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Marie’s bag, or Art-to-Go–and Happy B-day!
I collect Geminis. My hubby is one. My beloved sister-in-law, who is like a sister to me, was born on the exact same date as hubby seven years earlier. Best friend Marie was born in between the two (in years), but two days later. It’s odd how that happens…. I have a friend who collects Libras… has at least four good friends whose birthdays are all early October! Anyway, that means May is time to shop and sew. And today it is time to join in a rousing chorus of Hippo Birdie, Two Ewes! for Miss Marie, aka zquilts!
Last year when we went on the Disney cruise, I put together a small travelling pouch of art supplies to keep me content (the magenta LL Bean pencil case above): a notebook (mine was a Moleskine, but any one you like will do), a small set of Staedler pencils in a box (the tin keeps the points sharp and from soiling the bag), an eraser, a washable glue stick (for gluing in boarding passes, ticket stubs and such), a pencil sharpener, blunt-tipped (as in OK to take on planes) kindergarten scissors, some watercolor pencils (colored pencils that, when wet, turn into a watercolor), and a Japanese water-brush — just to the right of the pencil case, with an aqua handle (next to the bag it came in), with the Mars Lumograph pencil box to the right of it. Instead of taking out the pencils, tho, I put my mini-box of Caran d’Ache Neocolor II water-soluble crayon-pastels (same idea as the pencils, different form) in the photo.
These water brushes are totally cool gizies: the tip is like a felt-tip brush pen or a small sumi brush, but the barrel is a plastic tube that you can fill with water (or probably some inks or watercolors, depending on the size of the pigment particles). I bought mine at the local art store, but you can get them online at Dick Blick here. They can be used not only with the water color pencils, but also regular watercolors and things like the Neopaque II pastel crayons. Jane Davila (who has a great new book out, co-authored with Elin Waterston, which I’ll review soon) did an article recently (past two months or so) in Quilting Arts magazine about using the Neopaque IIs on cloth.
SO…. I made Marie a birthday package for art-on-the-go. 
My bag last summer was a perfectly serviceable pencil case, but I couldn’t send wonderful Marie a plain ol’ pencil case! So I whipped out some whimsical cat fabric (she loves cats at least as much as I do!) and whipped up a quick and easy bag. Of course, why make just one? So I made two… one for her, one for me. Since her’s is intended to be a travelling bag, it is narrower on the base so it will pack flat inside a suitcase or tote. Mine has a wider base since I decided I’d use mine to tote show-and-tell stuff to classes (lots nicer and more quilty than a ziploc baggie!).
I’ve been impressed with how easy Joan Hawley makes it for people to sew bags–no wonder her line of Lazy Girl Patterns is so successful! So I thought I’d learn from her and try to make something simple (for once!). I cut rectangles of two fabrics and batting. Placed fabric right sides together, and batting on the side with the outside fabric. Sew about 1/4″ around all edges, leaving an opening on what will be one of the top/zipper edge for turning. Turn right side out. Hand-sew (!) or fuse (yep) opening closed. Quilt quickly and simply…in this case, in matching blue thread amongst the kitties…think of an unwinding ball of yarn; do not quilt withing 1/2 inch of edges.
Sew a zipper to one side, topstitch. Sew the other side of the zipper to the other edge, topstitch. Sew side seams using 1/2″ with seam allowances opening to the outside (so the contrasting lining fabric shows. Decided how wide you want the base; align side seam with imaginary center-bottom line, make a triangle and sew across it. By leaving the flaps and seams on the outside of the bag, it is cute, shows of the lining fabric, and I think the flaps give the base a little bit more stability. Sew tabs on either end of the zipper (my zippers were too long and needed to be shortened). I LOVE scraps of ultrasuede for this sort of thing…sturdy, don’t soil as quickly as cottons, and raw edges are very tidy, but you can also wrap with cotton, too. Here’s what the end of the bag looks like:
Fill bag with wrapped goodies and send it off! Or fill bag with goodies and use! Here is the inside of the bag, minus the goodies:
June 1st, 2007 at 5:52 am
I liked seeing your collection of traveling art supplies, and I loved the little bags you made to put things in! I’m wrestling with what to bring on my vacation, and how to pack it. You gave me some great ideas…
June 3rd, 2007 at 5:11 am
I am a Gemini too – can I have one please?