My Sunshine Garden Bag

Ahhh... it feels good to be back on my sewing machine again. Here in Seattle we are having unusually sunny, warm weather, so I was inspired to make this bag with all of the beautiful bright fabrics I've had stashed away.



I found the tutorial for this shopper on the Moda Bake Shop. You should make one too!



The tutorial calls for 12 layer cake pieces (10-inch squares). Of course, you could go buy a layer cake to use, and then your coordinating would be super simple. I finally got my Spoonflower fat quarters in the mail, so I was dying to try out some of the bright and fun fabrics I picked (so I made my own layer cake). I like the way these six fabrics both clash with and compliment each other. It reminds me of one of those chaotic gardens full of riotous colors that you see in bloom in May.

I simplified the tutorial in several ways. First, I skipped the pockets. I'm envisioning this being either a grocery bag or a carrying-papers-back-and-forth-to-grade bag, so I really didn't need pockets. I also skipped one layer of lining. I'm sure that made my bag more floppy, but my goal was to use up some of my fabric supply, so I didn't want to have to go out and buy more canvas for a flat lining.

I used up the rest of my Goodwill white eyelet cotton for the lining. I think it really adds to the fresh springiness of the bag.

One thing I really liked about this bag was learning to put the grommets in. I got to go down to the parking garage (so that I had a concrete floor) and hammer away to my heart's content. It's always exciting to learn a new technique!