Hello everyone! I’d like to start off today by thanking everyone for their kind comments on my last post about Vintage Quilt Revival. We are so excited about the book and can’t wait to share more as the year progresses. You guys are really the best!

Today I’m happy to share with you my last installment for the Art Gallery Fabrics Fat Quarter Gang, the Mod Stack Placemat.

These placemats feature fabrics from three of Art Gallery Fabrics newest collections, Color Me Retro by designer Jeni Baker, Textures by designer Angela Walters and Carnaby Street by the wonderful Pat Bravo.

This placemat pattern is great for beginners. I paired the fabrics with a classic linen. My backing happens to be my daughter’s favorite print from the Carnaby Street line, making the placemat reversible.

You can find the link to my new pattern on the Art Gallery blog.

As a celebration of the release of this *free* pattern for all of you, Art Gallery Fabrics is giving away a fat quarter set of each of the prints used in this quilt.

TTop Row: CST-3101 King’s Road Fuchsia, CST-3210 Retro Pop Mint, TXR-8108
Crosshatch Lime, CST-3107 Ladylike Black Tea
Bottom Row: CST-3100 Brit Boutique Royal, CST-3104 Girl About Town Lime,
CST-3109 60s Waves Midnight, CMR-2101 Dulcette Azalea

To enter, you just have to do a couple things.

My rules:
• Leave a comment on this post

Art Gallery’s rules:
• Follow Art Gallery on your favorite social media platform (Twitter, Pinterest, or Facebook) and Subscribe to the Art Gallery Fabrics blog.

I will pick a winner Friday evening, March 22nd.

And don’t forget to add photos of your finished quilt to the Fat Quarter Gang Flickr Group. Happy sewing everyone!

++ Closing comments to pick a winner! ++

The winner is #191, Rebecca! Congratulations!! I will be contacting you for your mailing address. Thank you so much everyone!

I’ve been waiting to write this post for what feels like a very long time. In fact, it has almost been 15 months since Katie emailed Lee and I and asked the big question – would we be interested in writing a book together? Fast forward to today and the projects are finished, the patterns are written, the photos are taken….and we are very, very excited to finally “spill the beans”.

Vintage Quilt Revival: 22 Modern Designs from Classic Blocks is a book full of projects focused on my favorite little corner of the quilting world, Modern Traditionalism. We aren’t allowed to share too much just yet. But see those Sampler blocks on the cover? Each one of those has it’s own project that uses the traditional blocks in an exciting, updated, beautiful, unexpected way. I wish I could say more. And show more pictures. Such torture! Let’s just say I am extremely proud of every project in this book.

Katie, Lee and I have known each other for about three years now and I could probably gush for pages and pages about how lucky I am to have them as friends and co-authors. We are very excited to share more with you over the next several months as we get closer to the release date at the end of the year.

Today I’m excited to share with you a new tutorial, the Farmer’s Market Tote. Andover Fabrics was kind enough to send over some of Marisa of Creative Thursday‘s upcoming line Locally Grown for these bags. I am absolutely in love with the little sheep and strawberries.

It does feel a bit strange making bags for fresh veggies when it looks like this outside.

But I think that is partially what motivated me – I’m ready for summer! And anyway, it doesn’t need to be warm to need a big bag to carry our fabric around in, right? Let’s get started!

Farmer’s Market Tote

Please note, all seams are 1/2″ unless otherwise noted

Fabric Requirements
Outer Panel – 1/2 yard
Outer Pockets – 1/2 yard
Pocket Lining – 1/2 yard
Inner Lining – 1/2 yard
Straps – 1/4 yard (not a fat quarter)
Interfacing, (I used Pellon SF101) – 1 yard

Step 1: Cut your fabric.

Pattern Piece	Size	Number to Cut
Outer Panel	17-1/2″ x 20″	2
Outer Pockets	14-1/2″ x 20″	2
Pocket Lining	14-1/2″ x 20″	2
Inner Lining	17-1/2″ x 20″	2
Straps	4″ x 26″	2
Interfacing	17-1/2″ x 20″	2

Step 2. Iron your interfacing to the wrong side of your outer panel fabrics according to the manufacturers directions.

Step 3. Now we are going to do a bit of trimming. Take your 17-1/2″ (tall) x 20″ (wide) Outer Panel rectangles and trim a diagonal line from the top left corner to the 1-1/2″ marking on your cutting mat, as shown.

Step 4. Repeat on the right side of the fabric, cutting from the top right corner to the 18-1/2″ marking on your cutting mat.

Step 5. Once your fabric angles are trimmed, cut 2″ squares out of the bottom left and right corners. This is for your gusset later. Because there is a slight angle from steps 3 and 4, you won’t be removing an exact square. Just be sure to line up your ruler as shown below.

After cutting out the squares, this is what your Outer Panels should look like.

Step 6. Repeat steps 3, 4 and 5 for your Inner Lining.

Step 7. Now it’s time to trim the Outer Pockets. Just like you did for your Outer Panel, we are going to cut the fabric at an angle on the left and right sides. Line up your ruler from the 17-1/2″ marking on your cutting mat, to the 1-1/2″ (when cutting left) and 18-1/2″ (when cutting right) measurement on the bottom of the cutting mat, as shown. This will get you the same angle you cut on previous pieces.

Alternatively, you could use your previously cut Outer Panel as a template and trim along the already cut lines.

Step 8. Just as you did in Step 5, trim 2″ squares from the bottom corners. Your Outer Pockets should look like this.

As you can see, the Outer Pocket fabric has the same angles now as the Outer Panel fabric.

Step 9. Repeat for your Pocket Lining.

Everything is now cut – yay! Pat yourself on the back.

Now let’s sew it together!

Step 10. Take one of your Outer Pockets and one of your Pocket Linings. Pin along the top, right sides together. Stitch along just the top, using a 1/2″ seam allowance.

Step 11. Flip right sides out, and press. Top stitch along the finished seam.

Step 12. Repeat for your second Outer Pocket and Pocking Lining.

Step 13. Place your finished Outer Pocket Panel on top of your Outer Panel, as shown. Pin together along sides and bottom. Machine baste along the sides and bottom of the panel, using a 1/4″ seam allowance. ** Do NOT sew the cut out squares! **

Step 14. Now we are going to split the pocket into two sections. Using your ruler and a marking tool, measure halfway across the panel. Mark a sewing line lengthwise down the panel, as shown.

Step 15. Starting at the bottom of the panel and working your way to the top of the pocket, stitch your marked line. Cross over a bit from the top of your pocket onto the Outer Panel and backstitch. This will reinforce your pocket at the top.

Step 16. Repeat for the second Outer Pocket Panel and Outer Panel.

Step 17. Place your finished Outer Panels right sides together and pin along the sides and bottom. Take care to match up the top of the pockets when pinning. This sort of attention to detail will make your tote bag look professionally made.

Step 18. Sew down the sides and bottom of the fabric, using a 1/2″ seam allowance. ** Do NOT sew the cut out squares! ** Press your seams open.

Step 19. Now it’s time to sew the gussets! If you have never done this before, this is probably the trickiest step. I took a lot of photos to help explain.

“Open” up your bag in the corner where you cut the squares, and place the fabric back together matching up the side and bottom sewn seam, as shown.

Step 20. Pin as shown.

Step 21. Sew using a 1/2″ seam allowance.

Step 22. Repeat on the other side to make the second gusset. This is what your bag should now look like.

Step 23. Attempt to press your seams and flip your bag right side out.

Step 24. Repeat steps 17 – 22 to assemble your Inner Lining. **Leave approximately 5″ open along the bottom however, for flipping the bag right side out later.**

Step 25. Place your Outer Tote Section right side out, into the Inner Tote Section wrong side out, as shown.

Step 26. Pin along the top of the bag, and sew together along the entire top, using a 1/2″ seam allowance.

Step 27. Flip your bag right side out through the opening in the bottom of the lining.

Step 28. Stitch the bottom of the lining closed.

Step 29. Press your bag and top stitch around the top.

Step 30. Almost there! It’s time to make the straps. Fold the short edges of your strap fabric in about 1/4″. You can optionally stitch these down, as shown. Now fold your strap fabric in half, lengthwise. Iron to make a crease and then open.

Step 31. Fold your strap fabric in lengthwise towards the center crease line, as shown. Press.

Step 32. Fold in half again. Press.

Step 33. Stitch around each side of the strap. Repeat for the second strap.

Step 34. Measure 3″ on each side of the pocket line you stitched earlier. Place your strap ends at this point, 1-1/2″ down from the top of the tote bag. Pin in place.

Step 35. Stitch in place, around all sides and then diagonally, as shown.

Step 36. Repeat until all 4 strap ends are attached.

You’re done! Fill up your tote with all sorts of fun stuff!

Many of you probably remember the Summer Sampler Series quilt along I hosted along with Lee of Freshly Pieced and Katie of Swim, Bike, Quilt in the summer of 2011. Was it really that long ago? We created the series because all three of us love Modern Traditionalism and we really felt it was just such a great skill builder. I have read many success stories from quilters that learned various new techniques while making the quilt: half-square triangles, flying geese, bias piecing, paper-piecing, piecing equilateral triangles and diamonds, hourglass units, and string piecing.

Lee, Katie and I often get emails and comments about the availability of a printable PDF version of the tutorials for this series. Today I’m excited to announce that we now that have available! Lee has put together a fantastic anthology of the blocks, patterns, tips, templates and almost 150 pictures. They are all in one convenient 86 page PDF document.

You can buy the entire thing for $9.99 in our pattern shops:

Craftsy
Faith’s Pattern Shop
Lee’s Pattern Shop
Katie’s Pattern Shop

Teachers, shop owners, and guilds: Would you like to teach the Summer Sampler Series as a class, or run it as a block-of-the-month series? Purchasing copies of the Summer Sampler Series Anthology for all of your participants gives you full permission to teach the series publicly, and we offer discount pricing on the purchase of four or more copies. Email Lee, Katie, or myself for more information.

And no worries, these tutorials will continue to be available on our websites. The Summer Sampler Series Anthology is simply for those that appreciate the convenience of the entire pattern in one printable document.