In which I feel smug
May. 12th, 2014 03:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mme_hardyAll the pictures of this are in a Tumblr post because the tools over there are better.
Anyway, a year or so ago Spoonflower had a contest for the best ocean-oriented prints. I liked one of the runners up better than the winner, and asked the runner-up to make the fabric available. I bought a panel. When it showed up, it was too large to be incorporated into a skirt and the wrong shape for a pillow. I set it aside.
A couple of weeks ago I tripped over the Spoonflower envelope, unfolded the panel, and thought. I figured out that if I trimmed a strip across the top, the fabric would be close to a reasonable tote bag size. I took the fabric with me to a quilting store, found a complementary fabric for the lining and another for the back, and came home.
For the last two weeks I've been having a bad cold and a migraine; a lot of the time I was lying in bed or going to sleep I was plotting out tote bag: which fabrics should go where, how the panel should be quilted for best effect, how to attach handles, what sort of interior pockets would be most useful. When I was on my feet, I was messing around with the fabric, a rotary cutter, a quilting ruler, and my trusty Featherweight, adding bits of fabric here and there to make a rectangle twice the size of a totebag. Then I quilted the panel along the lines of the pattern, quilted the back in spirals, took the strip I'd cut off the top and turned it into a thing pocket, added a knitting-needle pocket and a pencil pocket (both cut to size), added handles, and (I believe I mentioned this) felt smug.
It's nice to feel competent. It's nice to just jump into the air and know that my skills will lead me to a safe landing. And it's nice to have a brand new project bag for knitting!
Anyway, a year or so ago Spoonflower had a contest for the best ocean-oriented prints. I liked one of the runners up better than the winner, and asked the runner-up to make the fabric available. I bought a panel. When it showed up, it was too large to be incorporated into a skirt and the wrong shape for a pillow. I set it aside.
A couple of weeks ago I tripped over the Spoonflower envelope, unfolded the panel, and thought. I figured out that if I trimmed a strip across the top, the fabric would be close to a reasonable tote bag size. I took the fabric with me to a quilting store, found a complementary fabric for the lining and another for the back, and came home.
For the last two weeks I've been having a bad cold and a migraine; a lot of the time I was lying in bed or going to sleep I was plotting out tote bag: which fabrics should go where, how the panel should be quilted for best effect, how to attach handles, what sort of interior pockets would be most useful. When I was on my feet, I was messing around with the fabric, a rotary cutter, a quilting ruler, and my trusty Featherweight, adding bits of fabric here and there to make a rectangle twice the size of a totebag. Then I quilted the panel along the lines of the pattern, quilted the back in spirals, took the strip I'd cut off the top and turned it into a thing pocket, added a knitting-needle pocket and a pencil pocket (both cut to size), added handles, and (I believe I mentioned this) felt smug.
It's nice to feel competent. It's nice to just jump into the air and know that my skills will lead me to a safe landing. And it's nice to have a brand new project bag for knitting!
