Monday, February 9, 2015

necessity is the (valentine gift) of invention

 Those of you who know me, know I make a Valentine quilt every year for Mr. Not Afraid of Color and I.
The top photo is the quilt in progress, background chosen, appliques on, stamped and painted. Waiting quilting now.
Sometimes the V-day quilt gets done a bit after the day... life gets in the way.
So last weekend we went to a Festival near DC.
We had the best time and danced our tootsies off.

DH asked if I could make a dance bag to hold his shoes so they won't get scuffed or dirty other stuff in the larger dance bag.

I had the last of the guitar flannel, the fabric I taught my 17 year old nephew to make a pillow case on, the fabric I used for dh's mug rugs, and thought it might just be enough.


I've never made anything like this. I didn't let that stop me!
The scrap of flannel was about 11" by 24" and the black notes flannel was 6" by 24"
Perfect.
Flannel frays badly so all seams needed to be finished off. I'll try and remember how I made this.

I know one can buy shoe bags but not shoe bags for dancers... so here goes...
I folded the white piece RST and seamed with a 1/4th in seam to within an inch of the top, backstitching.

I cut the black into two 6" X 12" pieces, hemmed the short ends simply by folding over twice and stitching.
Then I folded each one in half lengthwise, seamed the long edge and turned the finished tube RS out.
I now had two of these tubes.

Fold one side of the bag out of the way.

I placed the tube down on the table, laid the raw edge of the bag about quarter inch down from the tube edge and sewed a seam. When this seam is opened up, the finished tube edge covers the raw bag edge.
Topstitch this finishing it off.
Repeat on the other side.
Sew about an inch down from the very top of the black to form a tunnel for a shoe lace to go thru.

All the way across, then turn and come back along the other tube's tunnel until the shoelace ends are together.
Overhand knot.
Voila! It's a drawstring!

The tubes are free, open on the sides but all edges are finished so they don't fray.

The shoes are in there and my work to find a gift for my beloved is done! One he actually needs and will use. Win Win!

12 comments:

Maria said...

The shoe bag is awesome! He is going to love it.. The fabric is very cool too!

Jackie Bouchard said...

That came out really cute! Wow, a Valentine's quilt ever year? Cool!

Jasmine said...

Awesome! Great to use up what you had.

sonja said...



just dance!

Joanne said...

Hi LeeAnna!
Great Valentine quilt and that is definately a win win win win shoe bag!
take care,
Joanne

Joanne said...

Hi LeeAnna!
Great Valentine quilt and that is definately a win win win win shoe bag!
take care,
Joanne

Joanne said...

Hi LeeAnna!
Great Valentine quilt and that is definately a win win win win shoe bag!
take care,
Joanne

Angie said...

Great Valentine gift and no calories! Spiffy-looking shoes like that definitely need a special bag!

Nicky said...

Great idea! Thanks for the tute and for joining in with #scraptastic tuesday

Kaja said...

I love how your valentine quilt is looking! Lucky chap.

Cassandra said...

What a great (and useful) project!

Ann said...

Isn't it great using what's on hand to make something special. This is a delightful shoe bag your husband will love. Have fun dancing with your darling!