Black With a Pop of Pink Tote Bag

Another one of my yoga peeps in my Yin classes have asked me to make her a tote bag. She wants it for a carry-on for travel to Vancouver in July. She had a look at my Etsy shop and was drawn to the black and white makeup bag. So that’s where we started. She also asked for a pop of pink in it.

She asked for a button and loop closing as oppsed to the magnetic snap I often use.

After several photos and back and forth emails, she settled on these seven fabrics and their placement. I fussycut the Eiffel Tower fabric so that the panel featured two completed images. Those towers are 6” high!

I had the bag body assembled so I took it to yoga on Sunday morning to ask whether she would like rose jacquard webbing that I’d bought from Zipper Valley for the handles (I thought it was nice) or fabric handles which I usually make with interfacing and two layers of batting. At first she liked the webbing but then after a moment she said, no, she wanted homemade handles, so I used the same fabric as I did for the base.

When it came to the lining, she said she preferred a darker one as opposed to a lighter one, so I hunted through some greys and had a quick look in the blacks yardage which is when I found the Benartex one that had just enough.

It is left over from my Follow Your Path Quilt I made for the now defunct Benartex’s Modern by the Yard ezine. I thought it was the perfect ‘darker’ lining that would still allow her to see her stuff inside.

As with all my totes, I put a pocket on the inside, and for this one, I thought it would be fun to use a contrast. She really liked the celestial fabric so I think she’ll get a kick out of seeing it here.

I am so pleased to see the parade of quilts for this year’s QAL. There were 12 beauties linked up, not as many as in previous years, and I think one reason may be because the kite-shapes and spiky star points felt like too much for some. I am not sure if I will do another QAL; I had the feeling that this tenth was going to be the last, but a few people said how very much they enjoy these, so one never knows

Quilt Stats:

Size: 16” tall x 20” wide

Pattern: Positive Flow by moi! SandraJaneQuilts

Fabric: Evelyn’s Etched Tulips by Jackie Robinson for Benartex; Eiffel Tower by Michael Miller Fabrics; Celestials by Hoffman International Fabrics; Timeless Treasures for Hi-Fashion Fabrics; front band is Northcott Silk; base and handles are Lilacs in Bloom by Jackie Robinson for Benartex; the pink pebbly one is Art Gallery Fabrics

Batting: 100% cotton by Warm and Natural

Lining: Color Theory by Greta Lynn for Kanvas 

Quilted: on Avril, 15 456 stitches

Threads: pieced on my Bernina with Gütermann; quilted with Exquisite and Isacord 100% polyester #21159; 100% rayon by Robison Anton in the bobbin.