Quilting a bag

Update to this post; I finished my bag!  And I love it!  Here are finished photos.

Here’s the bag turned to the reverse side.

 

 

 

And a look at the side panels.

 

I first tried free motion quilting many years ago, about 35 years I think.  I took a class at a local fabric store and remember recommendations to get a spring that replaced the press foot.  Unfortunately, I was never wildly successful with this setup.  I did do a couple very small projects that I can’t remember.  They were not very good, I’m sure!  I eventually became to frustrated with my less than stellar results and gave it up.

So, 35 years later and not one, but two awesome sewing machines that happily sew anything I ask, I am again tackling machine quilting.  I’ve taken several  online classes and finally, the planets and  karma seem to have aligned.  I am finding I enjoy the quilting process, quite a change from my experience years ago.  So, on to my current project.

I am working on a bag utilizing techniques in Leah Day’s Craftsy class Free Motion filler, Vol 2.  I love using my Janome 7700 for quilting because it has speed control.  It can sew a lot faster than I can and since I’m concentrating on perfecting my stitches, speed control really helps keep things manageable.

I don’t have a flat surface for sewing, a really useful feature when quilting.  I put some of my sewing books to good use to build up a larger, flat work surface.  Not perfect, but working pretty well for this small project.

Here’s another view of my jerry rigged flat work surface.

 

 

 

Here’s a shot of one side of the bag, pinned and ready to start stitching.

 

Here is one of the sides in progress.

Here’s a shot of the back of the bag in progress.

 

And the completed quilting, both sides are beautiful.

 

 

Day three of the bag project and I started on the second side.

 

Below is progress from today.  Hoping to finish the bag by the end of the coming weekend.