By Annie Bag Challenge with Island Batik!

This months challenge was making a gorgeous bag with By Annie patterns while we got to use our gorgeous Island Batik Fabric. I was really excited to use this beautiful fabric that I chose and the By Annie pattern, Bowl Me Over 2.0.

All of us ambassadors were able to pick a pattern, and use the add on videos for help. With the add on video (at least for my pattern, as I am not sure if this is true for the other patterns) mine was just a few parts of the bag. It was not a full video tutorial. I mention that because I honestly thought it would be, so that was my mistake. However, the parts that are in the video are helpful, but I would have loved a full video tutorial, especially if you are not an advanced bag maker. This bag is complex, not horribly complex but just know its not easy. By Annie does have a ton of other bag patterns that are a lot less complex so don't feel discouraged because they have patterns for all ranges.

I was lucky enough to use the beautiful fabric from Tranquil Moments:

This fabric is soft but colorful. I loved how calm it is, but also how bright and colorful it can be as well. This fabric could be used for such an array of projects, especially a bag.

Once I had all my supplies, I was ready to sew. The By Annie soft and stable is probably one of the best on the market. I have loved using it for all my bag projects and it holds up in washing so well. The zippers are amazing, and I have never had any issues sewing with them. If you have not had a chance to try any of the accessories from By Annie, please check your local quilt store and or craft store to see if they sell it. If not ByAnnie.com does sell all the items online as well.

I think one of the hardest options, at least for me, is what thread to use to quilt and sew the bag with. I had these three Aurifil threads. These are gorgeous variegated threads that all looked like they would blend well with the fabric. I could have used a solid thread like white, purple, blue, green or even a pink. This fabric really worked well with about 75% of my thread options.

I did eventually pick a thread and got it quilted up. I just went with the inspiration of the fabric and did overlapping circles or bubbles. This was done just on my domestic Juki with my free motion quilting foot. Super easy and was done in a few short minutes, okay maybe more like an hour but still.

The pieces started to really come together about 3/4 of the way through the pattern. This one felt like it took a lot of prepping before it really started to come together.

Do you see the tag?

Had to add the most adorably small tag but it was so perfect for this project. Who knew such a simple tag would make me so happy.

I eventually got the bag all sewn up, and before I could begin using it for all the sewing supplies, my poor husband ended up in the hospital. However, this bag became the perfect bag to drag my electronic items and notebook with me. I even hid some snack and a small drink in this thing. I was so surprised about how much room this thing really has.

All that to say, sorry I don't have any cute sewing photos but hopefully this photoshoot in the hospital chair will do.

The "back" of the bag. Love this zipper area for my wallet and keys. Easily to access but also secure.

The gorgeous front of the bag with my little handmade label and the beautiful By Annie hardware.

Because I can... another photo.

The inside of the bag had so much room. I was able to add a portable charger, hold my cords, and put my ipad and notebook in this thing! Its bigger than it looks.