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Bow-Tucks Tote

My how time flies!   I totally love my new totebag…which I made back in JULY!   I bought the glass button for it after teaching at Lowell, and here is is nearly November….. Well, better late than never!

Bow Tucks Tote

The pattern is by Penny Sturges of Quilts Illustrated (click on name for website homepage), and the pattern is listed here.  I think this must have been one of Penny’s first patterns, as the production value is–to be rather blunt–not so great…. the written instructions are on one page, the illustrations are on another….    Still, since I sew well I was able to make the pattern easily.  Because  the bag has fusible fleece on both the lining and the outside, it stands up beautifully, which I really like. I also really like how I customized the pockets… usually when I go to Houston / Festival I leave my regular purse at home, but this one is perfect…pocket for phone, for pencils, wide enough for wallet to go flat on the bottom, carry a small notebook AND the camera…. so it is going with me!

Tote inside

However, I would change a few things…. even my beloved work-horse Janome 6600 had trouble with the many thick layers on the sides where the pockets and lining (all with fleece) are stitched together. I think I’d trim the fleece so that it just barely misses getting stitched into the seams, at least on the pockets. One of the local quilters has made MANY of these, and she tried doing one with just a single layer of fleece, but we both agreed it was kinda floppy and we prefer the “stand-up-ish-ness” of the two layers.  Wonder if I can find a slightly lighter-weight fusible fleece somewhere?

And, I solved the problem of “embarrasing stuff spilling” by using an old round case, purchased in Gabon (central Africa) when we lived there in 1990.  All the little messy stuff goes in there…available but hidden.

Finally, the fact that you can tighten up or loosen the bows on the end means that when tied snugly to create the tuck, the opening on the top is really quite small…when on your shoulder it would be very difficult for someone to pick one’s pocketbook, so I don’t miss a zipper or flap at all.

4 Responses to “Bow-Tucks Tote”

  1. imquilternity Says:

    It’s lovely….great fabric/color selections too!

  2. Candy Says:

    I too love bags with lots of structure, and I’ve had horrible luck getting the fusible fleece to actually fuse to fabric, so this is what I do to all pieces of fabric that form the outside of any bag I make. I cut a piece of fusible QUILT batting 1.5 inches smaller than the piece I’m fusing it to. Then I sandwich the batting between the outside fabric and a layer of Craft-Fuse, which is a pretty stiff non-woven fusible interfacing I get by the bolt from JoAnns. The Craft Fuse is cut 0.5 inches smaller than the outer piece. Then I fuse the dickens out of the whole thing. The craft fuse gets caught in the 0.5″ seam allowance, so everything holds together if/when the fusible stuff starts to unfuse. THe batting helps give a nicer hand to the whole bag – craft fuse alone as the interfacing will tend to develop wrinkles over time. I also assemble the bag with a Denim/Topstitch size needle.
    It’s taken me quite a few bags to figure this all out, but I did figure it out and my bags have lots of structure!

    TTFN

  3. ahava Says:

    Love the bag.

  4. Judi Says:

    Cute bag, a friend of mine started using timtex inside of her purse in place of the fusible fleece. It looked great not sure how it would be after washing.