Artisan Blog Tour, Day 3 - Bring on the Bags, and a Giveaway!!

Hi, all!

Welcome to the third (and final!) day of my part of the Artisan blog tour!  It's been a wild ride, helping FreeSpirit Fabrics launch Kaffe Fassett's newest line (available in stores in November - hooray!)  Isn't that picture at the top beautiful?  Brandon Mably posted that on Facebook yesterday from Quilt Market, and I couldn't resist using it.  All those gorgeous fabrics!!

I've shown you a table cover, a quilt, a couple of pillows, and a maker mat - now it's time to show you the bags I made using some of the Artisan fabrics!

First up is this fun, bright bag!  The outside of the bag is made using three different batiks in the Sunny color way.  The chevron print is so cool, with its shading of colors across the fabric.  And the wide stripes I used for the straps were just perfect!  I'm kind of fond of the checkerboard batik, too - the geometric feel of these three work well together.  

I added the dark blue ties on the sides to bring out the blue in the center.  It's lined with a fabulous big circle print from the Artisan line, and the pockets inside (you can never have too many pockets!) are the same circle print in a different color way.  The pattern for this bag is McCall's M6905.

But the next bag is my absolute favorite!  I have to admit, once I finished this one, I put it on my shoulder and I've used it ever since.  I'm going to be a sad, sad girl when it wears out!!

For this bag, I used a free pattern from Lecien Fabrics called the 1 Yard Magic Hobo Bag that I found on this blog.  Using the pattern as a starting point, I made some adjustments to create this eclectic bag.  I cut four different pieces of fabric to create the outside of the bag, creating a quartered piece.  I used a piece of the Artisan ikat fabrics, the plaid, for the interior.  I also added a piece of interlining, a fairly stiff loose-weave canvas, and sewed the three pieces together, turning it right-side out and pressing well.  I then treated it as a solid piece of fabric for the rest of the construction process.  I did make the straps wider, too, and added interlining to those too.  But here's my favorite part...

Look at that fabulous tassel!!  I was digging through a box of "stuff" in my studio one day and came across the leather tassel, one I had salvaged from a purse years and years ago.  Dug a little more and found a box of great beads in colors similar to those in the purse fabrics, so I threaded them onto the leather strips!  Now I jingle when I walk!  There are woven leather buttons on top that I can loop the tassel around if I want to secure the purse closed, too.  But usually just the weight of the tassel is enough to keep it from gapping open.

Isn't it gorgeous?  And it will hold a ridiculous amount of stuff if I need it to, but not look overly large if I'm down to a bare minimum in it.  This was a super simple pattern to make, even with the changes I made, and would make a great gift.  I highly recommend it!

So that's the end of my projects to help launch Kaffe Fassett's new fabric line, Artisan!  Although I don't think it will be the end of my sewing with them - the fabrics are so pretty, you'll see them cropping up in projects in the future!  Watch for it to come out in the fabric shops sometime in November.....

And now for the last giveaway!  I have one more jelly roll of Kaffe Fassett shot cottons for one lucky commenter...

...and, since it's still my birthday weekend, let's throw in one more giveaway....

...I'll draw one final winner and send her this bag!  Here's how you enter:

1.

Leave a comment and confess - are you an early Christmas decorator, a "not-until-after-Thanksgiving" decorator, a "Christmas-Eve-and-I'm-still-putting-stuff-out" decorator, or a "bah-humbug, who needs decorations" decorator?

2.

If you're a follower of this blog, leave another comment for an extra entry!

That's it, easy-peasy!  You can enter the giveaway until noon on Thursday, November 3rd, and I'll announce all the winners on Friday, November 4th.  And remember, there's still time to enter the giveaway from Friday and Saturday!  Entering all three giveaways gives you a chance at one of six different prizes - don't miss out!

Thank you so much for joining me for this blog tour - it's been a blast reading all your comments and has really added to my joy in being part of it all!

Hugs!

Sarah