We’re thrilled to introduce you to Lorelai from Pigs in a Blanket Quilting! At just 15 years old, Lorelai is already making a name for herself in the world of quilting, especially when it comes to adding quilted flair to accessories. Her passion for creating unique, stylish bags shines through in every project she tackles, and we’re excited to have her share her expertise with you. In this guest blog, Lorelai will be walking you through five essential tips for adding patchwork and quilting to your bags, using our Sallie Tomato patterns as her canvas. We know you’ll be inspired by her creativity and talent—let's dive in!
Hello quilters, I’m Lorelai from Pigs in a Blanket Quilting! As a fifteen-year-old quilter, I take advantage of any opportunity to make stylish accessories. This is exactly what I have done by adding my own quilted flair to the Sallie Tomato bag patterns! Creating 3-D quilted items can be difficult, so I am sharing five must-know tips that will help you conquer quilted bags. Before we jump in, you’ll need to throw away your fears (along with some conventional quilting rules) and get ready to be creative!
1. Find the Empty Space
The first step in making a quilted bag is choosing a bag pattern. When I’m looking at a selection of patterns, I look for which bags have the emptiest space. Empty space refers to a region of the bag where there is nothing but fabric (i.e. no pockets, zippers, embellishments, etc.). If you’re going to go to all the work to put a quilted block on your project, you want it to be the spotlight! It would be a shame to have your hard work so small that it is overshadowed or, even worse, covered by a pocket or other bag feature. This being said, don’t let a lack of empty space keep you from buying the pattern you love. There are several ways to create empty space on a bag. For instance, I fell in love with the Tiffany bag pattern from Sallie Tomato, but it had a slip pocket that covered the front of the bag. Because I knew what I would be using this bag for, I knew that I wouldn’t need that particular pocket, so I didn’t put it on.
Yes, that’s right, you can do that! Don’t forget that a pattern is a suggestion, and it is your project. If you want to remove a pocket, or any bag feature to make room for a quilted pattern, you can! If you have your heart set on the pocket, look for other less prominent parts of the bag where you can add in quilting. For example, I made the Townsend bag for my mom’s air travel, and I knew that she would use any pocket she could get! So, while I did a little bit of quilting on the front of the bag, the main quilted detail was the black flying geese that ran alongside the zipper of the bag.
Empty space doesn’t always need to be on the front of the project. When you’re searching for the perfect pattern for your quilted bag endeavor, don’t search for fancy embellishments and a million pockets (though you can take these into consideration later). Instead, look for the best canvas that you can add your own flair to!
2. Try out Different Fabrics and Quilting Designs
Fabric and longarming designs are my two favorite aspects of bagmaking to change up. A while back, I found several rolls of upholstery fabric at a fabric warehouse for about a dollar a roll. Now I know what you’re thinking, “Aren’t quilters and upholstery fabric sworn enemies?” Well, this is what I thought too, until I saw the dimension and detail these fabrics added to my bags. For example, creating the Lauren bag using upholstery fabric paired with Sallie Tomato’s faux leather added so much interest to the piece!
Using these different fabrics brings in new textures, designs, and looks to the quilting world. For instance, some of my upholstery fabric is shiny, some is fuzzy, some is even sheer! Not only does this add interest, but it makes your bag look even more professional.
Of course, the added thickness of some of these fabrics can create challenges, but if you don’t like making problems for yourself, you might be in the wrong industry. Two things that I do before I use upholstery fabric are check how much it frays, and spritz it with water to see if it has any interesting reactions (you’d be surprised).
But don’t forget about the best way to transform your quilted bag…the quilting design! I love using these to accent my upholstery fabric. Quilting on a fabric that is fuzzy, or even vinyl is so different from quilting on cotton. For instance, the fuzzy fabric hides the stitches, so you just see the texture created from the design!
3. Quilted Elements Shrink on the Longarm!
I genuinely cannot emphasize this point enough! If you piece a block that perfectly fits the square you need for the front of your bag, it will likely be about 1/2" smaller after you quilt it depending on the density of your quilting. Why? Because now instead of your pieced unit laying flat, the fabric has to go over all of these bumps and ridges that you have created when quilting. So now you’re left with a piece that’s too small for your pattern and, if you’re like me, about five more pieces of emotional support chocolate in your stomach. Too avoid this issue, I always make my pieced units 1” – 2” larger on all sides than I need for my pattern. This way, after you have quilted your fabric, you can trim it down to the perfect size and finish off the edges using my instructions in tip number five!
4. Your Pattern is not Law
I know that I mentioned this in the first tip, but in the case of quilted bags, it really needs to be said! Adding patchwork designs, or other types of fabric, can make your material very thick and stiff. I have an industrial sewing machine, and I still encounter issues working with this thick fabric. When this happens, there is almost always a way to alter the pattern to work in your favor. For example, I made the Connie backpack last summer, and decided I wanted to quilt the front pocket. After I came back to reality (unfortunately this happened right at the step where I was attaching the pocket) I realized that I couldn’t possibly sew the pocket on as the pattern instructed with the way that I had quilted it. After an afternoon of messing with the pattern and changing the way that I attached the piece, the pocket laid nice and flat on my bag.
The point is, that even if it takes a while, there’s always a way to alter your plan to account for thicker materials. Another reason that I have tweaked bag patterns is to add something to them. Once again using the Connie backpack as an example, I knew that I would be carrying it around summer camp for hours on end. So, I decided to add padding to the straps. To accomplish this, I pulled a bit of a Frankenstein and used the instructions for adding straps to the Shaw backpack. Of course, I had to quilt these straps too!
Looking back, some of my best quilted bag creations resulted from straying away from the pattern, because I was so passionate about making them my own!
5. Security, Security, Security!
Unless you plan on your bag making a one-time appearance at the Met Gala, it will be used! Here are the ways I increase the strength of my bags. My number one tip is to be afraid of a seam allowance that is too small and not one that is too big. As quilters, we’d be lying to ourselves if we said we didn’t have experience manipulating the fabric to fit. So, if your seam allowance is a tad bigger in some areas, it’s not the end of the world. However, it is a lot harder to fix a finished bag that has seams that came apart because the seam allowance was too small. Bigger is better!
Speaking of seams, I treat my patchwork seams differently than on a regular quilt. Now that I have a serger, this means serging the seams after I sew them. An alternative that I have used for many of my bags is to increase your patchwork seam allowance to 3/8” instead of 1/4” (which means you’ll have to adjust your pattern).
Another method I use to increase the durability of my bags is to always backstitch. When I say always, I really mean it. From piecing the patchwork pattern on the front of the bag, to topstitching the zipper, backstitching is important. Let me say that again… backstitching is important! After all, it takes one or two seconds to reinforce your stitching, and doesn’t cause you any harm, so why not?
My final tip that I know that nobody wants to hear is you have to finish the edges on your quilted pieces before you sew them into your bag. When creating my latest bag project, I was lucky enough to have a serger so that I could just serge around each of the pieces. However, I will share with you how I finished the edges of the quilted pieces on all of my bags before. As tedious as it is, I backstitched over the end of every line of quilted stitching that got cut off when I trimmed the pieces. This way, I didn’t have to worry about any quilting stitches coming undone after the bag was finished. If you really don’t want to finish your edges this way, I would recommend at least stitching around the perimeter of your pieces 1/8” from the edges. With all of these stabilizing techniques, you can be sure that the creation you put your hard work into will last a long time!
Final Thoughts
We all know that quilting makes everything better, but in the case of bags this is especially true! With these accessories not only do you get the professional look of a Sallie Tomato bag, but you get a stylish piece that you can’t buy in a store. I hope that these tips will help you conquer quilted bags with no (okay maybe just a little) fear. With a bit of design and ingenuity, I know you’ll love the results!
We hope you’ve enjoyed Lorelai’s tips and are feeling inspired to add some quilted magic to your next bag project. With her thoughtful advice and innovative approach, you’ll be able to create beautiful, one-of-a-kind bags that truly stand out. Be sure to follow Lorelai on Instagram @pigs_in_a_blanket_quilting for more quilting inspiration and bag-making tips. We can’t wait to see what you create! Happy sewing!
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