quilting

All Dressed Up

All dressed up, and nowhere to go. At least not yet.

Back in March, I won a gift certificate from The Red Hen Shop for participating in the 30 Quilt Design Challenge 2018 hosted by Sandra of mmmQuilts. Here are the fabrics I chose.

All Dressed Up - Fabrics from The Red Hen Shop - piecefulthoughts.com

A little while ago, I managed to find the perfect companion print to that little dress fabric, but now what to make? I considered different options and ended up making another bag. I love bags — the bigger the better! Funny thing though, my handbag is small. Go figure.

All Dressed Up - My bag made with fabric from Sewing Studio by Amanda Murphy for Benartex - piecefulthoughts.com

The little dress fabric is from the Sewing Room fabric line by Amanda Murphy for Benartex. The lining fabric is from Sewing Studio 2 by Cynthia Frenette for Robert Kaufman.

All Dressed Up - Lining of bag using Sewing Studio 2 by Cynthia Frenette for Robert Kaufman - piecefulthoughts.com

Isn’t that lining fun? I thought it was the perfect complement to the little dresses.

Like my Palm Canyon bag, I didn’t use a pattern. I just began to sew, cutting the pieces 20 inches by 21 inches, along with two pieces of batting of the same size.

I spray basted the batting to the dress fabric and stitched lines 1-1/2 inches apart with my walking foot. The batting was too light to support the bag, so I found some stiff interfacing in my stash and ironed that to the batting. It wasn’t the best fix, but it’ll do.

I used up the last of my cotton webbing for the straps. Each strap measures 18 inches with a 9-inch drop.

I cut the corners deep, so it’s more square on the bottom than rectangular. The corners measure about 10 inches across, so the bag bottom is square. The bag is about 14 inches high, and about 19 inches from side to side at the top.

The little dress fabric is a nod to my Grandma Selma, who was a seamstress all of her life. I can recall watching her cut out patterns on her living room floor (often combining patterns to make something different), fittings in her living room, and seeing her sitting for long hours at her sewing machine. The little dresses remind me of all the beautiful dresses she made.

Now to decide where to take my bag. She is all dressed up and ready to go!

What about you? Do you have fabrics that remind you of people who influenced your creativity?

Linking up today with

Wendy

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