Sew Stylish Challenge with ByAnnie

Welcome to October and another exciting Island Batik Ambassador Challenge! This month, our theme is "Sew Stylish." The Island Batik Ambassadors have been tasked with creating bags from ByAnnie.com using the vibrant colors of Island Batik fabrics by Lumin Fabrics.

For my project, I chose the ByAnnie Two Little Totes pattern to create. ByAnnie, our sponsor this month, generously sent us all the supplies to make this pattern. This pattern allows you to make two different sizes: Small or Medium. I chose the Medium Size.

As for the Island Batik Fabrics, I chose three pretty fabrics from the Frosted Foliage fabric collection by Tiffany Hayes of Needle in a Hayes Stack.

This is not my first byAnnie bag. I just love making these bags; they are so much fun and easy to make with the help of Annie's Add-On Tutorials. She walks you through the steps.

To get started, I created fabric sandwiches using Soft and Stable foam stabilizers. I used my BERNINA 790 Pro with a walking foot to quilt straight lines for my bag. This is so much fun and relaxing.

The next step was to begin preparing the necessary pieces for the bag. I used my Oliso Iron to attach the interfacing to the stabilizer sleeve for the bag base.

After completing all the prep work, it was time to assemble the bag. Annie makes this process straightforward with her easy-to-follow patterns and video tutorials. I highly recommend utilizing those videos!

The final step was to sew on the bag zipper. I used to have trouble with zippers and making them look good, but this time, I took my time, and it turned out perfectly. Annie’s tips in the videos were incredibly helpful!

I’m absolutely in love with my new tote bag. It’s the perfect size—Chloe thought so too when I put her in the bag! I think I might need to make the "Two Big Totes" bag next, so I can carry all my quilting projects.

Be sure to check out the other Island Batik Ambassador ByAnnie projects. 

• Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs
• Renee Atkinson ~ Pink Tulip Quilting
• Susan Deshensky ~ Lady Blue Quilts Studio
• Tina Dillard - Quilting Affection Designs
• Brittany Fisher ~ Bobbin with Brittany
• Kimberly Flannagan - Kimberlys Quilts
• Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts
• Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts
• Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs
• Connie Kresin Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River
• Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood
• Denise Looney ~ A Quiltery
• Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights
• Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion
• Sarah Pitcher ~ Pitcher’s Boutique
• Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail
• Carol Stanek ~ Stitch with Color
• Solomae Stoycoff - Cuddle Cat Quiltworks
• Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations
• Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt