Abbey Bag

The Abbey Bag by Abbey Lane Quilts

A full day of sewing has yielded a whole crop of pincushion scrapbags.  Congrats to our students and teacher!  A great accessory for your sewing pleasure, you need several of these spaced out around your sewing, cutting, ironing and hand stitching areas.  Pattern available at Bear Patch!

A Great Read

If you are a bag lady, or have the secret dream of becoming a bag lady, this is a book for you!  It would even make a great gift for a bag lady friend!

written by Lisa Lam, published by David and Charles, available at Bear Patch

There is a total of 12 unique bag designs in this book with full-size paper patterns included.  If you have ever looked at books published by David and Charles, you will recognize their ability to include lots of detailed photos and diagrams.  Lisa is an accomplished bag designer and blog writer from England and this is her second book.  The first was titled The Bag Making Bible.  This new book includes lots and lots of basic information and details and tips on making your bags look like a real professional worked on it!  There are 36 pages of information like the pictures below:

Details regarding fabrics (including laminates), hardware, pattern reading, zippers, interfacings, etc. are explained.  It is hard cover with that great spiral binding.  The book sells for $27.99 and is worth every penny! 

Scrappy Sacks

  We have just added a new product to our shelves that we want to tell you about.  They are called Scrappy Sacks and are designed by Lola Hendrickson of The Quilt Company Patterns.  The samples are on display and are loaned to us by Lola.  The patterns for these come with the fabric kit---and best news of all, the fabric pieces are pre-cut!  What a perfect gift idea for a quilting friend or someone who wants to learn quilting.  They are small in size, just right for a little wallhanging or table topper.  The kit comes in a little fabric bag, so there's not even a need for gift wrap!

Samples of Scrappy Sacks

Some designs are available in more than one colorway

 

 We have 9 different designs on hand and should be adding to that, I believe.  The kit includes the binding strips (also cut to size!).  They are priced at $16.95.  These samples and kits have been a feature at Fabric Town, but sadly, that store is closing.  The good news is that you can still find your little Scrappy Sacks at Bear Patch.   And my apologies to the caller this morning who asked about purchasing them before I knew we had them!

Variations on a Theme

Here's a fun project that is a great example of ways to personalize a simple bag pattern.  Three people started out with the same fabric but ended up with different looks.  We each found a different coordinating striped fabric for the trim.  Some pockets were altered, straps were changed, etc.  

The source for the ideas came from the Label Crew by Sweetwater.  The Label Crew delivers a little pattern and a set of custom labels to my mailbox every month.  This bag was the most recent arrival.  These are some of the labels included:

This bag is made with a product called Soft and Stable, which gives it the ability to stand up on its own power.  Available at Bear Patch, of course!  It was pretty easy to sew with and gave good results.  You should give it a try!