Sewtopia Virtual Fabric Challenge

A few months ago, I signed up for a virtual fabric challenge sponsored by Sewtopia and Hoffman Fabrics. It featured 6 zebra me + you indah batiks. 

 Photo from gosewtopia.com

I've never worked with batiks, but these prints were so gorgeous and soft. I knew I wanted to make something I'd use and that would show off these stunning fabrics. Enter the Anna Graham (@noodlehead531) gingham tote. 

Last November, I attended sewtopia in Portland and brought home some me+ you mini charms in my bag of swag. I pulled those out and an idea was born!

 Photo cred: Kelly Bowser (@kelbysews)

I decided to make Quilt As You Go panels for my bag, using 4 of the fat quarters and my mini charms. The other two fat quarters were going to be the handles and the inside lining. 

Zippers! Why are zippers so hard to choose?

But once the panels were put together, the rest was easy. 

Inside the bag. I adapted the inside ones because I didn't have enough fabric for large pockets, so I just added a small cell phone pocket. The beauty of this bag is that there are three pockets in front and lots of space for everything inside the bag. 

I loved challenging myself with this project and stepping way outside my comfort zone with fabric, patterns, making a bag (!), and experimenting with quilt as you go and adapting a pattern to fit what I've got on hand. 

And I think I found my new summer purse! 

Color Square Swap Summer!

Welcome to the last round of Color Square Swap! Our summer edition is a chance to swap basic blender fabrics in Red, Navy, and Aqua! Make sure you are capable of abiding by all guidelines before signing up. I've included some examples of fabrics that would work for this swap.  Here's the link to sign up. Feel free to spread the word!

Swap Requirements:

 1. You must have a PUBLIC Instagram account for the duration of the swap to participate.

 2. Choose a basic blender fabric in 100% quilting quality cotton (it may have minimal amounts of other colors, but it should read solid. See below for examples). 

 3. Post your fabric choice to the applicable hashtag (#REDsquareswap2, #NAVYsquareswap2, or #AQUAsquareswap2) and #colorsquareswap. I will comment on your post. DO NOT PURCHASE FABRIC UNTIL I HAVE APPROVED YOUR FABRIC CHOICE. Your fabric choices must be posted to the hashtag by MAY 31st. 

 4. Purchase 3 yards of each color and cut fabric into 40 10" squares.  

 5. Ship fabric to Briawna Hugh no later than June 10th. Fabric received after June 14th will not be sorted and will be returned to sender.

 6. Pay for return shipping. Return shipping is $10 per person (I'm factoring in time to organize and sort fabric, cost of shipping labels, and postage into this shipping fee). Participants will not be able to split shipping costs this round, because I can only fit 3 layer cakes in a Flat Rate Envelope. Shipping costs must be paid by MAY 31st in order to participate. Send your shipping fee via PAYPAL "friends and family" to briawna.hugh@gmail.com

You will receive your layer cake(s) back by June 25th. Once the swap is full, I'll send out a welcome email with my shipping address.  

**FABRIC SPONSOR ALERT! Quilter's Square has offered 25% off yardage purchased for this swap. I will include the discount code with your confirmation email. Make sure you check out their website (quilterssquareky.com) and Instagram account (@quilterssquare) for some serious eye candy!

Red: feel free to use any shade from burgundy to a true Cardinal red. Patterns should be minimal and either tone on tone or a little white. Patterns should be on a small repeat. A good rule of thumb is that the pattern should repeat every 3-5".

Navy: colors can range from Royal to true navy. Again, make sure patterns are minimal.

Aqua: Aqua has a little more variety to it. Anything from turquoise to a dark mint will work for the swap. Make sure patterns are minimal.

Cutting Tips: 

This is how I cut my 3 yards of fabric. I usually end up with a 10-12"  leftover. 

First I fold the fabric in half, leaving the fold in place. When I cut, I'm cutting through four layers of fabric. I square up my edge and cut 5 10"x WOF strips. Because my fabric is folded, I'm actually cut 10 10" strips.

From each strip set, I cut off the selvage first.

Then I measure down 10" and cut a square. Repeat again for a second 10" square. From each strip, I can get 4 10" squares. So, 10 strips = 40 10" squares. Please cut carefully and accurately. Inaccurate cuts will be returned.

I can't wait to see your beautiful fabric! 

Briawna