One Yard Wonders - Farmers' Tote

Ha, my ploy of trying to reward myself with making Christmas presents for quilting those two tops didn't work. I got started on quilting the first top but got sidetracked by what else than a Christmas present!

Last December I bought the second installment of the One-yard-Wonders. It was already too late to make anything out of it for Christmas presents but I put it aside for the next year. So when I got bored quilting I pulled it out and looked through it again for some ideas. 

One thing that makes the selection of potential gifts a bit difficult is our new family gift giving rule of "you can't spend more than $15". So I have to rely mostly on my stash and buy only if absolutely necessary!

The first present out of the 'One-yard-Wonders' is the Farmers' Tote on page 212 (Woven Pile Fabrics section). The tote in the book is made out of a striped black and white corduroy. I liked the body it gave the bag and remembered that I had some black corduroy in my stash. With that in mind I knew right away that this bag is for my oldest sister! She loves the combination of black and red. I also had some beautiful marbled red fabric that I could use for the seam binding to give it a bit of colour!

5 hours later I have this beauty on my  table:

The flower was made after a pattern which I found in Amy Butler's stitches. I love the way it gives the bag a special touch!

The straps are supposed to be made out of webbing. I didn't want to wait for it if I should order any and made them out of the red fabric and some batting instead. They are soft yet substantial enough to hold whatever my sister will put in this bag! This bag is roomy! Knowing my sister, she will stuff it like a Thanksgiving turkey on her shopping excursions...  ;-)

So what are the downsides? The construction is straight forward. However it is really tiresome to bind the seams. Especially if you do it in the order the pattern asks you to do it. I bound the seams right after I basted the pleats. It just made more sense to me! Also, if you look at the picture you can see that the front/back pockets have a seam right in the middle. This makes sense since the pockets would otherwise be too flopsy on top to hold anything in. But this step is nowhere to be found in the instructions! I also don't like how the pleats don't really hold their shape because they aren't tacked down. I don't know if I am going to do that or leave them as it is... If I would make another one I would put some elastic band to solve this little dilemma. 

Overall, I am really pleased with how this bag turned out and I know that my sister is going to enjoy it! 

On to the next present or back to quilting... 

Take care,

Me