Design Wall Monday

It's amazing-I am actually posting on Monday.  Our Quilt Guild chose to challenge those who wished, to make a large "On the Go Tote" for carrying our sewing supplies to and from Guild classes.  Hobart and Laurie had already made one, so agreed to teach a class for those who wanted to make their own.  We each purchased our own pattern from Whirligig Designs.com.  I must admit I was quite excited since I had been saving a piece of fabric for over 25 years.  It's a fine corduroy with wild animals.

Thinking I would save time, I chose to make all of the pockets at home.  I discovered that was a "Bad Idea", since I sew 11 pockets WRONG!!   At our first guild session, I worked on removing the stitches from the pockets for the inside of the tote and it didn't make it any easier that I used very small stitches.  Go ahead, smile and have a good laugh.  It took me 3 evenings to remove all those tiny stitches.  Now, I was determined to complete this project and have been working on it a few hours each day.

I am still working on the front side of the Tote Bag-now working on the straps.  I began with two very long strips of fabric with a long piece of batting stitched in between but discovered that would not be sturdy enough for the straps of the tote when filled with supplies.  So, I am now adding a stabilizer with another piece of fabric to what I had already made.  I'm hoping the tote bag will not be so heavy to carry that no supplies can be placed in the bag.  I discovered that my size 90 needle was not strong enough for the all layers of fabric, since I broke 2 needles this morning.  So, I found a size 110/18 Jeans/Denim needle that has been working well.  

Front side of Tote Bag

Back side of Tote Bag

                                                                                                                                                                                                          Check out what others have been designing this last week....by dropping by Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.blogspot.com.