Summit Prep and an Amy Butler Weekender

I have just returned from the Sewing Summit and it's been hard to adjust back to real life! But it does feel good to be back with my family and routine again. I missed my hooligans. I will have a Summit recap post as soon as I can wrap my head around it, for now I will share what kept me busy in preparation for the Summit, whew!

 The biggest challenge I gave myself was the Weekender Bag by Amy Butler. I have had this pattern since it first came out with big intentions, but now I had a reason!

 

 The pattern required home dec fabric and lots of interfacing. In short, it was a pricey bag to put together. So I decided to use what I had. I had this gorgeous brown floral vintage remake fabric and thought it would be perfect. I found the lining fabric at Joann's on their red tag clearance rack. All the interfacing I got with 50% off coupons, score! 

I pushed myself further and thought with the style of the fabrics it needed to have leather handles. Never done that before (or made a major bag for that reason). But I found brown leather handles at by local fabric store, Sewing Party and I just love the way it turned out.

  For the piping I tried to find a vinyl fabric that matched the leather perfectly and wasn't too stiff to make piping out of! I ended up finding a faux suede-y fabric that was very supple and easy to work with and matched pretty well.

The worst part about this bag for me was the cutting! It took forever to cut out all the pieces with the multiple layers. Putting it together for the most part was fine. Just attaching that last panel that took a little finagling. I was finishing up the lining that had to be hand stitched in literally the night before I left.

I am definitely proud of this accomplishment. It was fun to cross it off the list. And the best compliment I got from people was that it looked like it was purchased and not homemade. I have to admit I was envious of some of the quilted Weekenders and there were some amazing ones. But I think mine is all original and I love the fabric so I'm happy with it.

 I didn't want to miss out on anything going on for the Summit and the other item that kept popping up that people were making was the Tova shirt. Now, I do not make clothes for myself, but I just fell in love with the style of this shirt. Since I was challenging myself, I went for it. I adore Liberty of London fabrics and of course florals, so that's what I picked to make it with. It turned out beautifully! I might just make more clothing for myself. Okay, no, probably not :).

For the zipper pouch swap I ended up making a second zippy. This time I used the Noodlehead pattern for the open mouth pouch. I might just start making zippy pouches a lot, they come together so fast and the result is so cute! I like the little tab at the end of the zipper on this one.

I also joined the Valor Quilt squares bee. Liz at Goddess in Progress decided to host a challenge to make squares for the troops and then she would join them together to make a quilt to give. Such a great idea. I made these two squares to contribute.

 I had some great Americana fabrics in my stash including a blue military print. It was fun to be able to add those.

 My final preps for Summit was cutting all of the fabric I would need for my classes! This is my disaster area when I was getting that done. I'm so glad I did this a week early because it took a while. But I learned how to cut triangles and hexagons, so it was worth it. I love learning new things.

 

 As you can see I was a bit busy preparing for Sewing Summit! I love that it made me make things that I have never tried before and things I've been wanting to make forever. And that's all before I even got there! I'll keep you posted on the things that happened while I was there. What a weekend! :)