Upcycling Topic – Patchwork Bag -

Hello everyone,
yayyyyy, he/she is finished, the shopping bag, aka patchwork bag... but there’s one thing I have to say right
up front: patchwork is not going to become my hobby.
This blog post quilt-as-you-go methodinspired me to give it a try . But since I didn’t have any volume fleece, just
a small piece of regular interfacing, I thought it didn’t have to be
quilted, and that turned into this little round doily.

That still worked very well, and now I wanted to know... so it occurred to me to dare making a shopping bag
with a zipper. But for testing I didn’t want to spend any money
on new fabric and possible accessories, because fabric scraps are
perfectly enough for that... for quite some time now I’ve been using up scraps that
I hadn’t been able to part with so far, no matter what for, and
I’ve actually almost managed it.

As the base, I took 2 leg pieces from a pair of jeans, cut generously, and simply
got started. The little pocket on the front is the back pocket of the jeans, cut out generously, left open at the top, and now I have a double pocket.
Since I only had a rough plan in my head, I adjusted everything piece by piece, thought about how big or long the
parts should/needed to be, how and what would go together. But that meant
for me always going back and forth: sewing on one piece, putting together and sewing the next piece,
attaching it to the denim fabric.... I should also mention:
I do one thing in the living room, the other in the
small room next door.
But what really annoyed me were all the lint/threads/fluff.... grrrrr!!
And here are a few pictures...
In the beginning there was... of course... the material :-)

Front, back


Et voilà, it’s finished... even with an inside pocket *proud look


Since I needed a few things from buttinette anyway, half a meter
of volume fleece also went into the shopping cart. Then I’ll try out quilting.... it will be enough for a
small pouch and at least 1 cushion cover. In a
post by Akela I discovered how to use an edge guide
... I think that will make quilting easier for me
than all this “patching” :-)
And the moral of the story... patchwork is not for Karen, as beautiful as I think it is,
at most maybe a small blanket again sometime.
Thanks for reading and looking.

Even if it might not be your style, it looks great—you did a great job.

Your patchwork projects turned out really well, Karen—you have every reason to be proud of them.

When I got caught up in patchwork fever, I sewed these quilts almost one after another and gave them to my family. :-) I even did some English paper piecing, but unfortunately I can’t do that anymore—my hands just won’t cooperate.

Best wishes, Inge

Your projects turned out great. The bag is awesome.

I’m also a beginner right now with the “quilt-as-you-go” method and I’ve gotten a little hooked on it.

  I’ve already sewn three pot holders, and next up is a wall hanging.

But to make a bag as great as the one you sewed, I still need to practice.

Now I’m going to check out the blog post—thanks for sharing! 



 for your praise; it always warms the heart and soul. Yes, that’s how it is with the fever—it looks different for everyone... ooh, a wall hanging, that’s sure to be lovely; I’m already looking forward to seeing it.
Sleep well later and sweet dreams!

Dear Karen,
your patchwork projects have turned out really well! But of course, everyone’s path to getting there is different. Some people enjoy this kind of detailed work, others don’t.

If you end up saying, “This isn’t for me,” then at least you gave it a thorough try and can check it off your list. After all, there are so many other things in the creative world just waiting to be tried out.

Thank you so much for writing this post. It shows bloggers that their posts are being read and maybe even put into practice. And Inge (Akela) is also happy that the advice she gives in the forum is being read.

I hope you continue to enjoy all your creative ideas.
Best regards, Ina

 Thanks to you too, Ina, for your praise....
...yes, that’s exactly how it is—you have to try things out to be able to say yes or no; after all, you don’t want to lose the fun of it.