When it was quilted, it had to be trimmed to be exactly square, as the construction technique won't work otherwise. I have to credit Linda and Laura Kemshell for this construction technique, as described in an early Quilting Arts Magazine, in an article about Kantha stitching.
In this case I wanted to add a handle, which, if memory serves me, was not part of the original method. I wanted the handle to fit my hand easily. It took a bit of thought to decide to use one made of fabric rather than twisted cord, but think I made the right decision.
Next was to fit the pieces together. Two adjacent corners were brought together, and the folded edge hand stitched closed,
Then the next adjacent corner brought to the first two and that folded edge stitched closed.
Finally the last two edges are stitched together but only part way. For my stitching I used a #12 perle cotton that closely matched the binding, in colour. I stitched down the edge one way using an overcast, or slightly slanted stitch on top of the edge and a short straight stitch through the two bound edges, at a right angle. When I reached the corner, I stitched back in a similar manner, resulting in a series of tiny cross stitches holding together the two bound edges. For the last, partially sewn edges, I started at the open edge, stitched down to where the three corners met, and then back up again. This gave me the freedom to end off my thread on the inside of the bag.
and here is the finished result. A free standing knitting or stitchery tote. I would still very much like to close the opening in some way. and am planning to go through my many button tins to see if I can find a fairly small toggle button, that could be used with a loop stitched from the #12 perle.
Exactly as I planned. It will hang from a wall hook or door handle quite nicely.
1 comment:
beautiful, very clear explanation.
LeeAnna
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