A project by Jan Boggan
Jan constructed this tote bag of varied textures from squares of fuzzy fabric chenille and canvas.
She created her own chenille fabric and added bright parrots for an embroidered touch.
Supplies & Materials:
Supplies needed:
- 17" by 17" piece of canvas
- Scraps of canvas for sashing
- 1/4 yard pieces of woven rayon or 100 percent cotton fabric for the chenille squares. Four different prints.
- 2 yards of nylon or cotton webbing
Instructions:
Cut out four 9-inch squares from each of the rayon/cotton fabrics.
I used 2 cottons and 2 rayons in this grouping. (Polys will not fray enough for this.) Layer each group of four in a different order. Each one will look different depending on the layering sequence.
When you have 4 groups of 4 fabrics, draw a line down the center diagonally of each group. This will be your stitching line guide. You only need to draw one line, then you will move to the right and left of it using the preceding line as your guide. It is important to do this on the bias, or it won't be fluffy.
Stitch on the center line that you drew with a 2.5 stitch-length, straight stitch. Move over 3/8" and stitch the next line. Repeat this process until your square is completely stitched from corner to corner.
When you are done with each group, you will have four different fabrics on top and each one will be layered differently. It's fun to see how the different layers make each square distinct.
It's now time to cut down the center of each channel. Cut through all layers except the bottom layer. You may use scissors or a rotary cutter for this step. If you are using a rotary cutter, it is a big help if you start each row by clipping it with a scissors.
This is a rotary cutter designed for cutting these layers. It has a guard that goes down the channel between the cutter and the last layer of fabric. The cutter comes with two guard sizes. I found it to be very handy.
After all the rows are cut, machine wash and dry each square to raise the threads. You can do this more than once if necessary. Once the fabrics are dry, brush them with a wire brush for more fluff. Trim your squares on all sides to true them up.
You now have 4 pieces of chenille fabric to make the front of the bag. I cut sashing 2" wide and used a 1/2" seam allowance to sew the four squares together horizontally then vertically. This became one side of my bag.
Then I centered and sewed out my parrot embroidery design on the large piece of canvas fabric, which is the other side of the bag.
I joined the front and back together with a 1/2" seam allowance, making sure to finish the seams so that they won't ravel.
Then I hemmed the top of the bag and applied the webbing around the entire top edge.
To finish, cut two 18" handles and attach each end of the webbing to the top of each side of the bag. The handles should be about 4" from the seams on either side.
