Block Exchange Tote Bag

Every year I look forward to spending a day or more with sewing friends that I have made through the Treadleon group of treadle and hand crank sewing machine enthusiasts. In the past we have met in Lake City, home of Cindy Peters, one of the founders of Treadleon and a dynamite sewer.  Cindy died in the winter of 2019 but her dream didn't as we have continued to meet in Lake City every September for the River Rats TOGA, a gathering of treadle and hand crank owners/buyers/sellers and sewers. We have only had one TOGA without Cindy before COVID19 invaded our lives and this September we knew gathering in person was not going to be a good idea. What should we do? It turned out we could have a virtual conference with plenty of Zoom sessions for learning skills and just gathering to share our current projects. 

It was a great success! Mea is our leader in this adventure but there were so many helpers in getting sessions together as well as the annual BLOCK EXCHANGE. I agonized over my blocks as I wrote about in the post Card Tricks. Imagine my surprise when I opened my package of quilt blocks that were resent via Denise, the organizer, to find someone else had also chosen the design called Card Tricks but in very different colorways. Each block was so unique and well done it was just fun to look at all of them. But what was I going to do with them? With only 15 it was going to be a pretty small quilt, I have no room for wall hangings, I could collect them and at a future date make up a larger sized quilt, or I could....make a tote bag. I had so much fun designing it and getting it done in a day that I wanted to show it off on out last free-for-all Zoom session. It was a big hit so thanks to all who gave such wonderful praise and affirmed I wasn't out of my mind to make a bag instead of a quilt. I was asked to share how I made it and I told them I would write up a blog post to show some of the steps. Here's the end result:

Quilt block tote bag: Virtual River Rats TOGA 2020

To begin with, I spread out all of the blocks and grouped by colors. Then I checked my fabric stash and grabbed what was right on top (why not?) to see if it would pull all of it together:

Side, front, lid

Back, other side

I got busy sewing the sashing onto the blocks and making a large tubular casing with them all sewn together, adding a rectangular bottom, sewing the lining, and then sitting back to determine what I needed to do to give it shaping. To start, I made an insert in the bottom that would give a nice "floor" to the bag that would also be washable. Plastic canvas that was popular a few decades ago can still be found in stores but I have a stash from my aunt just begging to be used. It wasn't long enough so I added a section on and fused it with a hot iron, protecting all of it with an old t-shirt. As it turned out, it fused onto the cotton shirt so I just cut it to size and used it as one of the layers. I made a pocket for the right sized plastic canvas out of the lining fabric, stuffed it into the pocket like a pillow in a pillow case, and sewed it up. Down into the bottom of the bag it went and even was sewn into place so there would be no shifting. The lining went in next and I pulled it up to the top, folded both the outside and lining edges in for a finished look but it just flopped there. Now I remembered a hint from another blog about making a wire rimmed top but I had never done something like that before and the materials that were used in the blog post were ones I didn't have on hand. Well, that wasn't going to stop me! Here's what I came up with:

Wire coat hangers

Using only 2 hangers, I cut off the hook on one and the hook and one arm on the other one so there was very little shape shifting needing to be done. I laid them down as in the photo above and wrapped the cut/loose edges with electrical tape and then electrical shrink wrap used in wiring. The heat shrink tubing was 1/4" - 1/8" size and I added it before assembly so I could slide it into place after wrapping the corners. Applying a bit of heat from a candle tightens up the plastic and creates a bond of sorts. Now I could insert this frame into the top of the bag:

Frame ready to be inserted

Frame stitched into top: note 2 rows of stitching

Installing it was quite the process, deciding to create a pocket for it by stitching down about 3/4" from the top folded edge, inserting the frame, using clips to hold in place, and the sewing the top edge to hold it all in. Using my Pfaff hand crank, it wasn't too difficult until the corners. All but one corner worked well but the final corner just could not fit under the arm of the machine: that will need some hand stitching.

Before I added the framework I did sew the top or lid onto the backside and it became a part of the top structure but was not in the way at all. I liked how it was turning out but realized I hadn't used one of my quilt blocks since there was only room for 14 and we were a group of 15. But I still needed handles. I check my project bin and there were five of my blocks that didn't get sent or used:

Card Trick blocks sewn together for straps

When sewn together, cut down the center, pressed, and filled with nylon webbing:

Straps ready for sewing

 I now had 2 straps to sew onto the top edge. This proved to be difficult for the Pfaff and some of the stitching has pulled out so I need to go back and hand sew into place. I'm considering adding a bit of embroidery on the outside of the bag where the straps are sewn to cover up the stitches but we shall see. Here are all of the sides of the finished tote bag:

Lid

Side

Side

Back

Front

Such a fun project that only took a day, or less, and that included the time to figure out how to engineer it all together. Next one will be much easier. Next one? We are talking about have a Mid-Winter TOGA and it just might have another quilt block exchange. Now you have another idea of what to make with your blocks!

Rainy Days

 As the days grow shorter, cooler, and more rain days arrive, I decided I needed to make a raincoat. Actually, I bought a raincoat pattern and just wanted to try it out:

Amy Butler Rainy Days raincoat pattern

In my stash of fabrics I had a vinyl coated print, like the ones you can buy on a roll at Walmart or Hobby Lobby, and it kept calling to me. Matching it up with something for lining was a bit tricky if I wasn't going to buy something new but there was a pink cotton that would work. All cut out and in a stack of projects, it finally came up as the next one and I tackled it over a couple cool days last week. At first all was fine and I liked the pattern with decent instructions but not as many illustrations as I'm used to. They has you make the lining as you went through all of the coat steps so when you were done with the coat you were simultaneously done with the lining and just had to sew them together. I tried the coat on without the lining and it was too tight so once the lining was added it would not be wearable. Solution? I could reduce the size of the side and sleeve seam to give another inch all around (that's a quarter inch on each side of the seam times four) and that seemed better but not great. I set it down and went to bed, settling on giving the coat away when done. Tackling it the next day by inserting the lining, hemming, adding buttons, and a final press (the holes in the vinyl did shrink when using a warm iron and pressing cloth over the vinyl), I tried it on without long sleeves underneath

On my way out to face the rain?

and it fit! Get out! I'm not sure quite how that happened but finishing it up gave it more room and made it wearable. I would make it again but in a larger size and might reconsider using vinyl fabric: it's somewhat stiff and HOT to wear but it will keep the rain off. I also adjusted the hood since most of them are just huge on my head so the custom fit made it nice, too. Live and learn so this might just be my muslin (trial) and I'll use better fabric for the next one. 

Which sewing machine did I use? Actually, there were two machines set up for this one with a Kenmore getting a spa treatment that needed to be run for awhile. It had the cream thread for the vinyl and then I set up my Viking D1 with pink for the lining. As I worked through the steps for the coat I could just do the lining at the same time without having to re-thread over and over again. I did use the buttonhole stitch using the D1 and it handled the slippery fabric just fine. Check out these vintage buttons

Pale yellow transparent buttons

I've also been working on posting more sewing machines for sale and getting the garage work finished up. I bought a Bernina 801 that needed a motor swap and although that worked out fine now there are problems with stitch width. I'll keep working on it and post the results when I'm finished.

School has started up here and we are stopping over to monitor grandchildren on the days they are working from home, just a few hours in the afternoon is our plan. That also gives me a chance to make some leggings and tops for a granddaughter since I'm over there frequently for trying things on. Stay tuned as sewing machines are repaired and items are getting cranked out on those same machines; I know of few better ways to spend my time!

Card Tricks

 The River Rats TOGA, virtual this year, is coming up September 18-20 with lots of workshops, gathering times for show-and-tell, and the annual quilt block exchange. I'm all signed up for most of the day on Saturday and looking forward to seeing everyone again even if we have to use Zoom to do so. This is my first year to join the quilt block exchange, not having had the time before I retired, especially since this is the start of the school year and there was just no extra time pre-retirement. The numbers kept changing and it made a difference if I need to make 5, 15, or 25 blocks but I finally settled down with around a dozen people signed up. Here's how this exchange goes: you make up a pieced quilt block for each person signed up, according to the guidelines, and send them to the "hostess" who then divides them up among the participants and sends new blocks them back to each one. There are 16 people signed up this year so I made 16 blocks that were 6.5" and in a pattern and color of my choice. Usually we go to the TOGA in person and just lay out the blocks and then walk around and take one from each stack but this year we will do this by mail. Here's my stack all done:

Card Trick pattern, 16 blocks

I know, this doesn't look like much but it IS a big deal to get them all done and looking good. First off, I tried using an online tutorial but it was a disaster with the sizing all wrong and much to much struggle. I finally came up with my own plan and kept making adjustments until they came out okay. As you can see, not only are my points not perfect, I had trouble making them so the edge points were a quarter inch from the outside edge. That way when sewn together the point won't get cut off. It was a struggle and hope I don't embarrass myself too much but I am a beginning quilter! Then there is the ordeal of signing each block so everyone knows who made what (yes, now the whole world can see who is a good quilter and who still needs practice). I had a Micron pen but it was dry so I finally found one a Hobby Lobby. Here's my practice block, trying to figure out how to put all of the information in a tiny space:

Who am I anyway?

I think it will be fun to collect these blocks and maybe make them up into a River Rats TOGA quilt but right now I'm just collecting. Oh, by the way, since this is a group for treadle and hand crank sewing machines, I had to use such machines and settled on using my Singer 66 Red Eye in her beautiful parlor cabinet:

Singer 66 Red Eye in parlor cabinet

Practice makes perfect and this was just the practice I needed.

What else have I been up to? I'm into restoration now with a Husky Lock 936 serger that's getting parts swapped out, buying a Baby Lock that truly is for parts (I had high hopes there, too), refinishing bentwood cases and a cabinet out in the garage, and adding bases to two wood box bottoms with the help of my son-in-law. Photos might follow in a later post. And today I'm going to pick up a Bernina 807 that needs a motor swap but I have the parts and hope I can do it. Cooler weather this week so I need to get the garage projects done before winter. This year it looks like I won't have any cabinets in the garage over winter and will have those projects done way ahead of the first freeze. That's depending on me not bringing home any more cabinets but my will power is firmly in place. Let's see how I do...