Amy Butler’s Cosmo Bag

She’s done! If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I’ve been working on an Amy Butler bag. This is one of the projects I selected as part of Stitched in Color’s effort to use those overlooked and neglected fabrics in our stashes.

Case in point: two amazing Amy Butler fabrics—both from her Love line—that I have had for a long time. I purchased the purple fabric during my wraparound skirt phase, so I had more than 2 yards of it. (Somehow during that phase, I ended up with one wraparound skirt, and my sister ended up with three. I’m still not sure how that happened.) I found the red paisley in the $5-a-yard sale section at my local quilt shop.

 
I’ve been meaning to tackle one of the bigger bags in Amy Butler’s Style Stitches (given to me by my sister a few Christmases ago, which kind of makes up for the fact that I cranked out so many wraparound skirts for her). The Cosmo Bag is huge. It’s 21 inches wide and almost 23 inches tall, the perfect dimensions for, say, toting a finished quilt to show-and-tell at guild meetings.

As usual with Amy’s patterns, this one was clearly written. It was categorized as an “easy” pattern. I haven’t done any of the other bags in the book to compare the Cosmo pattern to, but it was a bigger project than I had bargained for. I cut out 30 pieces from quilting cottons and 27 pieces of interfacing. I spent an entire week of crafting time on it. And there were multiple times I had to, as Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs noted, “pin it into submission.” (Did you catch that, Chelsea? Pins are you friends!)

Was it worth it? Completely. I’m thrilled that these fabrics have been put to good use. And the experience was a great confidence booster for me. When I was a new sewer, ten-plus years ago, I tried my hand at some of Amy’s designs, and they were a challenge. Although the Cosmo Bag took longer than I anticipated, I absolutely have the skills to pull it off. My mom, who has been sewing longer than I’ve been alive, witnessed my construction of the bag and admitted that there was no way she’d attempt a pattern like that. It would drive her crazy. Go me!

BTW: If you’re considering making your own Cosmo bag and, like me, have an early printing of Style Stitches, be sure to check out Amy’s update about the pattern. (Printings since May 2011 reflect these changes.) Also: You can still find fabrics from her Love line at some fabric retailers, like Hawthorne Threads.

Two questions for you in conclusion ...

What are your experiences with Amy’s bag patterns? I’m looking to do the Reversible Everyday Shopper (below), also from Style Stitches, next. I’m considering the Weekender Travel Bag sometime down the road (like, sometime in 2015!).

Photograph from Amy Butler’s Style Stitches.
Used by permission of David Butler.

And on a completely different subject ... Chelsea, of Patch the Giraffe, and I have talked about the possibility of a low-volume fabric swap. If you’re interested, leave me a comment.

Linking up to Sew Cute Tuesday (check it out—I was the guest blogger this week!), Let’s Bee Social, and Needle and Thread Thursday. I’m also joining in the fun at TGIFF and Finish It Up Friday ...

Oh, and I heard about all the fun happening at Craft Buds Craft Book Month. How could I say no to that?!