This year I’ve been thinking about stash-busting and trying to use up some of my fabrics. I have a lot of really great fabrics, sitting on shelves and they need to be turned into cute things!! Recently I came across Elizabeth Hartman’s perfect quilted tote and decided I was going to buy the pattern and make myself a bag or two. I’ve made tote bags before, but they are just simple bags with out pockets, or magnetic snaps and I decided a pattern would be the best thing to force me to make something a little nicer.
I loved the pattern, it has lots of photos, and is very easy to understand. It comes with two sizes and the absolutely only thing I didn’t love about the pattern is that some of the instructions are geared for the taller tote-and then some photos will say “do this for the wider tote but using these measurements” and it was fine, and I was able to do it. I would just prefer it had separate instructions for each one because occasionally I would read the wrong fabric size and get mixed up.
The first bag I made was patchwork, and still has a bit of mistakes. Your supposed to sew down the top band with stitching along the inside and as you can see I messed that part up royally! So when I gave away this top purse and decided to make myself a second bag, I hand stitched down the top band to avoid screwing up the stitching line, and it looks so much better. I’ll try and get a photo of the inside soon to explain what I mean.
For the second bag I also decided just to use up this adorable snow white fabric (which I got here) Which I’ve been hoarding for awhile. It makes me so happy to use it. Next up I’d like to sew myself a wallet, but I am looking around for the perfect pattern.