A New Tote for Houston
It started out so well-I was going to make a special tote for my upcoming trip to Houston for the Int’l Quilt Festival. Actually I decided I was going to make two: first a “muslin, since I’m not an accomplished tote maker, and then one which featured my quilting. It did NOT turn out the way I planned.
I did complete the “muslin”-in a mere 5 days-are simple totes supposed to take this long?? 
I guess it turned out okay, but I had much higher expectations and I took some detours along the way. 
This is where the trouble started. I got the basic body made and made the straps to attach.
Yikes, what happened? I hated these but didn’t realize it until I had them all inserted and attached. It’s looking pretty home made here.
Obviously my color choices were not the best. So I went to my stash and the best color I could find was in my silk dupioni. I’ve got way more silk in solid colors than I do cotton! The only problem was that of course, dupioni did what dupioni does best-shred.
I do like the final strap choice-I ended up with Radiance (cotton/silk) stacked under the dupioni.
I added two pockets on the inside and made a removeable firm bottom insert out of padded and covered plastic mesh.
I do not have enough time to make the tote that featured my quilting and I think I’ve run out of steam for making totes!
I’m excited to go to Houston and visit all those vendors, ponder all the quilts and enjoy meeting up with quilting friends from all over. It may be a week or more before I post again, but I’ll share photos of some of the amazing quilts!
I’ll be tweeting and posting on Face Book so sign up for my feeds and posts if you’re interested. Off to Houston!
I believe totes are supposed to be an easy afternoon project, not a life long event! Were you over-thinking the engineering? Or too much of a perfectionist? Relax a bit next time–it’s just a bag to haul things around!
What, you think I would over-think something? Giggle! Actually it surprised me-the first pair of straps took me hrs-folding, measuring, pressing, sewing, adding the rick rack, sewing to the body, etc. Then I had to figure out what fabric in my stash worked for the second pair and then do the same thing all over! This is my curse: nothing I do is ever simple, no matter how hard I try.
We really need to get together so I can teach you a little of the slap-dash approach!
Ageed, LOL! I could use some slap-dash and out-of-the-box thinking!
Have a wonderful time. Looking forward to your posts. PS. Making totes is more time consuming than it should be, but when you get it right, they are a wonderful thing to have. Sylvia
Thank you Sylvia! I am not even sure if I am going to use this tote, but I’m here in Houston and already overwhelmed!
I totaly agree they are more time consuming than they should be. But when they are done there great. Martha PS I sure enjoyed the class last week.
Thank you Martha-I enjoyed you as well! I guess it’s a reality check that these things take time if I want a good product.