Boxy Bags

This weeks mission on Elm Street Quilts'  BAG IT series was to make some boxy bags.
I still have a QAYG (Quilt As You Go) bag to make to get caught up.

The first one made was the Medium Formula One car racing bag. The suggested tutorial was this.
And as soon as I got to the corners, I recalled this tutorial with dislike. I'd been down this rabbit hole before.

Yes, it results in no seams inside. Yes, it results in a bag that works. But it takes hours to do and the lining is floating around in there - too big - with no way to adjust it. I want to tack the corners of the lining to the outer fabric but I am resisting. Because I have spent enough time on this bag.

My cute checkerboard lining.

 The small Formula One and the Elephant Bag are made with this video tutorial.
Which is how it's done in RTW.

The lining is attached to the outer fabric via the serged seams, providing a nice neat interior.

Actually, I studied my son's Dopp Bag last year and the inside seams are finished with grosgrain ribbon folded over those exposed seams. And the lining is fused to the outer fabric.

 I don't mind my serged seams either. (Yes, I powered over those nylon zipper teeth at the side seam.). I put a drop of Fray-check on the corners where I trimmed the serger thread. The insides of these two bags are really clean.

And - it took 20 minutes to cut, fuse, and sew this bag compared to the hours spent on the first Boxy Bag. Who has that much time? No one will ever notice the inside - except for how loose it is in the first bag.

Lining all bunched up and loose. No way to cut it smaller or adjust . I am not tacking it down at the corners.

With cute tassel - made by me too.

Boxy Bags made in three sizes.

Baby: started at 8" x 6".
Mama: started at 13" x 8"
Daddy: started at 15" x 10"



I was thinking of making a Daddy Formula One bag but I ran out of my checkerboard lining fabric and grabbed some home decor fabric instead.

Sewing Treasure Box

I found this nifty treasure box at a local christmas bazaar . I went one saturday after work and ended up taking photos of things I liked because it was  overwhelming with an inordinate amount of possible handmade gifts.

I kept looking at this monopoly box for my niece who is 17 years old. After work the following Saturday, I went to see if they still had some left.

It could be a sewing kit or a place to put her treasures.

In trying to figure out what I had in stash (from garage saling), I went mostly for what fit inside this box which roughly measures 9.5" x 7.5" x 3" deep.

The ziploc in front has all the pieces to the original Spiderman Monopoly game - good luck ephemera.

Clockwise from the pack of felt and embroidery floss::
treasure box, measuring tape, game pieces, pincushion (making explained), chocolate covered pretzel sticks, a FQ of Olivia the pig fabric (her namesake), snaps, needle book, 6" ruler/seam gauge, 4" quilting square ruler, pad of notepaper from Schmetz needles, red container with threads, pins, small items.

I am undecided about adding a crochet hook/ knitting needles, but need to let go of add one of my pairs of sewing scissors - for the cause.

What else would you add?


 Having a huge clean out sale  in my etsy shop right now.
RunningWithNeedles
Just use the code CLEANOUT2014 to get 40% off everything.