Island Batik Ambassador- October Project- In Control Caddy Bag- Part of the It’s In the Bag Challenge

 This month’s challenge is called It’s In the Bag as the Island Batik Ambassadors will all be using different byAnnie.com patterns and different fabric collections from Island Batik.  I don’t usually make bags, so this will definitely be a challenge for me, but I have been told that byAnnie patterns make bag making a breeze. That’s fantastic as who don’t want to make their own bag with some beautiful batik fabric from Island Batik? I know you are going to see some fabulous bags this month. At the bottom of this blog, I will have links to the other designer’s blogs so you can see what they made.

The October project was to make a bag using a current fabric line from Island Batik and a pattern from byAnnie.com. I was able to pick any pattern I wanted and any fabric line. I chose The In Control pattern and the Silverado Canyon line by Kathy Engle. Just look at this gorgeous collection of batik fabrics. The Silverado Canyon collection may be found at your local quilt shop that carries Island Batik, such as Fabric Smart in St. Petersburg FL. You may find them online at www.fabric-smart.com or call them at 727-914-8850.

The bag I chose to make is called In Control which is a caddy type bag. It would be perfect to control the remotes in your living room or make a great quilt tool tote. It has outside pockets, a zippered pocket, padded handles and interior baffled dividers. It can definitely help you control the clutter. If you would like to see a video of everything I was able to put in the caddy, there is a current one on my You Tube and TikTok channels-Blue Bear Quilts. Here is the link to the You Tube video: https://youtu.be/3-hp6QzFkOo.

This caddy can hold a lot of stuff. 

 

The supplies I was provided to work with covered everything I needed to make this bag. There was the wonderful; Silverado Fabric from Island Batik, The byAnnie.com In Control pattern, fusible stabilizer, Soft and Stable foam stabilizer, hardware for the handles, strap webbing and a coordinated zipper.  The directions and diagrams were clearly written and were easy to follow. There were boxes to check off your progress, fabric cutting diagrams and even labels to put on the pieces of fabric you cut out. This made it so easy to stay organized. Annie, the designer of these patterns, has also created add-on videos that give that visual presentation for following some of the written instructions. I was a little intimidated to make this bag at first, but it is so easy to get really great results using the included video and following the written instructions. 

    

One of the first things I had to do was to quilt the side pieces. I sandwiched a piece of the Soft and Stable stabilizer between the outer and inner fabric layers. Using my Janome 6600, It was so easy to quilt using the Soft and Stable foam stabilizer. I loved working with that stabilizer.

Some of the handle seams needed to be accurately pressed. I used my Clover Hot Press Perfect Ruler, which allowed me to get that accurate 1/4″ press. The handles were also sewn into a tube and I had to use my tube turning tool to get them right side out.

 

The instructions gave precise markings for where to place the handles on the side pieces. After I had attached the handles, it was time to add the outer pockets. It also was necessary to round off the bottom corners of the side pieces and I used my Applipops Rings to accomplish that part of the precess.

 

 

In For the next step, there is a long strip that forms the ends and the bottom of the bag. You can see that I used many Clover clips to hold the pieces together while I was sewing them. One end has a zipper, which was easy to install following the instructions. 

Finally, the last step was to add the outer binding trim, which was challenging as so much material needed to go under the needle at the same time, but I was able to do it! 

I think the bag turned out great! What do you think? It has padded handles. four side pockets, one end pocket and one zippered end pocket, a padded bottom, and four baffled interior pockets. The Island Batik Silverado Canyon collection gives it a fun, but classy, look.

 White 50 wt. Aurifil thread was my selection to piece the bag. I used a 80/12 universal needle from Schmetz Needles. 

The supplies I used to make this project were provided by:

Island Batik Silverado Canyon fabric.

Aurifil 50 wt Thread

byAnnie In Control pattern, Soft and Stable Stabilizer, fusible interfacing, zipper and hardware. 

Schmetz 70/10 Quilting needle

 

 

 

If you are on TikTok, be sure to check out the video I have posted of what all I was able to put into the In Control bag. (Look for Blue Bear Quilts)

Blue Bear hopes you like this bag. Please let him know how much you love the this bag by writing to him in the comments!

The other amazing Island Batik Ambassadors are also posting their October Challenge bags.  Check out their projects by clicking on the links next to their names to be directed to their blog posts.

 

 

 

 

Gail Renna, Quilt Haven Threads

Michelle Roberts, Creative Blonde Gifts

Sandra Starley, Textile Time Travels

Jennifer Thomas, Curlicue Creations

Brenda Alburl, Songbird Designs

Jennifer Fulton, Inquiring Quilter

Lisa Pickering, Lisa’s Quilting Passion

Suzy Webster, Websterquilt

Denise Looney, For the Love of Geese

Gail Sheppard, Quilting Gail

Preeti Harris, Sew Preeti Quilts

Connie Kauffman, Kauffman Designs

Megan Best, Bestquilter

Maryellen McAuliffe, Mary Mack Made Mine

Elizabeth DeCroos, Epida Studio

Jane Hauprich, Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting

Emily Leachman, The Darling Dogwood

Andi Stanfield, True Blue Quilts

Leah Malasky, Quilted Delights

Claudia Porter, Create with Claudia

Mania Hatziioannidi, Mania for Quilts

Reed Johnson, Blue Bear Quilts

Pamela Boatright, Pamela Quilts

Anorina Morris, Samelia’s Mum

Brianna Roberts, Sew Cute and Quirky

 

Make sure to follow Island Batik on social media. Be sure to check out the Island Batik Blog.

#islandbatikambassador #islandbatik #iloveislandbatik #byannie #patternsbyannie #aurifil #aurifilthread #schmetzneedles #Janome #cloverusa