I’ve been wanting to make a strip quilt for some time, though judging on my past track record with quilts (anyone remember my Cathedral Window Quilt? Yep, still working on it!) I figured it would be yet another project that I started and then failed to finish. I’ve certainly collected enough fabric scraps for a quilt, but still get overwhelmed when I think of the size of a quilt and the time required to make one. Plus, I had some skeptical looks and responses when I attempted to describe how I pictured this quilt. Apparently, my description made this type of quilt sound like an utter mess!
Not to be deterred from the idea of a strip quilt, I set out to prove that this really would look nice, though on a much smaller scale.
Like bag-size.
It seems that would allow me to prove to myself and those skeptics that strips of fabric all sewn together would indeed make a nice pattern.
I opted to use the remnants from a set of rick rack napkins I made for my sister. The fabric is 8 of Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern prints – mostly shades of brown, rust and pinks.
I cut strips of varying widths – opting for an intentionally uneven look, though I imagine it would also look nice with strips of the same widths (my cutting skills – not that good!). I cut half of the strips in lengths of about 12 inches and the remaining strips in lengths of about 5 inches. I wanted to have one section with the longer lengths attached to a section of the shorter length pieces, as such:
I have both sides of the bag sewn and ironed with some thick interfacing attached and tonight I plan on quilting both sides and sewing it into its bag shape. Finished project will be shown tomorrow!
By the way, I did finish the dress by my deadline, and I did get to wear it last weekend… will post a photo of the end result soon!
Self-imposed deadlines… (what was I thinking?!)
It’s done! The Quilted Amy Butler Bag
