Welcome!

Welcome to my blog, we're talking about quilting and other good stuff. I'm glad you stopped by ... look around, add a comment, become a follower if you feel inclined, tell your friends about me, and come back soon!


Friday, August 17, 2012

What happens when you don't pay attention...

Three things to be happy about:
(1) being able to read the fine print
(2) keeping a secret
(3) flexible straws

Amy at Diary of a Quilter has a great tutorial on making an easy fat quarter bag, and I thought I'd give it a try.  BUT, the one she teaches finished at something like 9 x 11 and I wanted to make mine a bit larger.  Did I get out my pad and paper and figure out the perfect size?  Of course not, I figured I could wing it!

I picked two pretty batik FQ's and a darker one for the handle, so far so good.

Here is where I deviated ... rather than cutting the FQ in half, I decided in order to make my bag bigger, all I had to do was NOT cut it, yes!!!

Because my fabric was bigger, I placed the handle at 4" from each side - clever girl!

After sewing the short ends I was pleased at how well I lined up the seams to sew the long sides...

I really like that darker green with the hints of rust!  So... I sewed the long sides, leaving a roughly 3" opening for turning, so far so good.  When I did the gusset part, I decided since the bag was bigger, I should make the gusset twice as big -  so I sewed it at 2" rather than the 1" called for in the pattern. 

Makes sense, right?  After I turned it back right side out and took a good look at it .. yech!

It finishes at 17 x 9-1/2, how wierd is that??  It's way too wide for the height - for a soft bag, that's not good a'tall!

So your lesson for today is ... take shortcuts if you must, but Pay Attention!  I'll probably use this bag for small grocery items, so it's not a total waste.   :o)

Sew forth and sew on til later!



9 comments:

  1. Life is always a live and learn situation! Keep on learning!
    I love your "things to be happy about" in each post. You remind us to be happy about simple things.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Simple" happy things rock! Keep your eyes open for Monday's blog :o)

      Delete
  2. I love Gene's comment - keep learning!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Replies
    1. IT does look like a beach bag, doesn't it? There's no lining so it's a bit wimpy though.

      Delete
  4. LOL I know exactly what you mean....read my post for today!!! lol

    ReplyDelete
  5. I always do that :p - but your bag is great and I love that fabric!

    ReplyDelete
  6. LOL- I must say I got quite a chuckle when I got to your completed bag. Not because your bag is funny, I think it's cute, but I end up with crazy results all the time and I DO pay attention! Lol
    Francine

    ReplyDelete
  7. Linda,

    I have a suggestion for you, sew a 2 ties or 2 pieces of ribbon to each side that you can tie in a bow. Just long enough to cinch the bag in an inch or two and I think you'll find it a lot more useable.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for your comment, I like getting feedback! I can't promise to respond by email, but I do appreciate your visit.