Secret (shh) tote swap

08:00

hello! Usually I'd wait until the recipient received her swap item before posting about it, but it seems as though many are being encouraged to link up as soon as it's made and photographed. Today is that day for me. Where did the rest of June go?! I'm sure it was the 1st like yesterday?

Anyway, here's my tote bag for my partner, I will tell you more about her when she receives it so as not to ruin the surprise. In the absence of one good, accurate photo, here is a bunch of bad, inaccurate photos so that by the end of it you'll know all about this bag. I'm really selling this tote, aren't I?!


My first challenge was to discover what was expected of me. To me, a tote bag can either be a handbag or a shopping bag, I decided to go with handbag because how disappointing if you'd made a handbag and then received a shopping bag in the post!

My partner was fairly easy going and her mood board collage thingy had lots of good graphic patterns. I chose this Sublime Swirl in grey from the Bonnie & Camille range 'Ruby' for Moda hoping it would be right up her street.

I used my Rosie patchwork tote pattern, but instead of patchwork, I used a FQ of this gorgeous print and quilted some byAnnie's Soft & Stable to it.


Ok, enough of the small talk, onto the finished article. I chose a mustard yellow peachskin for the lining and interfaced it to give it some stability.


The top of the tote is made from pure wool fabric and I topstitched in yellow thread. I wish I'd lengthened my stitch length here a bit to make it more obvious. I did the top curve of the bag with stitch length 4 but this was only 2.5 and it is a little hidden.





I added a zipper pocket, lined with the grey swirl print for a bit of hidden fun.


Looking at everyone else's totes popping up on Flickr I feel a bit overwhelmed, there are so many amazing bags! I'll have to add a Kit Kat to distract my partner from the other bags :)



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14 comments

  1. I love it! Especially the yellow surprise lining inside. Great job!!!!

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  2. The yellow pops wonderfully against the grey. I think it's lovely, and whoever receives it will definitely enjoy it!

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  3. Beautiful, Samantha! Love that bag. Speaking of KitKats, one could hold a lot of KitKats in that bag!!

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  4. What an beautiful bag! Great choices on the fabrics and color combinations, too!

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  5. This is awesome! Nice work! I love the yellow stitching!

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  6. Ahhh i love the tote!!
    Can i be your secret sister !! :-)

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  7. I really love the yellow lining with the grey.....soooo makes it POP! Kit Kats would be just a TEASE to me......I am allergic to dairy....funny for someone who grew up on a dairy farm, HUH? LOLL
    Christine
    ChrisW Designs

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  8. I love your tote in these fabrics!! It is sooooooo pretty!
    Your secret partner will love it!!

    Susie
    PS
    (I have fabric laying in a pile, to make a purse of gray and white outside... and yellow inside, that's been sitting here for a month!)

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  9. I love the colours! And a great bag! where's this flickr group so I can oogle some bags

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  10. I think your color combo is great! The yellow stitching is a great added touch, too.

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  11. This bag looks great! I am sure the recipient will love it too - how could she not? It looks classy and classic with a punch.

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  12. I loved the patchwork one and this one looks equally as nice. I may just make another one.

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  13. a tote to me is definitely a shopping bag, but this is fab, that is one lucky partner. it is very weird that they want you to show them off before your partner gets it!

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