Secret Santa

Jane Market Tote
Jane Market Tote

I went back and forth about whether or not I should post this on my blog before the BAMQG party, but I have so little to post these that I decided to go for it. I don’t know all of you as well as I would like, but I don’t think the recipient is a reader. Perhaps she will be after receiving the gift.

I agreed to make a Secret Santa gift for the BAMQG Holiday Exchange. It was hanging over my head, so I decided that Saturday would be the day to start. I actually cut out all of the pieces on Friday night and put most of the interfacing on as well, so the sewing went pretty easily.

I decided to make another Jane Market Tote for the gift. It is a good pattern – useful and nicely shaped. I am also familiar with it since I made over a dozen of them since I bought the pattern. The other bonus was that a shopping bag was on the giftee’s list.

Perfect.

As I said, I cut out the pieces on Friday night. I also decided to try adding some ShapeFlex stabilizer to see if that would give it some body.

As an aside: Have I said how much I like ShapeFlex? I love it. It is so easy to work with. It is not thick. Now, I am almost out again and am now thinking of buying a bolt. Crazy?

Anyway, I was able to put ShapeFlex over all the pieces except one, so I was really ready to sew on Saturday morning. So, Saturday morning, which was really about 11am since I slept so much, I sewed. The bag went together really well. I tried very hard to make it look nice. I used a star pattern on my machine to finish the top of the bag. I also put the handles inside rather than outside after the bag is finished, as the pattern suggests.

It is a nice bag, but I also decided to make a little needlecase and put that in the bag as well. I know it is not necessary, but I have some leftover scraps from the bag. I also found a pattern in Modern Patchwork for a needlecase that doesn’t look too difficult. Stay tuned for that.