Friday Finish: Sew Together Bag

Do you ever make a gift for someone that when finished you'd rather keep for yourself?  I made this Sew Together Bag for my sister who is attending QuiltCon for the first time, and I have to say it was difficult to put this in the mail!  However, I did put it in the mail, she has received it, and so now I can share the ton of pictures I took ;-)))

Sew Together Bag gifted to my sister

Michelle is totally obsessed with loves Cotton+Steel, so I made her bag entirely with prints from their first and newly released collections and linen.  I love the fussy cut centers!  There's Georgia and Mississippi represented along with her favorite kitty cats tigers in the centers as well as the pocket linings.

Georgia close-up

Back in the day "Mississippi" was abbreviated "Miss"!

When I made mine before QuiltCon 2013, I didn't piece the outside of the bag, but with Michelle's I made wonky stars with 1" finished squares.  I had forgotten how much fun wonky stars are to make.  I also forgot how much linen frays...ugh!  I did not have any quilters linen in my stash.  That would have been much better.

love these tiny squares!!!

The outside panel of the bag measures 13.5" x 9.75".   You do the math...that's quite a few 1" squares.  After piecing all those tiny squares, I felt like I had assembled a quilt top!

love my product placement?!

I am proud that I thought about the directional prints and not having the state names or the tigers upside down.  This was a concern on the outside of the bag and the pocket linings.

zippers and pockets

Each zipper is a different color which helps in remembering what is in each pocket.  Notice my zippers are all going in the same direction;-)  I regret being lazy and not switching to a darker thread when attaching the bindings.  My not-so-straight stitching lines are too apparent.

zipper installation

The optional pincushion would have obscured the pretty viewfinder reels, so I opted not to make one. I did add the felted wool needle landing (even though it covers up a cute bee) because I know Michelle is taking an EPP class and this should come in handy.

inside of the bag

Michelle says she loves her bag, and I really loved making it for her.  Have you ever made a Sew Together Bag?  I love seeing all the creative versions.  There's a hashtag on Instagram (#sewtogetherbag) if you're interested in browsing.

you can see my bag in the background

I'm beyond excited for QuiltCon 2015, and so happy Michelle is going too!
Will you be there? If so, please stop me and say hi!

Linking up with finish it up Friday!  

Happy Friday the 13th!