Quilty Jolts Challenge #2 - Christmas Tote

December 22, 2017

Quilty Jolts Challenge #2 – Christmas Tote

Blog, Craft Tutorial, Quilty Jolts, Sewing Tutorial, Tutorial
bag, Christmas, Christmas Gift, Quilty Jolts, tutorial

All right. All right. Inspiration hit me and I decided to let it flow. Our new Quilty Jolts Challenge (See Quilty Jolts Challenge 1 here) was born. This project can take just a few hours or as long as you want. I had everything I needed to create this jolt in my stash so I didn’t need to go to the store, which is great because that makes my craft life sustainable. Today let’s make a Christmas tote with buttons.

These are the items I used for this project:

Variety of small, medium, and large buttons – I used 30
Canvas Tote 13”
2” of brown fabric for the tree trunk
10” square of green fabric for the tree
Steam-A-Seam 2 (double stick fusible tape)
Thread
Needle
Cutting mat, rotary cutter, iron, sewing machine

1- Cut your tree fabric into a 6” by 8.25” tall triangle. Here is a template.

2- Cut your tree trunk fabric into a .75” by 2” rectangle.

3- Place the seam tape on all edges of the back side of the tree and tree trunk fabric.

4– Find the middle of the tree trunk by folding it in half. Find the middle of the tote by folding it in half. With the tree trunk right side up, place it on top of the bag 2” from the bottom of the tote. Iron into place.

5– Place the tree in the middle of the tote right on top of the tree trunk with a slight overlap. Iron into place.

6– Bring the bag to the sewing machine and top stitch the edges of the tree and tree trunk. Be playful and let your artistic side out, but be careful that you don’t sew your bag shut.

7- Embellish the tree. Double up your thread and knot the end. I kept all of my knots on the top of the bag because the buttons covered the knots. Attach your large buttons first and then work in the smaller and medium sized buttons. I even used a shell pendant.

Quilty Jolts Challenge

This makes a fun festive bag for yourself or it can be a great gift for a friend. I made it to wrap my Tucson Modern Quilt Guild gift in for our yearly exchange. Here is what I am taking to the exchange.

My Quilty Jolts Challenge to you is to use this idea to create your own project. You can totally use the tree and bag, but feel free to make a heart, snowflake, pillow, or mini quilt. The sky’s the limit as long as your creativity is flowing. To enter into this challenge, post your project photos with buttons on Instagram using the hashtag #QuiltyJoltsChallenge2 and #QuiltyJolts. Have fun!