Patchouli Moon Studio: house applique

Monday, September 10, 2018

House Tote Bag & Fabric Folder

Welcome to My House is a fun blog hop brought to you by Carol of Just Let Me Quilt. Rules are simple Carol says, "Just put a House on it" whatever you make. Okay I can do that because I love houses.

I made a huge sized tote bag that I put a house on or rather more like a little village of houses on, lol! I have seen similar styles of these online and have wanted to make one, so this was the perfect opportunity to give it a go. Most of these little villages are completely round, so I made mine a bit different by adding a hill made of rickrack.

Here is my House tote bag. Well it's more of a Village than just a house! I added a black base to the tote and sewed scrappy batiks on the sides. The village is mostly all batik fabrics too.

A couple of trees and clouds were added as well.

A recessed zipper keeps everything inside this tote from coming out.

Open wide! A zippered pocket plus a slip pocket are inside the tote too.

I divided the slip pocket by sewing 2 pen pockets.

On the back of the tote bag I made a slip pocket using a heart orphan block and I used jumbo rickrack around it.

I used foam stabilizer so the tote stands up on it's own and a zippered top closure too. It is a super roomy tote. Not sure if I will keep or sell this one, since I have so many bags already, but I can't stop making them!!! It's my therapy along with making quilts, so even if it doesn't sell, it's cheaper than paying for therapy, right? LOL!!!

The next project I have been working on is writing a pattern of my own, a Patchwork Fabric Folder, that I am now selling on Craftsy.com The folder instructions show you how to make the folder using an orphan quilt block or sewing scraps to make a patchwork background and adding an applique over it. You could also just make the entire thing in one fabric too. So while I do not include any applique designs in the pattern itself, you could make any small quilt block that you want, pieced or appliqued for the front. I chose to make a small house block for the front of this folder.

My little applique house on the front of the Patchwork Fabric Folder I made.

If you would like to create your own Patchwork Fabric Folder, you can go to my Craftsy store to purchase the pattern. There are 2 pockets inside to hold papers and a pen. The folders make great gifts and you can choose to use an orphan block, add an embroidered block by hand or machine, fussy cut a fabric, or make all out of one fabric. So many possibilities to be creative and use up those fabric scraps in the process!

Psst: I have a free tutorial to show how to Sew a Scrappy Background on Craftsy too.

September 10

Words & Stitches

Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Melva Loves Scraps

Cynthia's Creating Ark

September 11