Fat Quarter Club Subscription: Bottle bag
October 2022
What’s better than a crafty make? A crafty make you can gift! This month’s My Guilty Pleasure Fat Quarter Club box contains everything you need to make a bottle bag – the perfect wrapper for some gifted plonk. What’s more, the bag can be regifted time and time again so you can feel an extra warm glow inside on completing your make that it’ll spread multi-use joy. It’s not just the empty bottle that’s worth recycling!
A ’grape’ make…
I was delighted when I unpacked my package from Little Miss Sew ‘n’ Sew and spotted the words ‘Bottle Bag’ on the instruction sheet. I’ve made fabric bottle bags for the past two Christmases, using a pattern I found online. The pattern I’ve adapted does only fit a standard wine bottle and doesn’t have handles. Trying out an alternative pattern means I’ve now found a bag that not only fits all types of bottles (hello, prosecco), but it can easily be carried among the many gift bags I distribute each Christmas. I’ve always felt a bit perplexed sitting my handmade bottle bag inside a bag to transport – that just defies logic.
To make the bottle bag, this month’s box contained:
- 3x fat quarters from the 'Animal Magic’ collection by Dashwood Studio (a red squirrel print, fox print, and an owl print)
- Bottle bag pattern sheet and instructions exclusively designed for Little Miss Sew ‘n’ Sew by Sew Cosy Patterns
- Fusible interfacing and fusible wadding/ fleece
- A couple of sweet treats
The fat quarters included in your box are curated each month for the relevant season. This month’s selection by Dashwood Studio had strong autumn vibes and would be the perfect accompaniment to an autumn birthday gift. Because of the width and height of the finished bag, you could also fill it with other things if your gift recipient isn’t a drinker. Toiletries, a narrow vase, several Toblerone, a tube of tennis balls… it’s pretty versatile.
Before you pull the cork…
So you can get cracking with your make, here’s a list of some tools you’ll want to have to hand:
- Complementing or contrasting cotton thread – most of your stitching will be on the inside of the bag, so you can use whatever tread you have going spare. However, there is some visible topstitching along the edge of the handles and across the top of the bag where the handles attach, so opt for a colour that blends in (especially if your topstitching isn’t always the neatest)
- Fabric scissors and general scissors – always worth ensuring you have a pair of each so you don’t blunt your fabric scissors cutting our your paper pattern pieces
- Tracing or baking paper – explained below!
- Pins – use to attach your pattern pieces to your fabric before you cut, to secure your front and lining fabric before you stitch, AND to mark the gap you’ll need to leave so you can pull your work through
- Iron – for attaching your fusible interfacing and wadding, as well as pressing your make as you go
Tips and tricks so you don’t lose your bottle…
This is my sixth make from the Fat Quarter Club and I always find the instructions easy to follow, but there’s often the need for some additional creative thinking. For this month’s make there were two head-scratchers which I hope the following tips will help with. I like a bit of problem-solving when it comes to crafting, so neither of these led to sour grapes – just the need to delve into my sewing box of tricks.
- Head-scratcher 1: using a pattern when the different pieces are printed on top of each other
Solution: simply trace each individual pattern piece and cut them out. As mentioned above, you can either using tracing paper or baking paper to do this. Because of the lines of the pattern are also quite thick, you might be able to trace through a piece of paper. I don’t have the steadiest hand, so I used the rounded end of a French Curse to help me when tracing the ‘Bottle Bag Base’ pattern piece.
- Head-scratcher 2: cutting the fabric so you can use the same print for the bag body and handles
Solution: ok, so you don’t need to have your handles in the same fabric as your main front pieces, but I was keen for them to match. I also enjoy the challenge of using the fabrics included in the box as efficiently as possible. It feels like a total win when I have a fat quarter or more left over for my stash at the end of my make. Essentially, by placing the template for the ‘Bottle bag main and lining’ on the fold at either the very top or bottom of the fabric, and cutting out the two pieces, you’ll be left with a longer piece which you can then use to cut the two handle pieces from and the ‘Bottle bag base. The picture below shows the length of fabric you should end up with for your handles and base if, like me, you’re a stickler for your fabric pieces all being the same.
Sip, sip, hooray!
Another versatile make from the My Guilty Pleasure Fat Quarter Club that can be added to your sewing pattern library and used time and time again. Several of the members in the My Guilty Pleasure private Facebook group have already started to use this month’s pattern for Christmas bottle giving. I’m now torn over whether I stick with my usual bottle bag pattern for Christmas gifting or step it up a notch this year and use the Fat Quarter Club one. While I make my mind up, I think I’ve certainly earned myself a celebratory glass of something 😊
