Tuesday 23 October 2012

Crazes...

Crazes sweep through online quilting and sewing every now and again and it is hard to resist being swept along wit Low Volume, Farmers Wife blocks, Washi dresses and recently Weekender bags.  I found these on Flickr, a huge variety of bags (click links below to take each bag to its maker) all using the same Amy Butler pattern.
A lot of the appeal is the challenge of mastering the pattern, whether it is the piping or the zipper or the interfacing.  I am tempted, although I think it is some of the fabrics and quilt as you go effects that really pull me in. The new Echino Decoro 2012 fabric features in a couple of the mosaic bags and it is especially suited for bag making being a little heavier linen/cotton blend and the saturated colour makes the bag easy to find and hard to leave behind.
I do love the boldness of Echino prints, the deer and frames are my favourites, but whichever you choose they all seem to work together.

Eternal maker is stocking a big selection of these prints as well as essential bag hardwarebag base feet  bag handlesmagnetic clips, interfacing, in fact all that you will need for a weekender or many other bags,  There is a "Great Getaway Bag' in Lisa Lam's Bag Making Bible, and I may use that to make a capacious sturdy bag- slightly bigger than a Weekender.  It also uses fusible fleece as the main stabiliser and I find that a failsafe product- unlike blogger which is playing silly bugg*rs with me at the moment.
If like Marci you have made the Weekender and have any tips, do share!

sib blog

23 comments:

  1. You made my day! I made the black Echino Buck Weekender. Making the bag is no small task it is not as bad as the rumors. My advice to those wanting to make a weekender... sew slowly, use a heavy duty needle (denim), and put feet on the bottom.

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    1. Thankyou for that Marci- I will edit the post to see if people can share more tips.

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  2. I'm so there with you Kerry the weekender bag has been tugging at me after seeing so many wonderful ones popping up everywhere. I might just have to buy the pattern as a little reward for myself. You know after I check off the important stuff from the 'to do' list of course.

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  3. I'm in love with that bag, but I'm still intimidated by it. One day I will conquer my fear and attempt to make it.

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  4. The QAYG method suckered me in to having a go at this bag. Although I sort of went off the boiler after I'd cut the fabric from duckcloth. This is a good reminder to get on with it. Although I'm slightly concerned it's not *that* big so I may go to a lot of effort for a bag I can't practically use for a night away!

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  5. Beautiful bags! I may have to break down and finally buy some of the deer w/glasses fabric. Now I just have to decide whether to get pink or gray...

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  6. I'm also planning to sew me a weekender bag, before FQ retreat next year (I have no idea which fabrics yet, I'm waiting for some interesting collection to show up).

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  7. i want a new travel bag but not the weekender, I just don't like having the same as everyone. I've been making myself a Pinterest board to collect ideas, so thanks for the tip about Lisa's book. And I think I would sell a kidney to get some of the deer in specs echino!

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  8. I want a weekender but no way could I sew it, I was looking at the bag making bible earlier today, is it good ?

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  9. I'm actually in the process of making this bag at the moment! I also started a blog hop called the Long Weekend with a friend of mine that is based on Amy Butler's Weekender Bag. You can find more info here: http://www.lorihdesigns.com/p/the-long-weekend-event.html

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  10. I am so tempted, but so busy and not actually going anywhere!

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  11. The pattern is on its way here.. I ordered a few days back! Just like you seeing so many weekender, I can't wait to make one myself! It would a great bag for a weekend get away.. Are you making one?

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  12. Believe it or not, my friend Lori and I are hosting a Weekender blog hop next month called The Long Weekend -- we were pretty excited about all the new versions out there right now too. You can read about it on my blog at http://www.fabricmutt.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-long-weekend-blog-hop.html. I hope you'll stop by!

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  13. I am definitely tempted to try it after seeing so many fantastic ones recently.

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  14. Go on, do it, you know you want to ;o)

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  15. How awesome to see my Bella Weekender in your mosaic! My blog was one of the first stops on The Long Weekend blog hop & I posted several suggestions about the bag this morning. Yes, it IS challenging - but totally worth the effort!!

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  16. I have never made a bag but would love to be able to. Any suggestions of something easy to start with. The only sewing I have done before is patchwork and quilting.
    Thanks!
    Deborah

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    1. In my tutorials and patterns page there is a simple mini tote, and a larger one at Sew-Ichgio. Anna at Noodlehead has some great free tutorials for bags and wallets

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  17. Hi Kerry! You have gathered here a great collection! Those weekenders do look so wonderful! x Teje

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  18. I just bought the pattern, it will fit my smaller, portable sewing machine...but I am stumped about best scraps...those echino are tempting!

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  19. Congratulations.Those bags are absolutely fabulous!!

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  20. I made a weekender a few years ago now, in Amy Butler home dec fabric. I have to say the pattern is so well-written - it's hard to go wrong as the instructions are so clear. All the techniques like piping, inserting zips etc are talked through in some detail.

    Of course, now I've seen all those lovely patchwork weekenders I'd really like to make another!

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  21. i was glad i finally made one (thanks for including mine in your mosaic)! i was terrified, because i really don't have much bag-making experience. especially once you throw in the zipper, the piping, and all that interfacing! but i did it, with only a few tears. and trust me, if i can do it, i'm pretty sure anyone (given they have intermediate sewing skills) could do it. don't get me wrong, i won't be making another one anytime soon. but i'm not totally turned off from making another one in the future. :)

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