with how this came out. The outside pockets are just the right sizes for tickets and pens and the key clip means I can always find my keys, even when they’re buried under mounds of fabric.
Let me know in the comments if you’d like me to write this up as a pattern!