Featuring Reverie Fabrics from Melody Miller for Ruby Star Society
It's finally starting to feel like fall around here, my favorite time of year to go to flea markets! I admit, I love flea markets; in fact, I may have a bit of a problem. But you never know what treasure you might find!
Usually, I find too many treasures, and have to lug them around all day until we finally make it back to the truck. So...
I decided to make a large, simple quilted tote to carry all my vintage treasures!
I started the project by quilting some leftover fat quarters from the Reverie bundle that I didn't use in the Floria Quilt. In fact, after quilting Floria, I had quite a bit of backing and batting at the end, so I left everything on the longarm and just added the fat quarters to the bottom!
I used the Pretty Petals pantograph from Longarm League, which created amazing texture!
Next, I cut pieces for the front, back, sides, 2 pockets, and binding, and made sure it got a good cat scan from Jack.
I made a little interior pocket by binding a rectangle of the quilted fabric and stitched to the inside of back piece:
It's like a mini quilt!
Then I sewed the side strips together to create one long piece, and bound the raw edges:
I created curved edges for the bottom of the tote by using a small plate as a template and cutting the bottom edges off both the front and back pieces (didn't take a picture of this, but you can see the result in the next pictures).
Next, I measured out 2 strips of cotton webbing (I got mine from Amazon) 62" long each. I like long handles on bags. I arranged another piece of the quilted fabric between the 2 ends of the webbing to create an exterior pocket and stitched up and down both edges of the edging, finishing with x box stitching just above the top of pocket for strength. I did the same for the back piece, but no pic here either.
Using Wonder Clips, I fastened the side strip to the front piece of the bag, stitched all around, then bound the exposed seam. I repeated the process for the back piece, shown here:
I turned it inside out, pressed the seams, and bound the top mouth of the bag. And here she is!
I'm so happy with the result! The Reverie fabric is so bright and fun, and it's a very deep and sturdy bag. I took it the next day to the flea market, and it held all the bits and baubles I found, (see how it's bulging!) and most importantly, it holds one of those big bags of kettle corn!
