Monday, October 17, 2011

scallop tote bag sew along

Sweet simple scallops, so splendid and stylish. 


So, (sew), last week, Kate from See Kate Sew posted the pattern and tutorial for her self-designed "sweet scallops tote." She then invited her readers to participate in a sew-along and make one for ourselves. I've never been a part of a sew-along before, but it's a good opportunity to show and tell (sew and tell), and take a gander at what other people made right along with me. Plus I haven't made a bag in awhile, so I thought it'd be a nice change of pace from the skirts upon skirts upon skirts I keep making and not wearing. None of my close friends sew, nor do they really care to watch me sew or have me explain it to them, so I thought this could be a way to join a community of people who enjoy the craft like I do. 


Here's mine:
A'ight, I expected the bag to be pretty cute but THIS cute? C'mon!



I knew from the start that I wanted an "ombre" effect, and went with blues because blue is just so bleu-tiful.  Kate's original intention for this project was to use up some of her scrap fabric, but my scraps are limited, mismatching in a bad way, and mostly apparel knits. So I ventured to the fabric store for quilting cotton solids, and felt bad for hauling six bolts of slightly different shades of blue to the counter to be cut into quarter-yards. The employee said, "Feeling indecisive?" 


I did recycle some items for the tote bag base and lining. I sliced off the back of two beige linen Walmart pillows I never used, and cut the lining from a blue-striped sheet I bought at a thrift store this weekend. I have many more projects for these sheets, just you wait.

 


Kate's free printable pattern:



Times six. I think she used seven and layered hers more closely.

 Stitched,  turned right side out and pressed:




Fast forward a few steps of attaching lining and stitching sides, and here we are:


I didn't have enough of the beige linen to make the straps as long as the pattern instructed, but the bag itself is pretty small (12.5" x 14" before sewing) so I was okay with shorter straps. I attached some leftover blue to the back of the beige, stitched together, turned right-side-out and top-stitched:



 Attached them to the bag on the outside and top-stitched little squares. Done:






Thanks, Kate!
Click here to join the sew-along.