Sewing

Poolside Tote in Riverbend

When I was envisioning the different Big Sur prints for my collection, I knew this Poolside Tote in Riverbend Big Sur would be such a great match!

Finding Riverbend Big Sur

I know the Big Sur collection for Riverbend is getting a little hard to find already. Not that many yards were printed, so if you check your local quilt shop and they don’t have any, you might want to do a little online research to see if you can find a shop that still has some (search “Anna Graham Riverbend Big Sur” or “Robert Kaufman Riverbend Big Sur” to start).

Making the Poolside

So anyway, this Poolside Tote was such a fun make. I love using canvas with the Poolside, but you can also use quilting cotton (and quilt it!). Here’s my own Poolside tote that I made using a quilting weight gingham fabric and quilted it before assembly. For some reason I blazed through this sample without reading my own instructions so I had some seam ripping to do, but in the end I love how it turned out!

I used Soft & Stable for the interfacing with this one. I’ve gotten so that it’s my favorite stabilizer for this pattern. Plus, I use the fusible woven on the lining pieces.

This is one of my favorite types of bags to use. I know a lot of folks love having something they can zip up, but I’m kind of the opposite! Don’t get me wrong, I loooove a good zip, but sometimes I like to just dump a bunch of things in the Poolside for an overnight trip and go. I guess it’s because we travel by car most of the time. I know that a zip top (like the Oxbow) is great for flying!

My Poolside Tote is the last project I have to share for my Riverbend (Essex & Big Sur) collections. I hope you find some inspiration in the projects I’ve shared. I love seeing what you make using my designs, it’s kind of bittersweet to wrap this up, but I do have some more yardage to play around with, so I think you’ll see a few more!

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Sewing

Studio Tunic in Riverbend

Okay, this is the Studio Tunic in Riverbend Essex and it might be one of my favorite makes! I know, I’m sure I say that every time I make something. It’s fine.

Once I saw Meg release her Studio Tunic pattern I knew I had to make it. I’ve been wanting to make something like this to wear while I’m sewing. I’m always moving my scissors or seam ripper or marking tool and then covering it up and wondering where it went! You’d think I’d have some sort of system, but honestly, I haven’t taken much time to think about how to resolve it. I have a generous size cutting table and drawers, but it would be really nice to keep my main supplies directly on me! So hopefully this tunic might work for that purpose, but we’ll see. I kind of feel like I might take it home and wear it while I’m baking. So many options!

I chose the deep-rounded neckline option and decided to add a little fun to the back yoke by subbing in a little bit of striped fabric. I thoroughly enjoyed sewing this up! Maybe my mom needs one, so I will hopefully make another.

Essex for garments

Essex makes such a nice weight for this tunic. It washed up really nicely and I think it’ll be super durable for many more washings! I’ve sewn quite a few garments using Essex.

Here are a few more garments I’ve sewn in the past using my fabric collections:

Project Details

Have you been sewing up any fun garments lately? I keep pinning them to my Pinterest boards, but I’ve been a total slacker for actually setting aside time to make any of them!

*Riverbend is in shops! Yay! Be sure to check with your favorite local quilt shop! Or try an online search for “Anna Graham Riverbend” or “Riverbend Robert Kaufman” and check out the #RiverBendFabric hashtag on Instagram. I love seeing what you make!!!!

Sewing

Yuma Oxbow Tote

I had the Yuma fabric pulled into a few different piles, so I knew I would end up making a Yuma Oxbow Tote!

Yuma Oxbow Tote

If you’ve been around my blog for a while, you’ll know I’m a big fan of Leah Duncan! I’ve been using her fabrics whenever a new collection pops up. I love the way she combines colors. Here’s a cute jacket I made lined with Leah’s fabric, and another one, some t-shirts, a beautiful dress, a lanyard wallet, a Zip Top Tote (pattern from my book, Handmade Style), a Market Bag (also from my book), two Double Zip Wallets (also from my book), the exterior of my Road Trip Case, an Envelope Clutch, this green Divided Basket, and more! Seriously I didn’t know I made that many things with her fabrics over the years, fun to take a look back.

As soon as I saw her new collection, Yuma, I scooped some up right away from Hawthorne Supply Co. I picked up a few prints and it was fun to mix and match them with other fabrics. I combined her Howdy print as the main body of the bag and this Shetland Flannel in Olive for the accent fabric (pocket & reinforced base).

I had a really hard time deciding on webbing for this one! There are so many great colors in this print, all of them went really well with the webbing I have. In the end, I decided on Acorn (available in my shop). And I used waterproof canvas from Sullivan’s Trim for the lining. I really love any fabric that I don’t have to use interfacing with (yes, bag making is my job and I there are things I don’t like to do as much either!), and it’s been fun trying out a somewhat new-to-me substrate.

Coming up…

Did you watch my sew-along videos for the Oxbow yet???? I made this tote during my sew-along videos for the Oxbow. I’m really happy with how it turned out. I used a metal snap on the front pocket just for fun. It was fun quilting it up, too!

I put together one more little video (Part 3) for some alternate crossbody strap connector options. I write my patterns so a MAJORITY of people can make them without special equipment and without too much hassle. The side strap connectors are geared so the most amount of people can be successful with the pattern. It’s the easiest route to go! But I like having options, and I think there’s never a limit as to what you can do – you’re the artist, YOU get to decide. That, in my opinion, is the absolute best thing about sewing!

I’ve been recovering from the flu ever since my last video, and now I’m finally feeling *almost* back to normal. It’s been a few weeks! So, check that out. It’s on my YouTube channel.

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