Dot Dot Dash Bag

I'm really happy to announce the first pattern to go up in my pattern shop, the Dot Dot Dash Bag! This is a bag that features 5 zippers on the front of the bag, and a top closure in the form of a recessed zipper. The strap is adjustable. The pattern is intermediate/advanced sewing level.

The pdf pattern includes 18 pages of sewing instructions, complete with 41 step-by-step color photos.

Finished Size: 13” long x 15” tall

Supplies Needed to Make this Bag:

1 yard of Exterior Fabric (for quilted version, substitute 1 charm pack or 36 charm (5”) squares)

For quilted version only: 1/2 yard of fabric for the straps/top/side

1-1/4 yards of Lining Fabric                                                                                               

2 yards of Pellon® SF-101 Shape Flex® fusible woven interfacing

2/3 yard of By Annie’s Soft and Stable™, available at local quilt shops or on-line

(Soft and Stable is a thin, foam sew-in interfacing; one of my testers also recommends automotive headliner fabric in place of the Soft and Stable)

Helpful Hint: 2/3 yard of Pellon® #TP971 Thermolam® fusible interfacing (a needled fleece) may be substituted for the Soft and Stable, for a great slouchy look.

1-1/2" metal rectangle and metal slider (I buy mine here:http://www.etsy.com/shop/JennaLouDesigns?section_id=5226774)

Three 14” zippers

Two 9” zippers

One 14” separating zipper (for the top closure)

My pattern instructions call for use of By Annie's Soft and Stable, which is a thin, foam sew-in interfacing (although I do give alternative interfacing suggestions in my pattern instructions, such as Pellon Thermolam/needled fleece for a great slouchy bag). If you do decide to use the Soft and Stable, your bag will be padded, so it is the perfect carrying accessory for your laptop, Kindle, iPad, etc.!

I'd also like to give a big virtual hug to Alison Glass, fabric designer for Andover Fabrics, who designed my pattern cover. She got it just right on the first crack, which shows just how talented she is. Alison has a line out right now called 'Lucky Penny' (and my bag is made using the Column print from Lucky Penny), and will have 'Field Day' coming in June.

My friend Tiffany of This Crafty Fox made this gorgeous version of the bag in Joel Dewberry fabrics. This bag is also featured in the pattern. Tiffany put up with my constant worry-worting about the pattern instructions and was a really good sport about it. ;-)

I had quite a lot of pattern testers for this bag. My heart skipped a beat each time a new one appeared in my inbox. It's kind of something to see someone make something from a pattern that you've written. I will probably always feel this way, but it makes me feel like...well, you have so many sewing pattern choices when it comes to bag making. That you've chosen to make a bag that I've written makes me feel incredibly honored. Thank you to all the testers who spent the time making these bags and providing me with feedback on my instructions.

This lovely version of the bag was made by Christy of a.Amelia Handmade. Christy makes beautiful iPad sleeves and other accessories in her shop. Her bag is a total winner in my book...my favorite color is green and Echino is one of my favorite fabric designers, so enough said!!

 

Maryellen made this cosmic bag out of spacey Michael Miller fabrics! I love the brown in the corner accents, it really makes those pockets pop!

Allison made this beautiful yellow Dot Dot Dash, and I think her fussy-cutting on the front of the bag through the zippers was seamless...you can't even tell that that fabric had to be cut and seamed! Great job Allison!!

 

Lindsey of LRstitched made this awesome bag in gingham and suede. I think it turned out fabulous, and I love the zipper pulls that she added herself! Lindsey ran the Zakka Style sew along last year, and she has another slated for April...Patchwork Please! Follow the Flickr group to be notified when it starts!

 

This beautiful version made in Joel Dewberry fabric was made by Lisa of Six Munchkin Stitching. Lisa makes memory quilts, gift bags, and more! I especially adore the green woodgrain fabrics on the corners!

 

Ty Pennington fabric really made this stunning bag from Cindy of Raspberry Sunshine. Cindy was very quick on her toes and used this automotive headliner fabric from Hancock's in place of the Soft and Stable interfacing (I had to ask my husband what exactly automotive headliner fabric was, lol). She said it gave the bag great body and was easy to sew through!

 

This bag was made by Sharon, who upcycled an old jumper to make her bag; she loved the fabric of the jumper, but no longer wanted to wear it. What a great idea!!

Diane made this great bag out of Washi Tape fabrics...so awesome! I also love the different-colored zippers...it really brings out the washi effect! You can find Diane on her Flickr...you should check it out, she's a phenomenal quilter!

Mia of Mia's Creations made this lovely bag using upholstery fabrics and fleece interfacing instead of the Soft and Stable. I just love this, it looks like something you would find in a boutique shop! Maria also blogged about her bag, so you can read more about what she thinks!

Anna from Charmed Liebling made this bag in some really awesome fabric...the fabric has a really European flair. I think the different-colored fabrics for the accent and zippers really make it stand out! It looks just gorgeous!!

 

Carolyn made this black and white version with the neon zippers...how awesome that those zippers stand out like that! Carolyn is using her bag to tote her laptop, with her Kindle in a pocket!

 

Rachel made this beautiful version, and she was very careful to fussy cut her large-scale print across the zippered panels! I also adore her contrasting accents and strap!

Shelley of Pure and Simple Creations made this awesome version in pink and orange, and as you can see by the photo, this bag is very functional! She's got all her knitting supplies packed inside!

Sally from Life in Sally's World made this great version of the bag with Anna Maria Horner fabric and some denim for the corner pockets. She just took a trip to Las Vegas and was happy that the bag fit her Macbook Air inside! Sally sent me her edits while traveling...isn't she a trooper?!

Allegory of {sew} Allegorical made the only patchwork version in the group (the pattern has instructions to make the bag in patchwork if you so choose!). I love the fabrics she chose, they are so bright and happy!

Corrina of Another Thing Off the List (love the blog name too!) made this beautiful floral bag. The fabrics are so soft and pretty, this is a real winner!

 

Alli from B. Yazoo made this awesome bag in a smokey corduroy with chartreuse accents and a fun lining fabric. She was very thorough with her tester feedback, and I think this bag looks incredibly well-put-together and sturdy!

Mary made this paisley version of the pattern. I love the red fabric used for the accents and the lining, it perfectly coordinates with the paisley! What a great bag!

I had the pleasure of meeting Vanessa at Sewing Summit this past October, and she made this gorgeous country girl version of the bag. So pretty! It's a gift for her mom, and I just think it's perfect!

Annette used denim for her bag, with floral for the lining and front accents. I love the dark colors of the bag, and the black zippers really make those panels stand out!

Norma from Norma's Clay on Etsy made this stunning gray and white bag. Norma makes cool accessories made from beautiful clay in her shop, so check it out if you have a chance! I can't get over this bag, it is so pretty!

 

Peta from Australia has made this gorgeous bag. Peta has quite a history with crochet, embroidery, and sewing, so I am very honored that she tested my pattern for me!

Kelie made this great version with brightly-colored butterfly fabrics. I love that the front curved accent fabrics continue through the side panels, it gives the bag a great finished look! Kelie also reviewed this bag on her blog!


Thank you again so much to everyone for all your hard work!!! If you liked what you saw and would like to purchase my sewing pattern, please visit my pattern shop!

Sew Thinky Thursday

My friend Emily of Mommy's Nap Time is starting a new linky party called Sew Thinky Thursday. The basic idea behind the series is to have a new topic every week which inspires sewing-related thinking. I thought it would be interesting to participate because I'm always so project-oriented, sometimes it's good to stop and reflect. This week's topic is:

When did you start sewing? Tell us a bit about your sewing history. When did you realize you were really hooked? 

I first learned to sew when I was in the 3rd grade. My mom taught one of my friends and I to sew during weekly classes. We made a drawstring bag and also a top. After that, I didn't sew again for a long time.

I had my first child when I was 25. I was always a quiet person, but having children changed a lot of things for me, in a really good way. I have 2 kids, and when they were babies I had to be with them round the clock. They only slept for 1 or 2 hours at a time, even at night, for a really long time (I'd say I was lucky when they were a year old and getting 4 hours of sleep at a time). So I needed to find something to occupy my time at night, waiting for the next time they would wake up. ;-) I tried watching movies and tv shows on my computer, and this went on for a long time, but you can only watch so much before it gets horribly repetitive. I made minky burb cloths to sell on Etsy, and I constructed them assembly-line style, but I didn't really sell very many. I didn't know how to read commercial sewing patterns (so incredibly confusing, even now), so I basically stuck to things with straight seams, like the burp cloths, lol.

 

I spent a lot of time on a forum called Diaperswappers, which is a cloth diapering forum, and participated in a few fabric buying co-ops. I wasn't being very productive, but kept buying more and more fabric. I think my son was about 2 years old when I decided to sell off my fabric (tons of Heather Ross and other good things) because I realized I wasn't actually sewing with it; it was more of a collection. A woman on there bought most of the fabric I sold, and at the time I have to admit I kind of thought she was crazy (she probably bought 3-4 flat rate boxes worth of fabric from me). This is the person who is now my best friend, Kim.  It's funny how things work out. I talked to her sporadically on the forums, but then sometime after she moved, we started talking again. I think we became Facebook friends after we both posted on a forum in Diaperswappers wanting to make Facebook friends, and that was that.

In the fall of 2010, she told me that her friend Amy of Amy Lou Who? liked to sew, and had a sewing blog. Amy had a weekly linky party to post finished projects every week, and I really got into finishing projects so I could post them every week. Being on a sewing schedule like that helped me become more and more confident working with sewing patterns, and I found that the pdf patterns I was finding on-line were much easier to follow than the commercial patterns that I had previously had trouble understanding.





I made this ruffle top for my daughter's 1st birthday, which was September 13, 2010. It was the first finished project that I posted to my blog. It's funny reading old blog posts and seeing the difference in me then and now.

The point that I realized that I was hooked was when I started making bags. I couldn't stop sewing. I wanted to try more and more things, and soon after I started blogging, I asked Amy and Kim what supplies I would need to make a quilt. I was so concerned about buying the correct ruler...looking back now, it's kind of laughable. Here is the first quilt that I made, in October of 2010 for the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.

 

I obviously didn't know what I was doing. ;-) Each scrap in the quilt was unique, something from the fabrics that I was using to make the burp cloths.

So that is kind of where I came from, sewing-wise. If you've been following along on my blog, you've probably noticed that I'm getting up to a lot of crazy things these days, lol.

 

New Sponsor: StudioKat Designs!

 

I'd like to extend a big welcome to my new sponsor, StudioKat Designs! StudioKat Designs is a purveyor of handbag sewing patterns and bag-making supplies. Of course you know that I enjoy a good bag pattern, and these are very well-designed bags with unique features.

My favorite is the new Uptown Saddlebag pattern, which, as you can see by the images below, has a front pouch and the flap also opens up to form a pocket in itself! What a great design, and very useful in that it has several compartments!

 

StudioKat is also one-stop shopping...the website also boasts a large notion and supply section, with specific items to make the bags. There are great zippers (hello polka dots!!) and also that Soft and Stable that I've been mentioning lately.

Here's another pattern that I know you will love...this is called the Quattro. It has four storage options, and many ideas for making your bag unique (such as using tie dye or piecing!).

What I like about the StudioKat site is that there are a lot of helpful areas. The first is that when you click on each of the patterns, there are links for the color photos to accompany the pattern and help you out with particular steps. There are also pieced templates for many of the patterns, which you can get via download. There's also a RockStar Peacework eBook, which will help you create the perfect foundation piece (such as the front of the Quattro bag!) for your next bag (or other project).

Baggalista pattern

If you liked some of the bags, you may want to sign up for the StudioKat newsletter...it's a monthly offering filled with customer bag photos, tutorials, trivia, pattern news, and more. There's a blog too!!

So....ready to buy some patterns?? Use coupon code SSFREESHIP in the StudioKat Designs shop, which will get you free shipping through February 15, 2013.

Paper-pieced Wheel of Fortune

I made this iridescent block using Michael Miller 'Mirror Ball Dots' fabrics and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out! The fabrics were from a half-yard bundle that my mom got for me for Christmas from Westwood Acres on Etsy.

Elizabeth's Wheel of Fortune mini quilt

I was majorly inspired by seeing Elizabeth's finished prism quilt on Facebook. I just love how it looked with the rainbow colored scraps, and if you alternate your background fabrics like she did, you get the cool star effect. Stunning!!

The paper-pieced quilt pattern was designed by Elizabeth Dackson, and you can find the pattern information on her blog here. The cost is $10. The pattern comes with full step-by-step instructions (so if you have never paper-pieced before, you will be able to do this!). The templates can either make a 6" finished block or a 12" finished block. I made the 12" block. I think I will make 4 blocks to make a mini-quilt, although I would certainly not be disappointed to make a small quilt, as this is quite gorgeous! The block took me about 3 hours to make, but I think I was watching tv and goofing off at the same time. :-)

Just wanted to share...I'm finishing up my first bag patterns this week and setting up my on-line shop, so I don't have much else to show on the blog but this little block. Hope you like it. :-)

By Annie's Soft and Stable

If you haven't heard much from me lately, I've been busy making bags, and some of these bags I've made using By Annie's Soft and Stable. A blog reader first asked me to look out for it at Quilt Market this past Fall; I had never heard of this product. I didn't think anything of it, in fact, until I got there and saw the samples in the booth. When I saw this image, I thought there must be some kind of trick to get the wooden handles to allow the bag to stay up (handles are somewhat heavy!)...

So, I made a little 3-minute video so you can check out what I have to say about Soft and Stable. Before I even started using the Soft and Stable in my sewing patterns, I thought long and hard about being a responsible pattern-writer...Soft and Stable is available on the By Annie website, Amazon, and at local quilt shops. It is not widely available, especially to people in other countries, and as it is a very specific product, I thought long and hard about if I should use it in a pattern's supply list. But once I sewed with it, I felt like the difference it makes is so substantial that I couldn't not use it. It's kind of amazing. So my decision was to use it in patterns, but provide a substitute interfacing choice (although the bag would turn out somewhat different if using the substitution).



So, what do you think?? Do you have any comments about the Soft and Stable, or anything about my

thoughts on responsible pattern-writing? And if you have used Soft and Stable before...what do you think about it?

Where to find it online:

In the US -  By Annie's
                   Amazon
                  Connecting Threads (they also have free shipping over $50...they sell fabric, thread, books)

In the UK - Quilt Direct
                   Barn Yarns

Australia - Punch with Judy 

Text Fabric Swap

I just wanted to pop in and let you know that Jessica of Plum Patchwork is putting together a text fabric fat quarter swap. You can find details of the swap in the Flickr group. I was completely giddy when I found out about this because I am very devoted to text fabrics...they give projects that extra kick (and they are also fun to dye)!

 

Here are a few things I've done with text fabrics:

 

I only have a very small stash of text fabrics, but I look for some whenever they're on sale. The Flickr group for the swap is here, but here is the basic idea of how the swap will work. More details are on Flickr. 

1. This is a centralized swap, meaning everyone will send their fabric to Jessica, and she'll sort, distribute, and mail back to the swappers. 

2. Swappers have until February 15th to mail their packages to Jessica. 

3. Mailing will be done by Flat Rate Envelope or Box only, and she's requesting PayPal funds to make the shipping easier (international swappers are welcome, check out the group for details on how that can be handled). 

4. You can send in as many FQ's as you like. You'll get the same number back that you sent in! 

Thanks for taking a look-see! Since this is not my swap (although I am joining in!), if you have any questions, please direct them to Jessica in the Flickr Group. :-)