Sewing

New! Fieldstone Tote Pattern

Happy almost Spring! New! Fieldstone Tote Pattern! I’m excited to introduce you to my newest pattern, the Fieldstone Tote!

New! Fieldstone Tote Pattern
View A

Here’s a quick list of the pattern’s features:

  • two sizes to sew! Mini & Regular
  • two views to sew! View A features an interior zippered hang pocket, View B features a zippered top and interior slip pocket
  • minimal hardware needed! Just a zipper and some webbing!
  • feature your favorite fabric, use a leftover quilt block/patchwork, or quilt your Main Panels!
New! Fieldstone Tote Pattern
View B (left), View A (right)

Plus, the Fieldstone Tote pattern is so FUN to sew!

  • The Mini size is seriously SO cute.
    • It’s small and mighty!
    • Uses small cuts of fabric! Mostly Fat Quarters!
    • It makes a cute project bag for your craft stuff, lunch bag, or for everyday!
  • The Regular size is going to be perfect when you need to carry a bit more! Toss in your things and go! It’ll hold a sweater’s worth of yarn or makes a great everyday tote to hold all your things. Perfect for toting back and forth to work or your car.

I hope you’ll love this new tote pattern as much as I do! I’ve been having so much FUN sewing up the samples. My inspiration for this pattern started when I was making the Mini size and wanted to feature my favorite fabrics, then I couldn’t resist adding the Regular size. Plus, the boxy shape lends itself extremely well for patchwork on the Main Panels!

TODAY through Tuesday March 3rd only (ends at 11:59 pm CST) purchase your PDF for 20% off! No code needed!

New! Fieldstone Tote Pattern
View A interior (Mini)

Construction Notes

The Fieldstone Tote features a super boxy shape. View A is perfect for an Advanced Beginner! If you’ve made a basic tote, the Fieldstone would be a great way to level up your skills.

The pattern includes several options for handles so you can customize it to fit your needs and preferences.

View B is a great Intermediate sewing pattern. If you’re looking to try a new way to make a zippered top closure and are up for a challenge, I know you’ll have fun with this view!

Plus, I’m excited to have some future blog posts that might cover things like adding a key holder, adding a water bottle sleeve, and using one fabric (instead of two) for the exterior.

Mini and Regular side view

Fabric Notes

This pattern is perfect for all your fun splashy designer canvas prints (I used a few of the Ruby Star Society canvases for my Exterior Fabric on a lot of my samples and adore them!) with waterproof canvas for the lining. Most of the designer canvases you can find a quilt shop (Ruby Star Society, Windham, Moda, etc.) fall within the recommended 6-8 oz. weight. I also like the way the thicker Fableism fabrics work as well!

I also used 600d Waterproof Canvas from Sullivan’s Trim for the Exterior Accent pieces (and skipped the interfacing – so easy to use and sew and has the perfect structure!). You could even make the whole exterior using this!

For another heavier canvas for the Exterior Accent fabric I used Kokka’s Nuno to Mono Cotton Heavyweight Canvas (it’s 13 oz. which is heavy, grab your size 16 needle for sure!). And same as for the 600d waterproof canvas, skip the interfacing if you’re using the Nuno to Mono.

Another option would be Robert Kaufman’s Big Sur canvas, I would stick with a lighter interfacing or no interfacing when using this 9.6 oz. canvas.

View B (Mini and Regular)

Interfacing Notes

As with many bag projects, the cutting and interfacing take the most time! I would recommend breaking up your making sessions into two parts: one for cutting and interfacing and another for sewing!

For this project I recommend a fusible woven interfacing (Pellon SF101 or equivalent) for the lining pieces and Emmaline Bags (EB Fuse – Medium) for the exterior pieces. In the pattern I do give options for a few different other interfacings, so check those out as well.

View A (Regular) interior

Zippers Used

This pattern is written for zipper by the yard (many of which come in nylon finish that look like metal!). As always, be sure to read through all the entire supplies list and instructions before sewing! 

If you’re using up some fixed-length zippers in your stash, grab a nylon coil handbag zipper that’s at least 1″ longer than the size listed in the pattern. Here are the fixed-length handbag nylon zippers I have in my shop.

Upcoming video sew-along and….

  • YES! I will be sharing a full video sew-along! I haven’t decided yet if it would be more fun to do it email style or just post to YouTube. Can you let me know if you have a preference? This will probably be a two or three part video to go over both views. I hope to have it ready starting mid-March!
  • I am very excited to show you more samples! I’ll be diving into the details of each of the samples that I’ve made with in-depth blog posts – so be sure to stop by my blog in the coming weeks for those!
  • For those of you who prefer paper patterns, I’m hoping to have those ready in about a month or so (end of March). Thank you for your enthusiasm & patience!

Click here to purchase the pattern!

Supplies for the Fieldstone Tote:

Available in my shop:

  • use any of the handbag zippers in my shop (pick a length that is at least 1″ longer than the listed length needed and cut to length)
  • 1”-wide webbing for Handles (1-3 yds)
  • waxed cord or leather zipper pulls for that special finishing touch!
  • 18″ leather handles/chicago screws if you’d prefer adding leather handles!
  • check your other favorite supply shops if you’re buying zipper by the yard!

    * Note: pattern assumes zipper tape width of 1 ¼”/3.2cm. Zipper by the yard/continuous zipper is most often found with nylon teeth. Nylon comes in colors that look like metal. Nylon is easy to sew through!

Can’t wait to share more! Thanks so much for your support! I’m SO excited to see what you make using this new Fieldstone Tote pattern!

View B (Regular) interior
Sewing

Feathers Quarry Tote & Pouch

A super sophisticated feathers Quarry Tote & Pouch set! This is the Quarry Tote and zippered pouch that I sewed up while filming my YouTube video. I love how it turned out.

Feathers Quarry Tote & Pouch

Chameleon

I’ve really liked how the Quarry can be a chameleon of a pattern! I feel like every fabric combination I’ve sewn up has a whole new look. That makes it fun! I have tried a two-color exterior, which was fun. And once I get some pictures, I’ll share a version I made that eliminates the front zippered pocket.

This canvas is from the Bloom fabric collection by Arounna Khounnoraj (@bookhou)for Kokka Fabrics. I love this canvas, it’s such a nice weight for bag making. The lining is waterproof canvas (Sullivan’s Trim Ivory 300d) that I’ve come to really enjoy using. Not having to use interfacing is super appealing, plus, with a busier exterior fabric, a solid really looks nice.

This is the Small size of the pattern, with the optional recessed zipper. I did the optional crossbody strap as well, which turns it into a really cute and useful everyday bag.

Just for fun be sure to check out the other versions of the Quarry Tote that I’ve sewn up:

Project Details:

Sewing

Pink Plover Handbag

Last summer I made a Plover Pouch in to a small handbag for my youngest daughter and never ended up sharing it here, and now my oldest wanted her own Pink Plover Handbag!

Pink Plover Handbag
Pink Plover Handbag

So jumping back to last summer, after looking at the designs she wanted, we decided that the Plover Pouch was the perfect starting point for a cute little handbag. I fully admit this was out of my comfort zone. I hadn’t worked with vinyl much, but was determined to see how it went on a small Plover! For hers I used black Mora Faux leather from Emmaline Bags that I had in my stash. But I never took pictures of it because she starting using it right away. I guess that’s a good thing! I kept meaning to make another, but I guess I got busy with other things.

see it on her shoulder? hehehe, only picture I have of it!

Pink this time!

So my oldest daughter asked me to make her one for a trip she was going on after Christmas, but she wanted hers in pink. I couldn’t say no!

I used EB-Fuse medium weight interfacing on the Mora and used waterproof canvas for the lining. I kept it simple with no inner pockets (next time I’d definitely add some for her). But I did manage to sneak in a cute patch from Matchy Matchy!

Pink Plover Handbag

I used some double sided 1/8″ wide tape (WAWAK Double-Sided Adhesive Basting Tape – 1/8″) which worked really well to keep things in place before sewing. Other than that, the Mora sews up beautifully. I did skip the topstitching around the main panel/gussets, felt like it wasn’t really needed there with the faux leather and I didn’t want to mess anything up at that point!

Strap Hardware

For the strap connection I used these strap anchors from Emmaline Bags. They worked great! I was nervous because of the layers at the gusset, but it worked great. For the other one I had made, I used some leather and d-rings and riveted it on to each end of the gusset. I like the look of that one, too!

She said she’ll untuck the one zipper end if closing it (while tucked in) becomes cumbersome. But for now it’s tucked in. I might mess around with trying a different zipper install method next time!

Project Details:

Pattern: Plover Pouch (Small size) with handle attached at gussets

Fabric:

Interfacing:

Hardware:

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