This started out from a picture a friend posted online. Many people liked it and soon a conversation was started. Obviously we had seeked out an original source and pattern and unfortunately it's from a book out of print and in Japanese. So we decided that we could figure it out. Seeing instantly it was basically a wedding ring quilt and some simple geometry to create the bottom. I set to figure out the construction with the help of my friend and fellow sewer.
Here's my construction below. Which is four connected wedding rings leaving an open end at the right to connect with the left side later. Also you'll notice that the bottom is quarter sections of the center of the wedding ring block (with a 1/4" seam allowance added). Now it could be there is a way to add the bottom as one whole block center but this is how it worked best for me plus I wanted to quilt my bag.
Here is my un-quilted sandwich laid out.
I must not have captured that I quilted the top leaving enough room on either end to connect my rings and make my bag a tube.
Below I am sewing the bottom in sections and binding as I go for a more finished look.
I do two opposite sides first binding each.
Then I sewed the final seam along the bottom making sure the other two seams flipped opposite ways to avoid bulk.
Here is the inside bottom of my finished bag.
Here's a peek at the outside bottom. You can see the finished bottom is same as the center of the block.
I have bound it but not added handles.
Here it is again without handles, which I kinda like better than the final product which is with handles. Sorta makes a nice fabric bin. The first two photos I captured the bag with handles which I had just hand sewn on.
Very roomy as well holds lots of yarn, great for that afghan I'm working on.
What do you think? Would you want to try making one of these? Would you want another post with more step by step instructions? Or if you have any questions as to how this went together please leave a message in the comments.
