Wonder Woman Tote Bag

I decided to start the year by making something useful and cute. I also wanted the satisfaction of finishing a project in a few days, so I made a tote bag. It was inspired from a jute bag given to me. It's the perfect size to carry stuff at home (I don't like putting stuff in my pocket). I'm now using the one I just made to house my portable air purifier and fan which I bring whenever we go out. I love it. 

For this project I wanted to start strong so I chose to use the Wonder Woman fabric I got from Spotlight. I matched it with pseudo demin fabric to bring out the colors. Figuring out the size of the pieces and piecing them together was easy. I couldn't find my stash of bag straps, so I ended up learning how to make bag straps for this project. You can also watch the video here.

Here's how I made the tote bag:

Materials:

fabric with design

solid color fabric (I used pseudo jeans)

fusible interfacing

wadding

backing fabric

thread

If making the strap:

solid color fabric

1.5" fusible interfacing (the thicker one for straps)

thread

Size: 8.5" x 4" x 9.5" (bag); 16" x 1.5" (strap)

Steps:

1. Measure and cut pieces of fabric.

2. Piece together fabric of main bag (top + middle + bottom + base). 

3. Iron the main bag and then add on fusible interfacing. Do the same for the sides of the bag. 

4. Sandwich with wadding and backing fabric. 

5. Stitch in the ditch the main bag. I used parallel lines for the sides. 

6. Assemble the main bag and the sides.

7. Bind the exposed parts. Start with the sides of the bag and then the top. 

8. Add the straps.

Gigantic Wonder Woman Quilt Blanket

I finished this Wonder Woman quilt blanket project in less than three weeks. I had this crazy idea in early November to make a quilt blanket for friends who were tying the know in early December. I first worked on a very simple design since I was pressed for time to finish the project.

Theme: Wonder Woman (bride's favorite character)
Colors: selected to highlight the design and be a happy color
Design: squares
Size: king (I'll probably never do this size again)

I had to travel quite a bit also in November so I only really got to start it two weekends before the wedding. I spent one weekend just cutting fabric. The next weekend piecing it together with a sewing machine. And brought it back to Manila from Singapore. Crammed like crazy by hand four days before the wedding. I finished it in the wee hours of the morning before the wedding.

My original plan was to use my Mom's sewing machine to quilt and add the binding. Lo and behold she sent me her 25+ year old 110-volts sewing machine! I ended up finishing everything by hand and here's how my thimble looked like by the time I finished -

I burned the midnight oil to finish the project because it was important for me to give something from my heart. The blanket was so huge it didn't fit the box I bought! I enlisted the help of friends to lay out the blanket in the couple's room during the reception. We snuck in the room and successfully surprised them when they went back to their room after the wedding. Here's a video of how we successfully snuck it in -

I have a super cute photo of the bride and groom rolling around the quilt, but they're very private people, so this photo should suffice :)

It's been almost six months now since I finished that project and I'm just slowly going back to my evening quilting hobby. I'm working on another quilt blanket project for another couple who had their church wedding almost a year ago now (yup! I haven't finished the project!). I hope to finish it before their first church wedding anniversary. In the meantime I'l share first the projects I made in the last two years.

Welcome back to my blog!