make something – Patty Murphy {handmade}

I was at the beach this week for fall break and wrote a post that was supposed to appear instead of this one. Then I got home last night and decided to make a bag for Mary’s Hack That Tote! blog tour instead of my wimpy little post. Seems reasonable, right? 5 days of travel surely meant I had time to come home and make a bag. Well, in my head it did.

I planned to make a tote for Quilt Market LAST YEAR and failed. I ran out of time and couldn’t get it together. No biggie. I sat on the fabric for a FULL YEAR ready to make something but never really carved out the time for myself to do it. Always wanting to make a bag but couldn’t get it together.

So when Mary asked me to participate in a book tour for Hack That Tote! I KNEW I had to make a tote bag with this fabric. I knew it! Then, once again, I ran out of time. I clearly have time management issues. And small children.

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I digress, though.

I LOVE a good tote bag. I mean, seriously LOVE…so picking my favorite pattern was a breeze. My specifications are big and kinda slouchy – sorta like this bag I bought several years ago.

The obvious starting point for me is the pool tote.

Using Mary’s tips about sizing up and down your tote, I grabbed my calculator and increased the size 10%. Not a lot, but enough to hold a good size quilt and supplies for binding.

I lined each piece with a heavyweight non-woven fusible interfacing and added a small pocket to each side of the lining pieces.

I made the interior following the steps for the Basic Tote.

I attached cotton webbing to each side of the exterior tote bag before sewing the pieces together. Because I planned to use this as a bag to tote half finished, in need of binding quilts and other projects, the straps are rather long to accommodate the bulk of quilts.

I sewed the straps across the top, bottoms, sides and made an “X” in the center for stability. I also added an extra piece of interfacing on the back where the straps attached (something like 4″ x 15″).

I placed the lining inside the exterior of the bag, wrong sides together. I pinned the top, attached a bias binding and voila!

fullsizerender-9 A quilt tote is born! The bag has a lap quilt AND and full size quilt in it with room to spare. Perfect for carrying around projects! I’m so excited about it!

Aside from showing you how to take a basic pattern and changing it into virtually any kind of bag, Mary also has great information about interfacings, fabrics and accessories for your bag. For a chance to win a copy of your own Hack That Tote! be sure to follow my blog and leave a comment about your favorite tote hack below or a hack you’d like to make.

I’ll pick a number using random.org for the winner (announced on 10/7). Winners in the States will receive a copy of the book, and winners outside the States will receive an e-book.

You can follow along and leave comments on all the blogs below to increase your chances to win this incredible book!

9/27 C&T http://www.ctpub.com/blog/
9/28 Sue O’Very http://sueoverydesigns.com/blog/
9/29 Gen Q Teri Lucas http://generationqmagazine.com/
9/30 Patty Murphy http://pattymurphyhandmade.com
10/1 Vanessa Lynch http://punkinpatterns.com/blog
10/2 Lindsay Conner http://lindsaysews.com
10/3 Stephanie Moore http://www.alittlemooreblog.com
10/4 Katy Cameron http://www.the-littlest-thistle.com
10/5 Kim Niedzwiecki http://www.gogokim.com
10/6 Mary Abreu http://confessionsofacraftaddict.com

Happy Hacking!

The little one keeps his art supplies in our large laundry room – it’s one of the great features of our 80’s contemporary – right off the kitchen. We can store stuff for projects there and easily move between the kitchen island to work and the laundry room to store, and it keeps the mess of out of sight when not in use. He also continues to think my art supplies are his art supplies. Q man is a creative being and loves to color, paint, draw, create and I never want to squash that spirit! But the mess he creates can sometimes send me over the edge.
Most recently I was having a moment of complete OCD when the year old was digging through a bin we have for his art supplies. It’s deep and messy and crayons were flying everywhere! That’s when I had an epiphany! Mason jar storage. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. And it means I can watch him mess up, I mean use, my art supplies and I’ll know when to get more.

Several years ago I purchased more than a lifetime supply of mason jars to use as props for a pre-school function. I’ve managed to give away quite a few but have one or two cases left. I use them for everything! I mean, I did grow up in the South and all…Seriously, though, I use them as decoration and storage.
The caddy was on sale at Michael’s and I snagged it for about 6 bucks. Had the mason jars. Happy with my quick fix, just hoping it stays that way!

Patty Murphy {handmade}

designer. quilter. teacher. author

Category: make something

Hack A Quilt Tote

Mason Jars For Everything

Secret Sewing