Today I’m showing off this Caravan Tote that I made using Quarry Trail, my newest fabric collection! I couldn’t be happier how this one turned out. I hadn’t sewn a Caravan Tote for a while (here’s my last one), but I love how it comes together in the end.

Organization Tips

Yes, this pattern does have quite a few pieces to cut out (although of course some are optional), but if you make a little label for each piece you’ll be surprised how they all come together. My recommendation is to follow along step-by-step and as you get to that piece in the instructions, grab it from your labeled stack and sew.

I also find it really helpful to make a stack of all the exterior pieces and then a different stack of all the lining pieces once I’ve interfaced everything. I’m normally not a super organized sewist, but keeping things separated does really help with bag making.

Modifications

Anyway, after making this Caravan I’m itching to make another! It would be easy to leave out the divided pocket that’s inside the front zippered pocket, makes it quicker yet! You’ll also notice that I left off the front pocket for this sample!! Again, another time saver. Plus you get to show off the print you’ve used on the main panel. For the next one I’m making it with the reverse (so the print will be along the top (where the denim is) and it’ll be the pocket/flap fabric as well. A totally different look using the same pattern.

My daughter claimed this one once she saw it! I love that! I totally have heart eyes for all the black/white/gray prints from Quarry Trail. You know I love some contrast!

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• Pattern: Caravan Tote (without front pocket/flap)
• Fabric: Quarry Trail, denim is an 8 oz. Indigo Denim by Robert Kaufman fabrics. Lining fabrics are Quarry Trail as well!
• Notions are all available in my shop if you need anything:
  • Leather Handles (28″ length set)
  • zipper (14″ length for front zippered pocket, mine is brass)
  • magnetic snap

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I think this might be my last regular post for the year, I’ll have my usual year-end wrap up post next week. I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday! Thinking of you…

Today I’m sharing the backstory of my Quarry Trail fabric inspiration.

This month is finally when my newest fabric collection, Quarry Trail, starts shipping to stores! Be sure to ask your local quilt shop if they’ve ordered it! All of my hand-drawn designs are overprinted on Essex, Essex Yarn Dye, and Essex Homespun!

I’m so excited to show you all that I’ve made using the collection. Last week I showed my quilted Buckthorn Backpack. Quarry Trail projects are starting their little tour to quilt shops (so maybe you’ll get to see some in person if you visit your local quilt shop when it’s safe to do so!). I sewed my heart out at the beginning of the summer and we took to my inspiration location to get the finished sample photos.

Design Inspiration

Inspiration for Quarry Trail came to me while being out on a local hiking trail that winds through an abandoned rock quarry. For me, I feel my best when I’m outside in nature hiking or trail running with my family and our dog, Frida. I love looking at the amazing things nature creates and I love witnessing the change of the seasons.

Each print is closely tied to what my eyes are drawn to as I hike through the trails. The rocks, leaves, wildflowers, sun and moonrise are all directly related to the prints. Of course I had to name the collection Quarry Trail! And taking photos along each hike is a requirement. Most pictures I take are just for my reference, but sometimes I’ll have my good camera with and do my best attempt at capturing the natural beauty. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of it.

I’ll be sharing my projects using Quarry Trail over the next few posts. For now you can find Quarry Trail starting to arrive at your local quilt shop. It comes in yardage and fat quarter bundles and a ten-square. I’m thinking because now that I have pictures of the ten-square pack that I need to make a ten-square quilt using it (it’s a FREE tutorial for making the quilt)!

I hope you’ll enjoy using Quarry Trail in your next project! Thank you for coming along on the journey.

Today I’m sharing the first project, my quilted Buckthorn Backpack pattern featuring Quarry Trail, my newest fabric collection. I’m so happy to be able to start sharing these projects here and I hope that it’ll give you some inspiration to start your own project using Quarry Trail!

If you’re new here, my latest fabric collection with Robert Kaufman Fabrics was released earlier this summer (which means that shops get to see it and order it for their store). Now the collection is slowly shipping out to those shops, so be sure to call or ask your local quilt shop!

Quarry Trail Base Fabric

Quarry Trail (like all my previous collections) features my hand-drawn designs overprinted on Essex, Essex Yarn Dyed, and Essex Homespun. It’s a fun mix of textures and colors and I hope you’ll love it. Because Essex is NOT a canvas weight substrate (it’s a 5.6 oz. weight), you’ll want to be sure to make some changes to any pattern that might call for a canvas weight (8 oz. weight or more) like this Buckthorn Backpack for example. It’ll need a little more support in order for it to be it’s best for bag making.

Quilted Exterior

So for this Buckthorn I quilted all the exterior pieces to fusible fleece before cutting them to their final size. I started with each exterior piece being an inch or so bigger in each direction. This allows for some shrinkage that is common when quilting fabric to any batting or fleece. If you’re going for a very dense quilting design, you might to want to add a few inches in either direction to account for that shrinkage. Just something to consider!

Because mine is a fairly non-dense quilting (I chose a straight-line grid), I rough cut my exterior pieces just slightly bigger. Once I was done quilting each piece, I trimmed them to their final dimensions. The final result of the fabric is perfect for a bag! I hope you give it a try with any bag really. It’s a great option if the exterior fabric choice you love doesn’t quite have the stiffness you’ll need for bags, and perfect for any Essex fabric in my bag-making opinion.

Once I had all the pieces quilted, the only other modification I made was to use a piece of fusible woven interfacing (Pellon SF101) on the Zipper Binding piece. Other than that, everything was good to go!

Lining

I did line the backpack with canvas, this time using Big Sur canvas in Grayish. I didn’t grab an interior shot before I shipped it off! So you’ll have to use your imagination. Using Big Sur as a lining is an easy choice for me. I love the colors they offer and then I get to skip using any additional interfacing on the lining pieces. Hello time saver!

I love the final result! It really is fun to see this quilted version of my design come to life. I need to take time to do that more often! So yes, it does take extra time, but I think it’s worth it.

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• Pattern: Buckthorn Backpack (& Tote) Pattern
• Fabric: exterior is the leaf print (Quarry Trail) by me for Robert Kaufman Fabrics, lining is Big Sur Canvas in Grayish
• Notions are all available in my shop if you need anything:
  • Webbing (you’ll need 4 yards of the 1.5″-wide webbing)
  • hardware (kit)
  • zipper (backpack uses the 16″ length!!)

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Hope you enjoy seeing these projects, we had a fun family outing taking these pictures. It was such a hot and humid day, but everyone rose to the occasion!

Next time, I’ll chat about my inspiration for this collection as well as some photos of the fat quarter stack and layer cake. yay fabric! In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing many more projects as well! Thanks for being here.