Appleton Dance

by Linda Theil  I bought Lori Holt's "Calico Home Decor Zippy Bags 2 Project Panel" in 2021 because the panel was printed on canvas instead of quilt cotton, and I thought that was an interesting innovation.  Although the idea of project panels was not new -- books, aprons, oven mitts, and placemat panels had been available for decades -- but bags! That was new and interesting, especially on a heavier substrate.  I  recently pulled the Lori Holt panel from my stash when I was looking for inspiration for a welcome gift, but I thought the "Calico" panel was much too elaborate for the simple zipped pouch as featured on the panel, so I searched for a pattern that would make the most of the intricate designs.  It turned out the large bags on the panel perfectly fit the front and back pattern pieces of the large-sized "Plover Pouch" by Noodlehead; and I could make a "Calico" duo by using the small-sized bag from the panel for a coordinating baby ...

by Linda Theil Our little May-the-Fourth birthday girl has forsaken penguins for bees, so I made her a sleep-over bag using a 2020 fabric panel titled "Bee Grateful" by Deb Strain for Moda. I have made this Spencer-Ogg design from the  "Escape Pod Travel Collection"  several times. The "Weekend Bag" measures 16x11x6-inches and is meant to meet airline carry-on requirements.I think it makes a nice overnight bag. With a sturdy interfacing the weekend bag has a solid structure; but I was interested in trying iron-on fleece as interfacing throughout the bag this time. The softer underpinning gives the bag a shabby, slouchy look that I think goes well with the insoucient bees. To accent the silvery grays in the bee panel, I chose a silver zipper and hardware. The pattern features optional non-woven accents such as zip ends, zip pulls, a bottom gusset-overlay, decorative zip placket overlays, and a front pocket overlay strip. For these elements I used a rich hon...

by Linda Theil Knowing my predilection for product advertising bags, a good friend gifted me with the packaging from her Michigan-made, American Spoon pancake mix. Following in the footsteps of other repurposed packaging -- like the slings I made of Starbucks coffee bags -- I made a Kandou "Mini-traveler Sling" out of the American Spoon canvas bag my friend gave me. With the addition of cuts from the "Apple Festival" collection by Jane Shasky for Henry Glass & Co. I widened the American Spoon bag enough to create the front and back of my mini-sling. I highlighted the advertising on the front and back of the American Spoon bag by making the front zippered pocket zip in a straight line across the top of the bag front instead of diagonally as shown in the pattern. I used the back of the American Spoon bag to make a large slip-pocket on the back of the sling, instead of creating the vertical, zippered pocket described in the pattern. I used an ivory cotton from m...

by Linda Theil Tina Sharapova of JTS Design posted her textile labyrinth, fidget-toys on the Labyrinth Makers FaceBook forum recently, inciting me to try my hand at making my own finger labyrinth out of fabric. My first venture is an 8-inch-square, log-cabin-pieced design with a three-cycle labyrinth stitched over the piecework, and a 5/8-inch button sewed inside to act as a game piece. Log-cabin-mouse fidget, front Log-cabin-mouse fidget, back To make your own three-cycle labyrinth fidget, you will need: Materials for three-cycle labyrinth fidget: 8-inch square cotton for backing 8-inch square iron-on fleece 2.5-inch square cotton for log-cabin center square variety of 1.5-inch-wide strips of cotton for log-cabin "logs" 5/8-inch button or bead  Proceedure 1. Beginning with your 2.5-inch square, sew ten 1.5-inch-wide strips of fabric to center square, alternating in log-cabin quilt-block style. Note: I cut my strips a little wider than 1.5-inches and that is why my block is ...

  by Linda Theil I'm a bit obsessed with trompe l'oeil  "plaid" quilt tops; so, when my GAAQG study group investigated Ricki Timm's "Convergence" quilts, I wondered if there was a way tomake a "Convergence" quilt that looked like a woven plaid. I found several YouTube videos describing various iterations of the "Convergence" process, including a video by Timms himself, but the video I found most helpful was a very short and simplified "Basic Convergence Technique" by Sonny DeWitt. All of the "Convergence" quilts had a woven appearance, and they all used four different fabrics to create the convergent look, but I didn't know how to translate the directions to create an actual, faux woven-plaid. The DeWitt video paired four fabrics into two strips sets of two fabrics each.  This was the same process used in the "Buffalo chex patchwork" and the "The white buffalo"  faux-plaid quilt tops I ma...

  by Linda Theil There is something absolutely adorable about this sweet, little mini-duffle from Kandou Patterns. At 7x4.5x.2.5-inches the bag is tiny, but roomy enough for necessities AND sunglasses! The "Mini Bag" pattern is included in Kandou's "Trio Bag Pattern Bundle" that includes bags fashioned to coordinate with the Kandou "Trio Sling Bag/Backpack" that features a three-piece front with a diagonal zippered pocket. I made the trio sling version documented in the AppletonDance post "Zingerman's Sling". Although I cut the bag front in three pieces as designed, I did not feature the color-block style in my Mini Bag, but cut each piece from the same fabric from the 2022 collection "First Light" by Ruby Star Society. I intended to make the back of the bag from the same fabric, but I mistakenly cut the back panel from the fabric I chose for the gusset. Both the back and gusset are cut from a fabric in the "Mixed Bag...

  by Linda Theil A cute bag kept popping up on my Internet feed that looked a lot like Diane Spencer-Ogg's "Arch Zipper Pouch" pattern with a lot of extra bells and whistles. Having made so many of this brilliant pattern (see list below) , I challenged myself to create a Fat Archie to rival the manufactured bag I admired. What I ended up with was a kind of small backpack, bowler-style bag of no great distinction -- but amusing and satisfying to work on. I designed my Fat Archie using J. Wecker Frisch's "Mad Masquerade" for Riley Blake Designs published in 2022. I originally bought the fabric to make a tote for a friend who is a fan of John Tenniel's Alice in Wonderland drawings. The fabric featured several large panels that I could use for all the extra pockets. The base and zipper gusset are made from Mora faux leather from Emmaline Bags . The finished size of this bag is 11 x 10 x 3.5-inches. I will describe how I created Fat Archie, but since the pro...