How I Made Art Show Things
Jun. 23rd, 2012 06:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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contxt_loungeI was going to just post a photo, but this got out of hand, so here is a photo and and ad-hoc how-too on the QUILTBAG quilt bag I put in the art auction this year.
This is set up with headers and nested cuts, because yeah, it got kind of long...
The picture is kind of shoddy because I didn't get around to taking one until about five minutes before the auction started. Sorry!
It's a variation on the classic three-by-three ninepatch design, which each of the nine patches as a pride flag that corresponds to part of the acronym, clockwise from upper left:
Q is for genderQueer - I was going to just put the rainbow flag here, and leave the center square blank or something, but then I found the genderqueer flag, and decided to go with that instead, mostly because I liked the colors. (And because I knew that there's a fairly large number of fandomers who ID as genderqueer somewhere, and this was going to con.txt, and it would be nice to explicitly include them.) I'm not sure how widely adopted this flag is, but I saw photos of at least a few people flying it.
U is for undecided/unsure - AFAIK there is no flag for this, but I knew it was going to be a question mark; the rainbow patterned background was last minute (it is supposed to look a bit like the seventh Doctor's but I'm not sure how you could tell.)
I is for Intersex - I was really wavering on this one; I couldn't find any origin for it other than "somebody posted it to the pride flags article on wikipedia". But the intersex pride bloggers I found all seemed to be at worst apathetic about, and there weren't really any better options here, and I really didn't want to attempt to applique a ring with multiple arrows coming off of it, and also I really wanted a chance to use the blue/pink blotchy fabric, so flag it was.
L is for Lesbian - SPEAKING OF NOT WANTING TO HAND-APPLIQUE. Oh my god, that ax and triangle, I think it took me almost as long as machine-patchworking all the stripes on the other flags put together. On the other hand, the purple-white-black ax lesbian flag is badass, so I had to.
T is for Transgender, and it was way harder than I thought to find the fabric scraps for this, the blue is actually cut from an old set of Quidditch-themed bedsheets.
B is for Bisexual - not much to say here except yay this one was easy to do, only three stripes! Colors I had, mostly! \o/
A is for Asexual - When I first started thinking about this project, there was no asexuality flag, and I was trying to figure out where to find gray-gradient fabric for an AVEN triangle. Hooray for the flag! Much simpler, even if I still had trouble finding plain gray broadcloth for some reason.
G is for Gay - I hadn't made up my mind about whether to do the pink triangle point up or point down, until I realized I had absent-mindedly already sewn it in point-up, so point up it was!
Center square: Rainbow LGBT pride flag! I got the impression some people were confused with eight letters and nine flags, just consider the center your free space.
No, I did not actually have a pattern when I started. Appearances aside, there is still no pattern.
See, I know some people hoard yarn? I'm pretty okay with yarn - I mean yeah I have an entire rubbermaid tub full, plus most of the bottom of a closet, plus all of Mom's hoard - but I use it not too much slower than I get it, and I almost never acquire anything without something specific in mind, so that's fine.
I hoard fabric though. I like the colors. And the textures. And the way it drapes. And the way different fabrics feel cooler or warmer even at the same temperature. And...
So anyway, another one of my rules is that I'm not aloud to hoard anything unless I have clear evidence that I'm going to use it, and so I needed a brightly colored patchwork project to prove that I still need to hoard small fabric scraps. :P This one served admirably.
I am actually considering making a couple more of these, and putting them up on my lonely etsy account or something - it took about ten hours to make the first one, not counting going through stash, and if they'd sell for even half what the con.txt one did, it would almost be worth the labor, as long as I was just burning through stash. Maybe I'll at least make one for myself.
Anyway, no there is no pattern, but here's some fairly extensive notes on how I made it, if anybody wants to try their own and wants something to start from other than just eight letters:
I pretty much copied the shape from an old totebag I really like the size of. The front panel (with the quilting) and back panel are 12" x 15", with a 5" width added by the sides. If you want something bigger/smaller, scale all measurements accordingly.
You might also want to mix & match the flags based on what you personally feel strongly about (or like the look of); I'm only covering what I did, but there's plenty of variation possible. (I love the idea of doing the center square as something specific and personal not covered by the acronym, like a bdsm flag or a nationality-variant rainbow flag or a blue feather or something.)
To do the flags I did, at minimum, you'll probably want (very, very small amounts of): red, orange, yellow, two different greens, two different blues, at least two different purples, pink, gray, black, white, a pink/blue combo (not purple - the original is a gradient), and a smallscale multicolored pattern.
I used a 1/4" seam allowance around all the pieces; if you're not really familiar with machine patchwork, you'll probably want more than that; 1/4" was the lower limit of narrow even for me. I also drew on the lines I was going to seam along as I cut the pieces (...hopefully none of them still showed on the finished bag.) You actually need quite a lot of precision with machine patchwork if you don't want it to look shoddy, so I recommend doing this too.
Measurements: These are rounded to the nearest power-of-two fraction of an inch; if want better precision, do the math yourself. :p
Also: remember to add twice your seam allowance onto all of these measurements
Genderqueer: three 5" x 1 1/4" strips, one each purple, white, green
Undecided: one 5" x 4" base piece, patterned (see below for applique advice).
Intersex: 4 5" x 5/8" strips, two each white and purple
One 5" x 1 1/4" strip, pink and blue
Lesbian: one 5" x 4" base piece, purple
Transgender: five 5" x 3/4" strips, two each blue and pink, one white
Bisexual: two 5" x 1 5/8" strips, pink and blue
One 5" x 5/8" strip
Asexual: four 5" x 1" strips, black, gray, white and purple (hooray asexuals and even division by four!)
Gay: One 5" x 4" base piece, white.
LGBT: Six 5" x 5/8" strips, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. (if you want to do the eight-stripe version, they're half-inch strips. If you want to do the seven-stripe version, you're on your own...)
Patch each of the striped flags together with a simple straight seam, keeping a close eye on your widths - if you screw up the widths of the stripes, or of the complete flag square, it will look really sloppy later. Be as precise as you can.
If you'd rather not applique, there are a couple of possibilities: you could patchwork the triangles instead of applique; I didn't because I knew I'd need the applique practice before I got to the question mark and axe. Of course you could leave off the axe entirely and find an appropriately-patterned fabric to go as a plain square for U. If you want to patchwork the triangles, you'll want a patch for the triangle, and three separate pieces in the background fabric to fill in around each of the three sides (the best way to divide up those three pieces I leave as an exercise.) I don't recommend trying to patchwork an axe or a question mark, though.
You could also use iron-on patches or backing cut to shape instead of sewing the applique, use fabric pens or paints to draw in the designs, or use a simple outline stitch to embroider them onto the squares, or do a basic machine applique by zig-zag or feather stitching around the edges. (I don't find any of those as durable as proper applique, but ymmv, especially if iron-on transfers don't hate you like they do me.)
To cut out the shapes: I pretty much just freehanded the ax, with the handle as a straight rectangle and the blades as two separate pieces.
To cut an equilateral triangle: cut out a square with sides the length of the base of the triangle. Fold it in half down the middle, crease, unfold. Take a straight-edge marked with the length of the side, and rotate it up from one of the corners until the length mark meets the center crease. This is your vertex. Connect the vertex to the bottom corners, and voila. (instructions for equilateral triangle with images here.)
For the exclamation point: you could print or freehand a large one which you trace onto your cloth. I found that a US dime was just about the right size: one circle for the dot at the bottom, then trace around the dime again for the inside of the curve of the ?, then hold it tangent at about 10 o'clock on that circle and trace half-around for one end of the question mark, then follow the curves around, and trace half-around the dime again for the curve of the bottom end. (if you are bad at applique as me, all the curves are going to change as you sew anyway.)
If you're going to hand-applique, you want quite small seam allowances, and clip & trim the corners very well. Then good luck!
Once you have all nine squares, sew them together, first into three strips of three, then the three strips together. This is the really tricky part; if your corners don't line up - if your center squares in each strip of three aren't exactly the same width, if your seams aren't parallel, if you don't sew right on the line - it will look really sloppy. This is a measure twice, then sew twice situation. Line up all your corners!
On the other hand it will inevitably be a little bit off, and as long as your corners aren't more than an eighth-inch or so off, it's as good as the antique ones I inherited from my grandmothers, so don't obsess *too* much.
Once you have the nine-patch done, it's time to actually quilt it.
Cut a piece of quilt batting, and your backing fabric, to enough over 15" X 12" that you have a comfortable margin including a seam allowance. Your backing fabric should at least coordinate with, if not match, the fabric you're making the rest of the bag out of, and cut the backing fabric an extra inch or two long (13"), with the extra at the top, so you have enough to fold over for a top seam.
Pin or safety-pin the three layers together with a pin in the center of each flag, trying to line them up pretty well.
Then machine-quilt (in a complementary thread color - I used white, although I'd love to find some rainbow quilting thread) by simply sewing a line around each flag in the nine-patch (with a fairly long stitch length) about 1/4" in from seam where you patched them together. On the outer edges, you should have extra seam allowance still showing; make sure you quilt farther in from the edge to allow for that.
You should be neater than I was on this part. :P Also you can get fancier with the quilting than that, but don't get too fancy, because you don't want to distract from the flag design.
If all you want is a quilted nine-patch, stop there, trim the edges, and sew seam binding around them - tada, mini QUILTBAG quilt, also suitable for framing!
If you want to turn it into a proper QUILTBAG, you have to make the bag. You can adapt any tote bag pattern that allows for a large panel on the front; I couldn't find a pattern I liked so I basically copied the one I had in front of me, instructions for that below.
Measurements:
Back: rectangle of 15 1/2" x 13 1/2" (1/4" seam allowance included)
Sides: Strip of 6" x at least 43" (if you're doubling this, cut two of these and pin them together right sides out, then treat them as one piece of fabric.)
Handles: 2 strips, each 18" x 4"
I used a kind of fancy seam for this, and okay, I don't even know what this seam is called, which shows you how good a seamstress I am, but I will try my best to describe how to do it. If you've never done it before, or I confuse you, I suggest starting with the back, so you aren't dealing with figuring out the seam + all the quilted layers.
The easiest way to do this is to pin the side strip around the backing strip, right sides together, starting by lining up one of the top corners, and sew a plain seam about 1/4" from the edge. Then unfold the the seam, take the side strip, and wrap it around the raw edges of the seam, so you end up with it folded under the back piece, wrong side to wrong side, covering up the cut edges. Then sew again just inside where the your first seam is, to hold the folds.
(This is basically your I'm-too-lazy-for-separate-seam-binding seam, essentially. It gives a crisp bound look to the edges. If you'd rather hide all the seaming on the inside of the bag, do the same stitching, but reverse right side/wrong side in the instructions. You can also do it with only one line of sewing, doing all the folds at once, but you probably want the extra reinforcement on a bag anyway.)
When you get to a corner, fold the excess over on the outside of the seam, so you get a neat diagonal line. The side strip will want to pleat a little. Let it.
Go all the way around the back, then trim the nine-patch front to an even 1/4" seam allowance, pin it to the other side, and do the same thing, making sure you include all the layers of the quilting.
Next, take the excess fabric at the top and fold it over twice, hiding the edge, toward the outside of the bag, bringing it down just far enough to cover the edge of the quilted panel without hiding any of the design. Sew all the way around the top, once around the lower edge of the fold, and then again toward the top of the bag (to hold a sharp crease). You will be going through a *lot* of layers on the corners. Be kind to your machine.
Then fold the ends under and pin to the inside of the bag, a half-inch to an inch below the top, about 2" in from each side, centering carefully (they are a lot more centered than they look in the picture, I promise!) Sew the handles on with an x-in-a-box pattern for reinforcement.
And tada! Done!
Oh and hey, while I'm at it, two years ago I put in the tiny crocheted daleklings, which you may remember, and promised people I'd finish double-checking the pattern and post it?
Ahaha. The problem is that every time I do one, I figure out a better way to do something, so I've never managed to get all the way through the pattern without alteration in order to proofread it. But since that will apparently never happen, I might as well throw up the most recent version, with a caveat that quality is not guaranteed, and that I do not speak crochet notation fluently.
If anybody would like to try to turn this into a real pattern, feel free! And if you try it and get stuck, PM me and I will try to help, offer has no time limit.
I use ~1.5 oz worsted weight, all one color, no novelty textures or very fuzzy yarn - you want the texture to be obvious - American J hook. ymmv with gauge.
Chain 16.
Row 1: sc in 3rd ch from hook, then sc in next 9 ch. Work 1 sc in front lp of next 2 sc, sl st in front loop of next 2 ch.
Row 2: Turn. ch 1. sl st 1 in front loop of sc. sc in front loop of next 2 sc. sc in both loops of next 2 sc.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 2.
Row 3: Turn. Ch 1. sc 10. sc in front loop of next 2 sc.. sl st 2 in front loop of stitch.
Row 4: Turn. ch 1. sl st 1 in front loop of stitch. sc in front loop of next 2 sc.. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 2.
Row 5:Turn. Ch 1. sc 10. sc 1 in front loop of stitch. sl st in front loop of next 3 sc.
Row 6: Turn. ch 1. sc in front loop of next 3 sc. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 2.
Row 7: Turn. ch 2. dc 1. hd 1. dc 1. hd 3. sc 3. sl st 1. sc 1. sc in front loop of next 4 sc.
Row 8: Turn. ch 1. sc in front loop of next 3 sc. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, hd 1, d 1.
Row 9: Turn. ch 2. hd 1. dc 2. hd 1. sc 3. sl st 1. sc 1. sc in front loop of next 4 sc.
Row 10: Turn. ch 1. sc in front loop of next 3 sc. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, hd 1, dc 1.
Row 11: Turn. ch 2. dc 1. hd 3. sc 2. sl st 3. sc 1. sc in front loop of next 4 sc.
Row 12: Turn. ch 1. sc in front loop of next 3 sc. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, hd 1, dc 1.
Row 13: Turn. ch 2. hd 1. dc 2. hd 1. sc 3. sl st 1. sc 1. sc in front loop of next 4 sc.
Row 14: Turn. ch 1. sc in front loop of next 3 sc. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, hd 1, d 1.
Row 15: Turn. ch 2. dc 1. hd 1. dc 1. hd 3. sc 3. sl st 1. sc 1. sc in front loop of next 4 sc.
Row 16: Turn. ch 1. sc in front loop of next 3 sc. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 2.
Row 17: Turn. Ch 1. sc 10. sc 1 in front loop of stitch. hc3 in front loop of stitch.
Row 18: Turn. ch 1. sl st 1 in front loop of stitch. sc in front loop of next 2 sc.. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 2.
Row 19: Turn. Ch 1. sc 10. sc in front loop of next 2 sc.. sl st 2 in front loop of stitch.
Row 20: Turn. ch 1. sl st 1 in front loop of stitch. sc in front loop of next 2 sc.. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 2.
Sew or sl st the seam up the back.
Round 1: Starting at bottom of back seam, sc ~30, evenly spaced.
Round 2: Do one round DC in back loop of each sc.
Round 3: SC in back loop of each DC round, reducing by 3 evenly spaced around back half of base, and reducing by 4 directly under front of dalek (to make pointy end).
Round 4+: Continue reducing in the same pattern until base is filled in.
Stuff base and main cylinder now.
Round 1: Starting at top of back seam, sl st ~15, evenly spaced.
Round 2: sc one round, in front loop of sl st.
Round 3: sl st one round in back loop of sl st from Round 1.
Round 4: sc one round in front loop of sl st from Round 3.
Round 5: sl st one round in back half of sl st from round 4
Round 6: sc one round.
Round 7: sc one round, reducing 2.
Round 8: sc one round, reducing 4.
finish.
"weapons": Right above the bobbles, on the first row of ribbing, sc five stitches across center front.
Turn and start a second row; on the second stitch, pick up part of the equivalent stitch on the first row, then ch 6. SC 6 in last chain; sc one round of 6; then pull the loop back through the center of the disc, and sl st back down the stalk.
Do three more sc across the ribbing, then pick up next-to-last stitch of the first row, ch 10, then sl st in eighth chain down to make a loop.
Then ch four more, sl st in center of loop, ch four more, sl st back into original chain, sl st 2 back down stalk, then sc one more on ribbing, and finish.
eye "buds": find position on dome, sc 1, ch 1, sc1 back on dome, finish.
other thingy: sc four in a square on front center of dome. From center of square, ch 6. sc four in last chain. sl st 1 down chain, then sc 3 in next chain, then sl st 4 back down to dome; finish.
All of the above placed by melannen under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Fly free, my pretties.
This is set up with headers and nested cuts, because yeah, it got kind of long...
QUILTBAG quilt bag
The picture is kind of shoddy because I didn't get around to taking one until about five minutes before the auction started. Sorry!
About the Design
It's a variation on the classic three-by-three ninepatch design, which each of the nine patches as a pride flag that corresponds to part of the acronym, clockwise from upper left:
Q is for genderQueer - I was going to just put the rainbow flag here, and leave the center square blank or something, but then I found the genderqueer flag, and decided to go with that instead, mostly because I liked the colors. (And because I knew that there's a fairly large number of fandomers who ID as genderqueer somewhere, and this was going to con.txt, and it would be nice to explicitly include them.) I'm not sure how widely adopted this flag is, but I saw photos of at least a few people flying it.
U is for undecided/unsure - AFAIK there is no flag for this, but I knew it was going to be a question mark; the rainbow patterned background was last minute (it is supposed to look a bit like the seventh Doctor's but I'm not sure how you could tell.)
I is for Intersex - I was really wavering on this one; I couldn't find any origin for it other than "somebody posted it to the pride flags article on wikipedia". But the intersex pride bloggers I found all seemed to be at worst apathetic about, and there weren't really any better options here, and I really didn't want to attempt to applique a ring with multiple arrows coming off of it, and also I really wanted a chance to use the blue/pink blotchy fabric, so flag it was.
L is for Lesbian - SPEAKING OF NOT WANTING TO HAND-APPLIQUE. Oh my god, that ax and triangle, I think it took me almost as long as machine-patchworking all the stripes on the other flags put together. On the other hand, the purple-white-black ax lesbian flag is badass, so I had to.
T is for Transgender, and it was way harder than I thought to find the fabric scraps for this, the blue is actually cut from an old set of Quidditch-themed bedsheets.
B is for Bisexual - not much to say here except yay this one was easy to do, only three stripes! Colors I had, mostly! \o/
A is for Asexual - When I first started thinking about this project, there was no asexuality flag, and I was trying to figure out where to find gray-gradient fabric for an AVEN triangle. Hooray for the flag! Much simpler, even if I still had trouble finding plain gray broadcloth for some reason.
G is for Gay - I hadn't made up my mind about whether to do the pink triangle point up or point down, until I realized I had absent-mindedly already sewn it in point-up, so point up it was!
Center square: Rainbow LGBT pride flag! I got the impression some people were confused with eight letters and nine flags, just consider the center your free space.
No, I did not actually have a pattern when I started. Appearances aside, there is still no pattern.
Why it happened
So, this happened because a) readers of my journal voted for it, b) I've wanted to make a real QUILTBAG ever since the first time I saw the acronym, and c) I really needed to do another patchwork project in order to use up some of my fabric scraps.See, I know some people hoard yarn? I'm pretty okay with yarn - I mean yeah I have an entire rubbermaid tub full, plus most of the bottom of a closet, plus all of Mom's hoard - but I use it not too much slower than I get it, and I almost never acquire anything without something specific in mind, so that's fine.
I hoard fabric though. I like the colors. And the textures. And the way it drapes. And the way different fabrics feel cooler or warmer even at the same temperature. And...
So anyway, another one of my rules is that I'm not aloud to hoard anything unless I have clear evidence that I'm going to use it, and so I needed a brightly colored patchwork project to prove that I still need to hoard small fabric scraps. :P This one served admirably.
I am actually considering making a couple more of these, and putting them up on my lonely etsy account or something - it took about ten hours to make the first one, not counting going through stash, and if they'd sell for even half what the con.txt one did, it would almost be worth the labor, as long as I was just burning through stash. Maybe I'll at least make one for myself.
Anyway, no there is no pattern, but here's some fairly extensive notes on how I made it, if anybody wants to try their own and wants something to start from other than just eight letters:
How to make a QUILTBAG
I pretty much copied the shape from an old totebag I really like the size of. The front panel (with the quilting) and back panel are 12" x 15", with a 5" width added by the sides. If you want something bigger/smaller, scale all measurements accordingly.
Making the nine-patch for the front
Each of the nine patches are 4" x 5", which is pretty good proportions for a flag. When I do patchwork, I always use actual scrap, so I used best-match colors from fabric I already had in stock, which weren't always quite right. If you're going out and buying fabric, you probably want to go back to the source and match colors yourself.You might also want to mix & match the flags based on what you personally feel strongly about (or like the look of); I'm only covering what I did, but there's plenty of variation possible. (I love the idea of doing the center square as something specific and personal not covered by the acronym, like a bdsm flag or a nationality-variant rainbow flag or a blue feather or something.)
To do the flags I did, at minimum, you'll probably want (very, very small amounts of): red, orange, yellow, two different greens, two different blues, at least two different purples, pink, gray, black, white, a pink/blue combo (not purple - the original is a gradient), and a smallscale multicolored pattern.
I used a 1/4" seam allowance around all the pieces; if you're not really familiar with machine patchwork, you'll probably want more than that; 1/4" was the lower limit of narrow even for me. I also drew on the lines I was going to seam along as I cut the pieces (...hopefully none of them still showed on the finished bag.) You actually need quite a lot of precision with machine patchwork if you don't want it to look shoddy, so I recommend doing this too.
The Patchwork Flags
Measurements: These are rounded to the nearest power-of-two fraction of an inch; if want better precision, do the math yourself. :p
Also: remember to add twice your seam allowance onto all of these measurements
Genderqueer: three 5" x 1 1/4" strips, one each purple, white, green
Undecided: one 5" x 4" base piece, patterned (see below for applique advice).
Intersex: 4 5" x 5/8" strips, two each white and purple
One 5" x 1 1/4" strip, pink and blue
Lesbian: one 5" x 4" base piece, purple
Transgender: five 5" x 3/4" strips, two each blue and pink, one white
Bisexual: two 5" x 1 5/8" strips, pink and blue
One 5" x 5/8" strip
Asexual: four 5" x 1" strips, black, gray, white and purple (hooray asexuals and even division by four!)
Gay: One 5" x 4" base piece, white.
LGBT: Six 5" x 5/8" strips, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. (if you want to do the eight-stripe version, they're half-inch strips. If you want to do the seven-stripe version, you're on your own...)
Patch each of the striped flags together with a simple straight seam, keeping a close eye on your widths - if you screw up the widths of the stripes, or of the complete flag square, it will look really sloppy later. Be as precise as you can.
Non-Patchwork flags and Applique
I did the U, L, and G squares with hand-applique, which is, let's face it, annoying and difficult, but I don't have a machine with a specialty applique stitch and I don't like any of the other machine-applique methods.If you'd rather not applique, there are a couple of possibilities: you could patchwork the triangles instead of applique; I didn't because I knew I'd need the applique practice before I got to the question mark and axe. Of course you could leave off the axe entirely and find an appropriately-patterned fabric to go as a plain square for U. If you want to patchwork the triangles, you'll want a patch for the triangle, and three separate pieces in the background fabric to fill in around each of the three sides (the best way to divide up those three pieces I leave as an exercise.) I don't recommend trying to patchwork an axe or a question mark, though.
You could also use iron-on patches or backing cut to shape instead of sewing the applique, use fabric pens or paints to draw in the designs, or use a simple outline stitch to embroider them onto the squares, or do a basic machine applique by zig-zag or feather stitching around the edges. (I don't find any of those as durable as proper applique, but ymmv, especially if iron-on transfers don't hate you like they do me.)
To cut out the shapes: I pretty much just freehanded the ax, with the handle as a straight rectangle and the blades as two separate pieces.
To cut an equilateral triangle: cut out a square with sides the length of the base of the triangle. Fold it in half down the middle, crease, unfold. Take a straight-edge marked with the length of the side, and rotate it up from one of the corners until the length mark meets the center crease. This is your vertex. Connect the vertex to the bottom corners, and voila. (instructions for equilateral triangle with images here.)
For the exclamation point: you could print or freehand a large one which you trace onto your cloth. I found that a US dime was just about the right size: one circle for the dot at the bottom, then trace around the dime again for the inside of the curve of the ?, then hold it tangent at about 10 o'clock on that circle and trace half-around for one end of the question mark, then follow the curves around, and trace half-around the dime again for the curve of the bottom end. (if you are bad at applique as me, all the curves are going to change as you sew anyway.)
If you're going to hand-applique, you want quite small seam allowances, and clip & trim the corners very well. Then good luck!
Once you have all nine squares, sew them together, first into three strips of three, then the three strips together. This is the really tricky part; if your corners don't line up - if your center squares in each strip of three aren't exactly the same width, if your seams aren't parallel, if you don't sew right on the line - it will look really sloppy. This is a measure twice, then sew twice situation. Line up all your corners!
On the other hand it will inevitably be a little bit off, and as long as your corners aren't more than an eighth-inch or so off, it's as good as the antique ones I inherited from my grandmothers, so don't obsess *too* much.
Once you have the nine-patch done, it's time to actually quilt it.
Quilting
This is the easy part.Cut a piece of quilt batting, and your backing fabric, to enough over 15" X 12" that you have a comfortable margin including a seam allowance. Your backing fabric should at least coordinate with, if not match, the fabric you're making the rest of the bag out of, and cut the backing fabric an extra inch or two long (13"), with the extra at the top, so you have enough to fold over for a top seam.
Pin or safety-pin the three layers together with a pin in the center of each flag, trying to line them up pretty well.
Then machine-quilt (in a complementary thread color - I used white, although I'd love to find some rainbow quilting thread) by simply sewing a line around each flag in the nine-patch (with a fairly long stitch length) about 1/4" in from seam where you patched them together. On the outer edges, you should have extra seam allowance still showing; make sure you quilt farther in from the edge to allow for that.
You should be neater than I was on this part. :P Also you can get fancier with the quilting than that, but don't get too fancy, because you don't want to distract from the flag design.
If all you want is a quilted nine-patch, stop there, trim the edges, and sew seam binding around them - tada, mini QUILTBAG quilt, also suitable for framing!
If you want to turn it into a proper QUILTBAG, you have to make the bag. You can adapt any tote bag pattern that allows for a large panel on the front; I couldn't find a pattern I liked so I basically copied the one I had in front of me, instructions for that below.
Making the Bag
First step: pick a fabric for the rest of the bag. For the handles and the sides, pick something fairly neutral; you can go wild for the back (or even do more patchworking or applique), although I just used a basic off-white for all of it. If I was doing it again, and actually buying fabric instead of using stash, I would also have chosen something heavier-duty than plain cotton broadcloth, or at least doubled up the side/bottom fabric.Measurements:
Back: rectangle of 15 1/2" x 13 1/2" (1/4" seam allowance included)
Sides: Strip of 6" x at least 43" (if you're doubling this, cut two of these and pin them together right sides out, then treat them as one piece of fabric.)
Handles: 2 strips, each 18" x 4"
To sew the sides to the front and back
I used a kind of fancy seam for this, and okay, I don't even know what this seam is called, which shows you how good a seamstress I am, but I will try my best to describe how to do it. If you've never done it before, or I confuse you, I suggest starting with the back, so you aren't dealing with figuring out the seam + all the quilted layers.
The easiest way to do this is to pin the side strip around the backing strip, right sides together, starting by lining up one of the top corners, and sew a plain seam about 1/4" from the edge. Then unfold the the seam, take the side strip, and wrap it around the raw edges of the seam, so you end up with it folded under the back piece, wrong side to wrong side, covering up the cut edges. Then sew again just inside where the your first seam is, to hold the folds.
(This is basically your I'm-too-lazy-for-separate-seam-binding seam, essentially. It gives a crisp bound look to the edges. If you'd rather hide all the seaming on the inside of the bag, do the same stitching, but reverse right side/wrong side in the instructions. You can also do it with only one line of sewing, doing all the folds at once, but you probably want the extra reinforcement on a bag anyway.)
When you get to a corner, fold the excess over on the outside of the seam, so you get a neat diagonal line. The side strip will want to pleat a little. Let it.
Go all the way around the back, then trim the nine-patch front to an even 1/4" seam allowance, pin it to the other side, and do the same thing, making sure you include all the layers of the quilting.
Next, take the excess fabric at the top and fold it over twice, hiding the edge, toward the outside of the bag, bringing it down just far enough to cover the edge of the quilted panel without hiding any of the design. Sew all the way around the top, once around the lower edge of the fold, and then again toward the top of the bag (to hold a sharp crease). You will be going through a *lot* of layers on the corners. Be kind to your machine.
Handles
Fold the strips in half the long way, crease, unfold, then fold each edge in to the center crease (wrong sides together), then fold in half along the center again, so you have four thicknesses of fabric with all cut edges hidden. Pin, and sew lengthwise three or four times to hold the folds flat.Then fold the ends under and pin to the inside of the bag, a half-inch to an inch below the top, about 2" in from each side, centering carefully (they are a lot more centered than they look in the picture, I promise!) Sew the handles on with an x-in-a-box pattern for reinforcement.
And tada! Done!
Daleklings
Oh and hey, while I'm at it, two years ago I put in the tiny crocheted daleklings, which you may remember, and promised people I'd finish double-checking the pattern and post it?
Ahaha. The problem is that every time I do one, I figure out a better way to do something, so I've never managed to get all the way through the pattern without alteration in order to proofread it. But since that will apparently never happen, I might as well throw up the most recent version, with a caveat that quality is not guaranteed, and that I do not speak crochet notation fluently.
If anybody would like to try to turn this into a real pattern, feel free! And if you try it and get stuck, PM me and I will try to help, offer has no time limit.
Dalekling "pattern", latest revision
I use ~1.5 oz worsted weight, all one color, no novelty textures or very fuzzy yarn - you want the texture to be obvious - American J hook. ymmv with gauge.
Main Body (Bobbles and ribbing)
Chain 16.
Row 1: sc in 3rd ch from hook, then sc in next 9 ch. Work 1 sc in front lp of next 2 sc, sl st in front loop of next 2 ch.
Row 2: Turn. ch 1. sl st 1 in front loop of sc. sc in front loop of next 2 sc. sc in both loops of next 2 sc.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 2.
Row 3: Turn. Ch 1. sc 10. sc in front loop of next 2 sc.. sl st 2 in front loop of stitch.
Row 4: Turn. ch 1. sl st 1 in front loop of stitch. sc in front loop of next 2 sc.. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 2.
Row 5:Turn. Ch 1. sc 10. sc 1 in front loop of stitch. sl st in front loop of next 3 sc.
Row 6: Turn. ch 1. sc in front loop of next 3 sc. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 2.
Row 7: Turn. ch 2. dc 1. hd 1. dc 1. hd 3. sc 3. sl st 1. sc 1. sc in front loop of next 4 sc.
Row 8: Turn. ch 1. sc in front loop of next 3 sc. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, hd 1, d 1.
Row 9: Turn. ch 2. hd 1. dc 2. hd 1. sc 3. sl st 1. sc 1. sc in front loop of next 4 sc.
Row 10: Turn. ch 1. sc in front loop of next 3 sc. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, hd 1, dc 1.
Row 11: Turn. ch 2. dc 1. hd 3. sc 2. sl st 3. sc 1. sc in front loop of next 4 sc.
Row 12: Turn. ch 1. sc in front loop of next 3 sc. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, hd 1, dc 1.
Row 13: Turn. ch 2. hd 1. dc 2. hd 1. sc 3. sl st 1. sc 1. sc in front loop of next 4 sc.
Row 14: Turn. ch 1. sc in front loop of next 3 sc. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, hd 1, d 1.
Row 15: Turn. ch 2. dc 1. hd 1. dc 1. hd 3. sc 3. sl st 1. sc 1. sc in front loop of next 4 sc.
Row 16: Turn. ch 1. sc in front loop of next 3 sc. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 2.
Row 17: Turn. Ch 1. sc 10. sc 1 in front loop of stitch. hc3 in front loop of stitch.
Row 18: Turn. ch 1. sl st 1 in front loop of stitch. sc in front loop of next 2 sc.. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 2.
Row 19: Turn. Ch 1. sc 10. sc in front loop of next 2 sc.. sl st 2 in front loop of stitch.
Row 20: Turn. ch 1. sl st 1 in front loop of stitch. sc in front loop of next 2 sc.. sc 2.
bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 1, bobble 1, sc 2.
Sew or sl st the seam up the back.
Base
Round 1: Starting at bottom of back seam, sc ~30, evenly spaced.
Round 2: Do one round DC in back loop of each sc.
Round 3: SC in back loop of each DC round, reducing by 3 evenly spaced around back half of base, and reducing by 4 directly under front of dalek (to make pointy end).
Round 4+: Continue reducing in the same pattern until base is filled in.
Stuff base and main cylinder now.
Dome and radiator vents:
Round 1: Starting at top of back seam, sl st ~15, evenly spaced.
Round 2: sc one round, in front loop of sl st.
Round 3: sl st one round in back loop of sl st from Round 1.
Round 4: sc one round in front loop of sl st from Round 3.
Round 5: sl st one round in back half of sl st from round 4
Round 6: sc one round.
Round 7: sc one round, reducing 2.
Round 8: sc one round, reducing 4.
finish.
Eyestalks, weapons, assorted Widgets:
"weapons": Right above the bobbles, on the first row of ribbing, sc five stitches across center front.
Turn and start a second row; on the second stitch, pick up part of the equivalent stitch on the first row, then ch 6. SC 6 in last chain; sc one round of 6; then pull the loop back through the center of the disc, and sl st back down the stalk.
Do three more sc across the ribbing, then pick up next-to-last stitch of the first row, ch 10, then sl st in eighth chain down to make a loop.
Then ch four more, sl st in center of loop, ch four more, sl st back into original chain, sl st 2 back down stalk, then sc one more on ribbing, and finish.
eye "buds": find position on dome, sc 1, ch 1, sc1 back on dome, finish.
other thingy: sc four in a square on front center of dome. From center of square, ch 6. sc four in last chain. sl st 1 down chain, then sc 3 in next chain, then sl st 4 back down to dome; finish.
All of the above placed by melannen under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Fly free, my pretties.
