Almost* Perfect Quilted Tote...

Between the hailstones and torrential rain, I managed to get a few photos worthy of a grand reveal - hurrah!

So Oh Fransson's Perfect Quilted Totes pattern - it's a good one.  I realise that Elizabeth is re-writing all her old patterns, so you are not able to purchase this at present, but if she makes a few tweaks, which she no doubt will, I would recommend it to anyone who can stitch a straight line and likes someone else to work out all the fabric sizes so you don't have to - that'll be me then!

My only observations, which are nothing original I am sure, are that when you cut your QAYG pieces, all that stitching will shrink up the panels a bit, so you will never be able to cut (or stretch) the panels to the stated size.  I just trimmed everything down by 1/4" and it worked out fine.

And as far as the written pattern goes, all instructions and photos are clear and straightforward however, this is a pattern for both tall and wide versions.  The instructions for the wide version continually refer back to the instructions for the tall one, which got a bit frustrating scrolling up and down; but if I had been making the tall version, it would have been perfect.  In an age of cut and paste I cannot see why the instructions couldn't have been duplicated on the pdf version.

When I first topstitched around the top of the tote at the end, I just went for a bog-standard 1/4" all round, but this actually looked a bit ropey because of the quilting already there.  So I unpicked, then re-stitched over the top row of quilting, and as this happened to go right through the magnetic snap, I stopped and started an inch either side and it now looks a tonne neater.  I also opted to hand stitch the facing down on the inside, almost as satisfying as quilt binding, especially as I was watching the Olympics at the time.

So all in all I would recommend the pattern, and love the finished tote.

I used a bundle of scraps, some precious gifted Heather Ross, Melody Miller and Joel Dewberry; so I will be linking this with Sarah at the end of the month.  Yarn Dyed Essex Linen in black for the outside, Pearl bracelets for the lining, and touches of orange Architextures crosshatch for the pockets.  The pattern calls for utility fabric to back the QAYG panels, not entirely sure what that is, but I used up some home dec I received from Terry's Fabrics which had a pattern so huge I couldn't find a better use for it, and it was spot on.  I pieced and quilted the whole shebang in Aurifil 40wt 2021 for a change; the slightly heavier weight worked really well and gives all the quilting that little bit more definition.

Oh and the almost* , a 1/4" seam mis-match on one of the side panel bottom sections.  The top matched perfectly, and without a lot of ripping it wasn't going to be easily fixed by the time I noticed, so I will live with it, I may just stick a badge over it!