Ricochet and Away!: Curved Seams Challenge WIP Update

I gave myself the deadline of Jan. 15th to come up with a project for my Curved Seams Challenge. Yesterday, Jan. 14th (one whole day early!), I decided to make a quilted tote bag. I even finished the front and back panels. They turned out pretty funky. They will not be everyone's cup of tea, but they sure are mine! If you've been reading for a while, you know how much I love the color green, and how I love to experiment with mixing prints. I'm already excited about this tote and I probably still have 2 more afternoons of work to do on it.

I've been so obsessed with the drunkard's path quilt block that I just had to try it out for myself. I experimented a bit with scrap fabrics, trying to find the easiest way to create the template myself. I figured it out eventually, made these:

Then came time to pick out the fabrics. I had some nice quilting fabric in a rich solid green so I started with that. I added a stripey green pillowcase, some shiny/slinky polyester in a '70s print, and a bright yellow solid that used to be the curtains in my son's nursery. Hindsight is 20/20 and I never should have added the silky print. I don't know what I was thinking. OK, I know what I was thinking! The print was so retro and cool and the colors were perfect.....I figured I could MAKE it work. I tied it all together with a heavy weight grey cotton fabric. Green is my favorite color, but grey is my favorite neutral! I'll use the grey for the bottom, sides and handles.

The first thing I did to MAKE the silky fabric work, was to add some lightweight fusible interfacing. My reasoning was that it would then only have one slippery side. My logic was faulty, of course. Sewing is all about placing right sides together, and the slippery side is right in this instance.

The silky fabric is synthetic and doesn't like the hot iron I needed to press the cotton fabrics down. It also got all bunchy and puckered up on the curved seams. I'm guessing this was because the top and bottom fabrics weren't feeding at the same rates. Probably I should have used my walking foot.... Again, hindsight is 20/20.

In spite of the wonky seams, I pressed on and finished two 16 inch square panels that will make up the front and back of my tote. The puckering won't be so noticeable once the panels have been quilted. I hope....

I'm going right to the sewing room after I post this, so I can start on the quilting. I'm thinking concentric circles....but I'm apt to change my mind.

There are still two weeks of challenge time left. If you'd like to give it a go or read the guidelines, click this button: