So FINALLY we get to the Sheep in Sweaters Tote!  When I started the previous post, I discovered I’d never blogged about the turquoise tote, which is the forerunner and partner of this one!  I will say now that I have finished this post (Part 2), it is LONG–but I wanted to be sure you got ALL the good info. If you’re here for just the totebag part, skim the embroidery bits! Thanks for reading!

Those of you who get my newsletter (sign up in right sidebar on this blog or the bottom of all the other website pages–if you prefer enter 12345 as your zip code when it asks) or follow me on social media (@sarahannsmithq and @sarahannsmithartist on FB and @sarahannsmithdesigns on IG), may remember that in 2022, older son Joshua, daughter-in-love Ashley and I spent two weeks in Scotland.  While there Ashley spotted a hilarious totebag with this illustration.  It was a soft, squishy tote, but inexpensive so I bought it and vowed I would convert it into a bag I LOVE!

I forgot to take a photo before I picked out the side seams, but you can tell it is pretty supple.  Great for packing flat into a suitcase, but collapses and not so comfy when full.  In a minor miracle, it has only taken about a year to re-make it.  In the last post, I mentioned that I really like bags that stand up on their own, and that I wanted at least one pocket large enough to hold a knitting pattern in a page protector and/or an iPad.   FYI:  links to supplies / info on products is at the VERY end of this post.

The overall size of this tote was determined by the size of the image in the photo above and the width of the fabric I purchased to go with the colors of the illustration.  At Fiddlehead Artisan Supply (online shop, but if you EVER get anywhere near Belfast, Maine, you MUST go–quilting and garment fabric, books, art supplies galore, craft supplies…. LOVE), I found a Rifle Paper Company fabric with just the right colors.  Since it was about 43-44″ wide, that determined the circumference of the bag (didn’t want to buy a whole extra 27 inches to get just a short side panel!).  As with the turquoise onions tote, I quilted the fabric first, using cream thread and going around the motifs in the print.

I DO recommend clearing the area of stray stuff, like paper….that you really didn’t intend to quilt into the bag.  Ahem. Another truth-in-teaching moment……

At least you can see the lovely quilting pattern?

This year, as a Janome Artisan, I am one of the very few who was unbelievably fortunate to receive the new, top-of-the-line Janome sewing, quilting and embroidery machine, the M17 Continental.  I was determined to overcome my trepidation and learn machine embroidery.  OMG–yes I am affiliated but I’d say it anyway–the fact that I could get this outstanding a result on literally my first attempt says a lot of very good things about the machine and software as my skill level was way low (but I’m learning!).  I purchased an 18-color-change Tula Pink design from the Moon Glow collection at OESD.  I adjusted the colors very slightly (my blues are darker) due to the bazillion threads I already have and to better blend with the fabric colors.

The Janome software now works with both Apple and pc-based platforms.  You can use the Janome software to digitize your own designs and such on the computer, buy designs etc., then air-drop / send by wifi to your tablet AND to the SEWING MACHINE!  No thumb drives!  No compatibility hassles!  Just boom–you input your WiFi info into the sewing machine, and it talks to your iPad, which you can carry around the house with you as the design stitches!   There are also several free Janome apps for sketching, monitoring, accessing manuals and other helpful info.  Anyway…. here’s the screen

From top to bottom you can see

• the recommended hoop size for the design
• the proper embroidery foot
• the dimensions of the design ( I think you can also change the settings so it displays in inches, not cm, but that may be a function of the design)
• that tension is adjusted to manual
• automatic cutting is on
• speed of stitching is set to 600 stitches per minute (you get tension issues sometimes if you go too fast depending on the design)
• minutes remaining until stitching is complete
• Below the image, you see how many stitches have been sewn out of the total of 38,665 stitches.   The + and – sign are helpful–if the thread breaks or bobbin thread runs out, you can back up a few stitches so there aren’t any gaps in stitching!
• To the right of that section, are the thread color (sequenced) and the thread color number if you are using a color supported in the software.  It is displaying the Janome thread colors but also supports major embroidery thread brands (but not alas the Superior Threads trilobal poly of which I have hundreds of colors, so I just winged it and chose colors, marking out which color corresponded)
• A progress bar for stitching is below that.
• In the very bottom you can see a square with arrows–that is to baste near the outside of the hoop to secure the stabilizer and fabric before stitching, and the brown box with a needle pointed at an X is to help you precisely position the design within the hoop.

Yes, as a total newbie to embroidery, I had to learn what all those things were, how to adjust this and that, but the fact that *I* could do it successfully on my first outing is a testament to good planning and design on Janome’s part.  Here are some photos from the embroidery process:

First, the design stitches a grid in a thread color to match the background fabric.  I am assuming this is to stabilize the fabric and prevent directional distortion from the way the stitches are programmed.   The first two layers were the dark gray, which is a pebble texture, then the darker blue in an extra long satin stitch that looks oh so lovely when all is done.

A lot of the stitching is now complete.  Having offset, duckbilled scissors (these were a gift from my dear friend Marie Z) helps a LOT when trimming threads close to the surface while still in the hoop).

The design is now completely stitched out and I am releasing the hoop from the carriage (on the left).

This is the back of the design… which frankly I think looks pretty good.  I used a soft shot-cotton plus one layer of sturdy stabilizer. I was a little concerned at some buckling despite hooping very snugly, but it pressed flat very nicely.  However, on a design as large as this one, about 4×5 inches, I might add a second layer of stabilizer next time.  I used the triple-stretch stitch to decorate the rest of the pocket background–this is a common utility stitch on many machines.

Next was assemble the parts.  In the photo above, you can see that I used a strip of print fabric cut 1″ wide, with edges folded to the center, to appliqué the Tula pocket (and also the front of the original totebag to the front of the bag).  The Tula Moon Garden Flower 3 (link at the end) embroidered pocket is on the side that faces my body…sized to hold my cell phone and safe from pickpockets by being on the inside.  I like the idea of a wipe-clean base for my bags–there is a lot of scuzzy, icky stuff out in the world.  AND by having something sturdy cover the bottom 1/2-1″ of the sides, it protects the corners from wearing out.  I used cork fabric from FabricFunhouse (a wholesaler, but they also sell retail–click on the link in the name).  The inside pockets were sewn on first (see photo below).  There is a single patch pocket behind the sheep-in-sweaters that is slightly narrower, so the stitching doesn’t show on the outside.  On the other part of the interior, I used leftover canvas from the original bag and the pretty selvage as a trim.  You can see my chalk-,asked guidelines.

It was on the printed pocket that I had my brainstorm!  I wanted the pocket to stand up and not flop, but if I had used the Soft And Stable all the way to the edges of the pocket it would have been way too thick and lumpy and hard to sew.  SO!  I cut the Soft and Stable about 2″ narrower than the full width of the pocket!  That meant I would have just the fabric on the edges, allowing me to sew the pocket in place, making a little pleat on either side.  Easier to sew and lets me slide my iPad inside without bulging. Mo’ bettah! (see second photo)

Here’s that side of the bag after it was completed:

Then I added the outside pockets.  The Tula flower pocket was sewn on so that the stitching created divisions in the interior pocket.  Here’s what it looked like when done.

Once the pockets were sewn it was time to add the cork on the outside/base and close up the bottom.

All these layers on the bottom made an extremely thick base, but a good sturdy machine like the HD9 from Janome (does only straight stitch, reasonably priced) or models like the 6600, M7 and so on, are all plenty strong enough.  See some caveats below though for safe sewing!

When sewing on cork, use a longer stitch. If you use a short stitch, it can perforate the fabric and it will tear like paper in a spiral notebook!  I think I used 3.5 length.  Notice that the right side of the Acufeed (Janome’s integrated dual-feed “walking” foot) is just OFF the cork.  I am using the inside edge of the foot and the precise positioning possible by moving the needle to one of the 19 positions to get perfect stitching alignment along the edge of the cork.

Once the cork is applied, I folded the bag so the vertical seam was in a corner. Boxing the corners is a bit of a heart-stopping effort for me.  I folded the corners to “box” it, making sure everything was squared up correctly.  That is a crazy thick amount of fabric on those corner triangles:   two of lining, two of the Soft and Stable, two of the linen-cotton light-canvas print, two of cork).

Here I am starting to sew from the outside edge to the center at the corner with the vertical seam (which extends to the center of the bottom of the bag).  I like to put something like a needle case or folded fabric about where my finger is pointing to get over the thick hump.  Clover Wonder Clips hold things way better than pins and don’t bend and distort.   I work from the outside to the center on each side of each triangle to avoid having to sew through the impossibly thick center seam.  Just sew up to the seam, HAND WALKING THE NEEDLE as you approach the center seam.  The machine is plenty strong enough to send the needle through, but needles are actually flexible and can BEND and “deflect” (get pushed sideways) just going through all those layers.  If that happens, then they hit the throat plate, break, yada yada–you don’t want that to happen!   So just hand walk those last stitches, then push reverse and hand walk going backwards.

PHEW… always exhale when this part is done.

A close up to show how snugly I have the foot up against the seam.  Gulp. Onward to finishing!

I trimmed away about 1/4″ of the carpet binding tape and put that raw edge next to the top of the bag on the inside and stitched it in place. I turned the tape to the outside and sewed it down using a cream colored thread which matched the zipper flaps.  But looked awful elsewhere.  Pitt Artist Pens (like Pigma but more colors–I get mine at Dick Blick online or at Fiddlehead) to the rescue!

Once again I used that carpet binding tape (think for rug hookers and such) as the straps.  I had the fun idea to use a strip of the print, just as I had used to appliqué the pockets in place, down the center of the handles, which otherwise were very brown and kinda overwhelmed the bag (no other color available at the time worked as well).  I LOVE the final look of them.  I stopped the strip up above the hardware to make it easier to sew.  In the photo above, I am using the other end of the handle to hold up the back of the presser foot and level it out, making it easier to sew to the very edges of the straps.  I used folded print fabric to make the tab that holds the hardware in place.  I could have sewn the straps directly to the bag, but if anything is going to wear out, it would be the handles.  This way I can replace the straps easily.  AND they hang down nice and flat by being attached with hardware instead of being sewn directly to the bag–that may not matter to you.  Do what works for you!

And Sorry this is SO LONG–want to get it all into ONE post.

You can see how I stitched the handle to the hardware, and the hardware to the cloth tab to the bag.  The cloth tab is partly hidden by the large outside pocket.  The top of the pocket gapped, so I used magnets again just at the center top of the bag.

For the closure I only had one yellow zipper and wanted to finish the bag in time for a trip, so instead of the double-zip I opted for this:

The ends, unlike the turquoise bag, are open.  I left the zipper tail LONG so that when full unzipped the flaps fold flat inside the bag and the tail hangs down out of the way (look at the pocket photos above).  I used a scrap of the cork to cover the end of the zipper.  Lesson:  it is good to have a stash of zippers on hand!  Time to order more from byAnnie— by the way Annie Unrein is one of my favorite people in the industry.  I love her patterns and the quality of the items she sells is top notch.

Final thoughts:  I still prefer the East-West orientation of the turquoise tote–the overall size and shape I like better.  But this tote size was dictated by the fabric and original tote, and it works also.  I LOVE the variation on the pockets on the sheep-in-sweaters totebag and will definitely use that un-padded edge trick again.  I prefer the two-zipper closing because …well… CATS chewing yarn is not fun.  Or healthy for them.  But for most folks the simple version I used on the sheep tote is just fine and dandy.

THANK YOU if you actually read all of this marathon of a post.  I hope you got some good ideas! If you design your own tote, do send me pictures!

SUPPLIES AND LINKS:

I used the following supplies–note, you can find hotlinks to some of these products on Amazon by going here:

• Fabric from Rifle Paper Company and purchased totebag
• Cork fabric for the base from Funhouse Fabrics
• byAnnie Soft and Stable for the “batting”–it is a foam with a peached (softly fuzzed) fabric that looks like nylon tricot but soft and grippy
• Polyester and cotton threads
• Carpet binding tape–I folded this in half, sewed at the edge and presto, nearly perfect handles that are soft, sturdy and comfortable.  Purchased at Fiddlehead Artisan Supply but not on their website alas.
• Bag rings/rectangles–I bought mine from byAnnie but Sallie Tomato also has a good selection
• Zippers from byAnnie –these zippers have wider tape and sturdy teeth that are perfect for bag-making
• Magnets from byAnnie
• OESD Tula Pink Moon Garden Flower 3
• Corrugated plastic:  looks like cardboard but made of plastic, available at art and/or craft stores.  Cut to size to make a base for the bag.  Cover in a tube of fabric or leave as is.  Fabric is nicer, but…..life happens and sometimes that tube happens later!  Makes a fairly sturdy base, inexpensive, easily found.  You could also use cardboard or mat board, but they are more likely to bend eventually.

Confession:  I love boxes, bags, baskets….   the more, the merrier.  I still wonder what happened to that plaid and a little bit of leather bag I had when I was six!  And I love having my bags work for me, offering the perfect combination of color, print and cloth, and function.

Over the years I have learned that I HATE rummaging around in the pitch dark bottom of a deep bag.  I think of those as North-South bags, taller than they are wide.  I vastly prefer East-West–where I can actually FIND stuff inside.  It also means black and other dark linings are a big Nope.  I also like a bag that stands up on its own–no having to fight collapsing sides!

When in England in 2014 on a once-in-a-lifetime trip with younger son Eli, then 16, we stopped at a grocery store.  The store-brand totes were fun, sturdy, not bulky to pack, and inexpensive so I bought one for grocery shopping on the trip (he learned about frugal AND the occasional splurge method of travel, where I alternate thrifty lodgings and take-and-make meals with comfy hotels with hearty breakfasts).  That is the Waitrose tote bag you see in the photo above.  Once we got home, I decided it was just about the PERFECT shape:  wide, not too deep, a sturdy removable base so I can wash the bag but have structure to hold the stuff in it.  The Waitrose bag collapses though, so I vowed to make one that checked off my must-have items:

• sturdy base
• stands up by itself
• comfortable handles
• pockets, inside and out, including one large enough for knitting pattern, magazine or ipad
• washable
• base that is easily spot cleaned and more durable than woven fabric (I made an all cotton tote once, spent eons quilting it beautifully, and then the corners wore out in nothing flat and spill out white batting… BUMMERS)

Fast forward eight (OMG…gulp) years and I finally made the Turquoise Onion Tote.  Why turquoise onion?  Those round circles on the fabric were made from printing with an onion!  By late 2022, COVID had happened, things were starting to open up, and I wanted to pitch my ideas to fabric companies (alas that didn’t succeed, at least not at this point and likely not ever), so I printed some of my own designs at Spoonflower and made the turquoise and lime bag to carry and show off my fabric while meeting with company reps at Quilt Market.  The tote is pretty close to PERFECT. Alas, I apparently did not blog about it, just the ever-vanishing social media posts.  That means this post just turned into two parts, this one about the turquoise and the next about the sheep in sweaters!

The turquoise bag is the same width as the Waitrose bag, but not quite as tall.  It has two flat outer pockets of different sizes (for readily grabbing the cell phone or business cards), assorted interior pockets, a removable base, and a zippered top that completely encases the contents, meaning cats and puppies cannot access and chew a knitting project inside of it!

I used the following supplies–note, you can find hotlines to some of these products on Amazon by going here:

• Fabric from Spoonflower (my designs, not currently available but maybe someday) and commercial fabric
• Synthetic suede for the base
• byAnnie Soft and Stable for the “batting”–it is a foam with a peached (softly fuzzed) fabric that looks like nylon tricot but soft and grippy
• Polyester and cotton threads
• Carpet binding tape–I folded this in half, sewed at the edge and presto, nearly perfect handles that are soft, sturdy and comfortable
• Bag rings/rectangles–I bought mine from byAnnie but Sallie Tomato also has a good selection
• Zippers from byAnnie –these zippers have wider tape and sturdy teeth that are perfect for bag-making
• Magnets from byAnnie
• Corrugated plastic:  looks like cardboard but made of plastic, available at art and/or craft stores.  Cut to size to make a base for the bag.  Cover in a tube of fabric or leave as is.  Fabric is nicer, but…..life happens and sometimes that tube happens later!  Makes a fairly sturdy base, inexpensive, easily found.  You could also use cardboard or mat board, but they are more likely to bend eventually.

I started by measuring my desired size. I quilted the main body (and base) of the bag–the linen blend with the onion print (darker turquoise) is an extra wide fabric, which meant I needed only one vertical seam which I placed on the corner.

Left photo, above: I made and placed the pockets on the outside and stitched them in place first. Then I put the plaid inner pockets inside and created separate pockets avoiding sewing through the outer pockets.
Top right, above: I used my AcuFeed zipper foot for edge stitching
Bottom right, above: boxing the corner: after sewing up the vertical side seam, I sewed the bottom edge together, then boxed the corners making sure to get the seam exactly in the center (which gets you perfect 90 degree corners).

I made the top zipper panel so that three sides would be sewn to the top of the bag and subsequently covered by the synthetic suede (purchased EONS ago and wish I could find a source for fun colored ultra suede now!).  The curved end will wrap up over the end of the bag and hold together with magnets sewn to the under side of the rounded end and the inside of the bag.

There was a lot of sewing, and some ripping out, to get it all together.  Glue stick and WonderClips are my friends!  The UHU brand glue stick (link will be on store page soon) is archival, acid free, and washes out.  Makes life SO MUCH EASIER.  Top right photo shows sewing the narrow side strips of the zipper panel to the bag.  Bottom right shows that I zigzagged over the raw edges to compress the foam (USE a WALKING FOOT or AcuFeed in my case) before adding the binding.

Oh UHU, how do I love thee, let me count the ways!

A large close up of sewing the synthetic suede binding to cover the raw edges. More durable than cotton!  Getting the edges on top and underneath lined up perfectly is a tad fiddly–using the UHU glue really helps.  And that deckle edge is from a Fishers scrapbookers blade that fits in my Olfa cutter.  Sometimes these blades are hard to find and stupid expensive… straight or pinking blade also work well.

Close up of the bag top.  I used ribbon to create a handle to pull both zippers open at the same time.  The center flap tucks nicely into the end of the bag if you want to leave it open.  On the left you can see the magnets (still in plastic) as I was testing to see if they are strong enough to hold through all the thicknesses: they are!  I used small squares of scraps to create an appliquéd shape under the round tab and on the corresponding spot on the side end of the bag.  I sewed three sides, slipped the magnets in—with the correct orientation to grab and not repel the other magnet!–and sewed them shut. I’ve used this bag a ton in the past year and it is still working brilliantly.

And the zipper pull in action.

Here’s the piece of corrugated plastic I cut–note the rounded corners.  I got the idea from Joan Hawley of Lazy Girl Designs who used to (maybe still does?) manufacture plexiglass bases for her bag patterns.  But those are expensive, getting one custom made even more so, and hard to find.  I made a tube that is about 1″ too long out of the pink fabric, then tuck the open ends over the short end of the plastic to enclose it.  Below:  tucks right into the bottom of the bag!

AND that brings us to the new “Sheep in Sweaters” tote bag!   Come back in a day or two for Part 2!

Over the course of the year I’ve shared progress on this quilt:

• First, there was learning to use the AccuQuiltGO! which I blogged about here. It was a different block, but the easy applies.
• Then there is the PIECING of CURVES: see the blogpost here or go directly to the video on my YouTube Channel here.
• Now there is the quilting video (that covers a couple other things), embedded below and share-able on my YouTube Channel here.

Full disclosure: I have proudly been a Janome Artisan since 2003, and this year am a Michael Miller Fabrics Brand Ambassador for 2020. MMF provided the fabric and we were given, as part of being a brand ambassador, an AccuQuiltGo and several dies. To my surprise I enjoyed the process so much I have purchased both the Winding Ways and Crossed Canoe dies. Stay tuned for more!

Next came machine quilting. I worked on that a while back–I did end up teaching for the Mancuso Online Quiltfest in August and will do a Threadcoloring the Garden workshop in October! More info on that soon! In this video I’m practicing making a video, demonstrating at the machine, and it just happens to be walking foot quilting (fast! easy!) on my beloved Janome M7. Even if I had paid full price instead of being a Janome Artisan I’d rave about this machine’s wonderfulness! Their new slogan, Reliability by Design, is really true!

Then, the hand quilting and the finishing!

I haven’t done any hand stitching in a thousand years, but nearly two years ago I bought matching green thread from aurifil in piecing/light quilting weight and a heavier 12-wt that is about the size of a light perle cotton or 6-strands of floss. I LOVE IT…and it went so fast! I can remember clearly sitting on the porch in early summer, something to watch on the iPad, stitching away.

I wanted to repeat the orange batik in the center on the edges, but using it as the binding was too much. I instead inserted a tiny stitched down “reveal” that is a scant 1/8″ just inside the white binding. Can I also put in a plug for Michael Miller’s Cotton Couture solids? The quality of the base cloth is SO GOOD! And the consistency in color / dye lots over the years is really amazing. I dye fabric and know how hard it is to get perfect matches from batch to batch and it does.

I taught the half day version of my bindings workshop at the Mancuso Online Quiltfest in June and may do so again in the new year. I am scheduled to teach and have an exhibit of my work at the Mid-Atlantic Quiltfest in Virginia in February, but at this point who knows if it will be in person or online! I promise I will teach the bindings (full or half day) again in the new year online, just need to figure out when. My students in June had GREAT results online so it works online too!

Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed my 2020 detour back to my quilty roots. Coming soon, a new art quilt!

I’m thrilled to share that I will be teaching online again in mid August, and for the first time ever you can take my most popular class, Collage the Garden, LIVE ONLINE! Sign ups are open NOW and are here. One of the best things is you will be home, so you can get whatever it is you wish you had brought to class, because you are at home and sewing on your machine!

I’ll be offering:
Wednesday, August 12, 2020: Collage the Garden: From Photo to Flower (6 hours) from 10-4 Eastern daylight (there will be a lunch break)
Thursday, August 13, 2020: Mastering Metallics (3 hours) from 2-5 Eastern daylight. Kit is optional.
Saturday, August 15, 2020: Easy-Peasy Inside-Out Bags and spin off projects from 2-5 Eastern daylight.

You can find complete class descriptions and PDF supply lists on my Workshops page (classes are listed in alphabetical order). When available, there are also hotlines to blogposts so you can see previous student work. If you have ANY questions, please don’t hesitate to write to me! I’ve done a recap of each of the workshops below as well.

Collage the Garden is all about my process. I teach you how to interpret a photo in class, then you will know how to use YOUR photos to create your own original artwork. We talk about selecting a good image, selecting fabric, fusing, tricks for working with cloth and, time permitting, introduce how to quilt (this is a who second follow-on workshop).

I’d love to have you in one of my workshops at the Mancuso Online Quiltfest here. If something you want to take isn’t offered, let me know what and I’d be happy to schedule an online class offered directly from me later in the year.

OK, that’s a bit punny…. I’ve used some of the fun Michael Miller Fabrics Lost in Paradise fabric to make a byAnnie.com pattern called Clam Up. Before COVID hit, I was thinking about my travel teaching, and I made the Running With Scissors tote and blogged about it, here. I wanted a companion bag for bulky stuff I needs to schlep with me. Both of these bags are good for use in your sewing space, retreats or a whole bunch of other things!

I really like bags that open up wide, where I don’t have to root around–I can just open ‘er up and SEE what I need to grab. The large was big enough to set my mug inside…at least unzipped.

Annie Unrein and her staff suggest quilting up your fabrics, using her Soft n Stable instead of batting. The Soft n Stable is a foam with a soft, grippy fabric on the outsides. I love that it stands up and holds it shape, the cotton doesn’t slip ‘n slide around, and doesn’t require a ton of quilting to look good in the finished project.

Next up: inspired by Annie’s construction techniques and materials, I made one of my Easy-Peasy-Inside-Out bags merging my process and her materials. Check back soon!

Note: for this post, the fabric, pattern and zipper are courtesy of Michael Miller Fabrics and byAnnie.com–THANK YOU! But I love the stuff so much I have spent a goodly chunk of my own hard-earned money buying more of the fabrics and notions.