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Meet my new quilted zipper bag called Tribal

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Happy Saturday, and welcome to meet the latest make from my sewing studio! This is a modern quilting blog focused on patchwork, scrappy quilts, zipper pouches, quilted bags, colour theory, and practical quilting tutorials. Today’s entry in the quilt studio diary introduces a finished project: a quilted zipper bag called Tribal. Dear Daughter suggested the name because she saw in something tribal-like in the pattern in the narrow strip just below the half-square triangles on this side: I can also share two process pictures. First, the surfaces just after I’d put them together. You can see that they aren’t even properly pressed yet: All of the half-square triangles in the surfaces must be leftovers from making the Busy quilt, for which I’ve also released a pattern. A week after taking that photo, I had quilted the surfaces and trimmed them to size. I chose intersecting curves for quilting pattern. I got the pattern idea originally from my IG friend Alfhild @alborve and it is ...
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The latest finish: May Day quilted zipper bag

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Happy Thursday, and it’s time to have a look at my sewing studio! This is a modern quilting blog focused on patchwork, scrappy quilts, zipper pouches, quilted bags, colour theory, and practical quilting tutorials. Today, I’ll share a recently finished project: a quilted zipper bag called May Day. This zipper bag got that name because I finished it in time to enjoy the May Day celebrations which are a big thing in Finland. I love the spring! Since I started blogging, I’ve grown to love the months that offer a lot of daylight even more than I used to because my makes look so much nicer in well-lit photos. Before looking at the other side of the May Day zipper bag, let’s go back in time to the moment when I’d built a small, rectangular surface and realised that I could make it more interesting. I found a large half-square triangle, sewn goodness knows when, and cut it mercilessly in half. The pieces looked good for making new corners for my original surface: In the photo, you ma...
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7 things I’ve learned about making quilted zipper bags

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I’ve made more than 360 zipper bags during my 16+ blogging years. Over the years, I’ve learned so many things – not only about sewing zipper bags, but how to use scraps, colour, and contrast, where to place the focus pieces on the surface, and the best ways to quilt them to effect. Some of the learnings came because my methods and techniques developed. Others I learned through mistakes, or by reflecting on why I liked or did not like one creation or another. For example, I’ve realised that scrappy zipper bags can benefit from having visual order, that value contrast matters more than matching fabrics, and that the density of quilting will change how a bag looks and feels. I’ve also been surprised to learn how different people’s preferences are when it comes to size, shape, or colour. It’s liberating to know that a standard shape and size is not the only way to go! In this post, I will share my learnings – including one thing that can make your zipper bag look classily handmade in...
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Splendid colour tips for quilting: Red in quilts

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This post is part of my Splendid colour tips series, where I share helpful information to help you choose fabrics and colours with more confidence. In this post, I share my thoughts and practical tips about the use of red in quilting and use my own quilts and quilted items as examples. In this post you’ll discover: how different reds can behave next to green, neutrals, and other reds common colour-contrast problems when sewing with red (and how to avoid them) reliable ways to combine red fabrics successfully in your own quilts Red colour represents passion, energy, excitement and danger. It is a vibrant colour and so effective, that only a small piece is often enough to draw the eye in a quilt. Because red represents passion, it is a great colour choice for a quilt meant for the love of your life. It is said that the red centre square in the traditional log cabin block is a symbol of the hearth and warmth of home. I’ve not sewn many log cabin quilts and do not remember if I...
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