November is ByAnnie Bag month for Island Batik Ambassadors. I admit that I have a small stash of ByAnnie bag patterns, but I had never actually made one. I have other bag patterns along with a book on bags, too, and have always admired them from afar. Bags always seemed too challenging and complicated to me. So finally, November's challenge was going to make me dive into making a bag. Let me take you on by ByAnnie bag making journey.
I chose to make a large Snapshot Foldover bag. Byannie graciously sent me all of the supplies needed: magnets, zipper, By Annie's Soft & Stable, fusible interfacing, polypro strapping, D-rings, wide mouth slider, swivel hooks, and foldover elastic.
Island Batik sent me beautiful batiks from the Celtic Fields collection by Kathy Engle.
I used Aurifil 50 weight thread (#4026 and #2920) and Schmetz needles. After breaking my needle a few times, I switched to a Jeans needle, which was much stronger for this project.
The Byannie pattern is broken down by sections:
I. Cut
II. Prepare Components
III. Prepare Straps
VI. Prepare Pockets
V. Prepare Body and Assemble Bag
There is also an add-on video available for this pattern. The videos include:
Introducing Snapshot: Live with Annie
Snapshot: An Introduction
Snapshot: A Closer Look
Add-on Video Intro
Bird's Eye View
Attach Outer Welt Pocket to Body Back
Attach Zipper to Body Back
Make Boxes Bottoms
The pattern includes small square labels to clip to your fabric and interfacing pieces once they are cut. It is very important to use them!
Another very important step is to highlight your measurements, if there is more than one size bag to make in the pattern. Snapshot has a small and a large size. The large size measurements are in parenthesis. Two items that are very helpful to have on hand are Frixion pens and lots of Wonderclips by Clover.
Below are some photos of the different steps. I admit it was not easy for me and making a bag is very time consuming. There were moments of frustration for me, but I successfully finished. I always tell my new students that they should not quit; they should finish their project and then they can decide whether or not they like that technique. I think the same rule should apply with other techniques as well. Otherwise how would we ever grow and learn new things?
I think I will give this bag to my mom who loves the color green; she will not even notice any mistakes! She will think the Snapshot bag is the best thing ever!
As for bags in my future....like I said, I do admire those Byannie patterns and I have about 6 patterns or so. I see all of the finished Byannie bags in the quilt shops. I think they make amazing gifts which would certainly be appreciated. I think making one of the travel bags in a favorite fabric and carrying it onto the airplane like you are so cool, would be really fun! For my next bag, I would like to take a class and get some assistance along the way.
I am excited to see all of the bags being finished by the other Ambassadors. Be sure to head over to the Island Batik blog, because each week in November they will be having some fantastic giveaways using rafflecopter!
These shops are carrying Celtic Fields, so head on over there and get it, before it's all gone!
Don't forget to check out the other Island Batik Ambassadors and see what Byannie bag they made this month.
Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs Renee Atkinson ~ Pink Tulip Quilting Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany
Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts Reed Johnson ~ Blue Bear Quilts Victoria Johnson ~ Forever Quilting for You Randi Jones ~ Randi’s Roost
Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood Denise Looney ~ Quiltery – For The Love Of Geese Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack Made Mine
Anorina Morris ~ sameliasmum.com Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique Claudia Porter ~ Create with Claudia Lana Russel ~ Lana Quilts
Elita Sharpe ~ Busy Needle Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail Sandra Starley ~ Textile Time Travels Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt