Design Wall Monday - November 21, 2022

Good Morning Quilters!

While at the retreat I attended recently, a friend at a nearby table (Connie Wass) had a large tote bag that interested me.  I have been looking for a pattern to make a large tote because I was wanting to try using Penny Lane's dog food bags as a "stiffener" and liner for a large bag. 

I hate to add more things to landfills, and dog food bags look indestructible, and are not recyclable.   So I had saved some of Penny's bags to see if I could use them somehow.  The bag pattern Connie  used is called the Venti Tote Bag.  It is available on the internet from www.purse-strings-patterns.com

Connie changed the pattern to sew the lining and the outside together at the side seams with French seams, and I did too.  Here is the beginning of my dog food bag project:

I put pieces of cotton batting together with the two main pieces of the bag, and also for the bottom circle of the bag.  I then quilted each of the three pieces using a simple crosshatch pattern.  I used masking tape as a guide for stitching.  (I'm a pretty simple quilter).

Then I sewed the two side seams on either side of the bag, using French seams.  The seams were sewn through six layers, with the seam on the outside of the bag...then turned to the inside and another seam sewn, capturing all the raw edges inside the second seam.  I do like French seams.

Here is a picture showing the dogfood bag used in the project:

And here is the bag, finished except for the binding part.  I will add binding around the handle holes, around the top of the bag, and also to cover the seam that attaches the bottom. 

As you can see, the dogfood bag makes a good fairly stiff lining, and should be water-resistant.  Not entirely waterproof, because there are tiny holes in the bag made by the sewing machine seams.  But it will be a useful bag for carrying lots of things.

Finally, here is a picture showing the outside bottom of the bag.  The binding will cover up the raw edges shown here.  I will be working on making the bias binding today, and it should be finished soon.  I am thinking I will be making more of these, as I do like big bags.  If I remember to, I will show you a picture of the completed bag next week.  

We sure got a lot of snow this past week!  Here's a picture taken out of the window of the study, showing my front porch and yard.  I love the large pine trees when they are covered with snow.  Later when the wind blows, the snow on them will be released, and it will "snow" all over again.  

What are you doing this Thanksgiving week? I am thinking of all the things we have to be thankful for.  I feel so blessed to visit all of your blogs and see what projects you are working on.  Thanks for joining in on the Design Wall Monday Link Party below.  You are appreciated.

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