I had the opportunity to sew up this Caravan Tote in Alison Glass’ newest Handcrafted Patchwork collection. It really is fun to see things start with a small pile of fabric and watch it transform into a useful bag. It’s hard to believe that it undergoes such a transformation so quickly.
The main fabric is the Andover Chambray which was really easy to sew with. I hadn’t used it before, so it was a nice opportunity to try it out. I love the colors and the subtle texture it adds. The leather details are always a fun touch and I think makes the bag really look put together. Not only does it look nice, but the leather is very durable as well. If you’re curious, you can read here about my leather zipper pulls that I use.
Now and then I get a few questions about cleaning handmade bags. A couple of years ago I put together a post on how to care for your handmade bags. With leather handles though I can say I wouldn’t recommend washing – only spot cleaning. I think it was mentioned in the comments of that post, but one reader recommended using Scotch Guard (of course test it on your fabric before spraying it on your finished bag just in case) and I think I’d recommend doing that for bags made with sewn-in leather handles like this.
I don’t have much more to say about this bag other than it was a pleasure to sew it for Alison’s lookbook. If you want to check out all the awesome projects you can view it here. All the beautiful quilts and bags and garments featured are so inspiring!
Pattern: Caravan Tote Pattern
Fabric: Alison Glass Handcrafted Patchwork and Andover Chambray
Leather Handles: available in my shop
18mm Magnetic Snap
Zippers: 14″ zipper (for front zip) available in my shop
Zipper pulls here
Snap Starter Kit available in my shop as well.
ps. My friend Reece is doing a sew along on her blog for this tote, so if you’re interested in joining along read her announcement here.
Oh those colors are so pretty! Love how clean and crisp your sewing is, Anna.
Just lovely
beautifully sewn! and what a pretty combo of fabrics!
Another one of your wonderful projects to add to the list….well done!
Oh my. That bag is so lovely.
????
Hi Anna, I am just wondering about the durability and weight of the Alison Glass fabric. I am extremely smitten with all of her fabrics, and would love to use one or two to make a Zip Top Tote, but am worried that it would be too thin/fragile to use on a bag like that. Obviously it must be alright if you used it to make the bag in this post! But if you have any suggestions or comments about that, I would love to hear your opinion. Thank you! 🙂
Hi Clare, thanks for your comment. I think for some bag projects (like the Zip Top Tote) it might be a bit too thin. However, there are definitely ways you could get creative and line the Zip Top Tote’s front pocket and add a layer of batting or Soft and Stable and quilt each pocket. I’d also recommend adding SF101 to the main pieces before basting them to the Soft and Stable if you chose to use these fabrics for the main part as well. Hope that makes sense. 🙂