Tallinn Fabrics Blog Tour

Today's my stop on the Jessica Swift Tallinn blog tour! Tallinn is Jessica's first fabric collection for Art Gallery Fabrics. Now available in shops, Tallinn is inspired by Jessica’s travels through Eastern Europe. Picturesque Estonian villages, graceful swans, & a deep love for combining quirky folk motifs come together in her playful collection.

I was thrilled when Jessica asked if I wanted to be part of her tour and sew with these beautiful fabrics! Here's the amazing line up of talented designers also posting about their makes.

Thursday April 19 – Mathew Boudreaux | Mister Domestic
Friday April 20 – Katie Skoog | The Simple Life Company
Monday April 23 – Sharon Holland
Tuesday April 24 – Eleri | Sew and Tell Project
Wednesday April 25 – Paola Baker | Love of Fabrics
Thursday April 26 – Maureen Cracknell
Friday April 27 – Alexis Wright | My Sweet Sunshine Studio
Monday April 30 – Isabelle Selak | South Bay Bella Studio
Tuesday May 1 – Cassie Massolia | Lily Shine Creates
Wednesday May 2 – Becca Plymale | Sunflower Seams
Thursday May 3 – Alisa Kutsel | A Stitch In Between
Friday May 4 – Sharon McConnell | Color Girl Quilts
Monday May 7 – Karen O’Connor | Lady K Quilt Designs
Tuesday May 8 – Sarai Schuk | Sarai’s Hobbies
Wednesday May 9 – Elise Baek | Elise & Emelie
Thursday May 10 – Jessica Swift
Friday May 11 – Gwyn LaSpina
Monday May 14 – Loni Jakubowski | Havin Sew Much Fun

Kantha-Style Duffle Bag

I knew I wanted to play with texture and enhance the ethnic vibe of these prints with Aurifloss embroidery thread so I decided to make a quilted duffle bag. I want to tell you right up front there's no pattern for this bag. It's something I've designed but there just isn't enough time in the days to do it all so I'm very sorry not to be adding a pattern in with this post. Instead, we will enjoy Jessica's prints and learn more about some of the products used to make this fun bag.

The fabrics used in my bag are: Tigris Indigo, Magija Pumpkin, Baltic Swans Sky, Lore Rooftop, and Odessa Dream.

Simple, varied width strips of fabric were sewn together into panels for the front and back of the bag and I free-form, hand stitched chunky running stitches with 3-ply strands of the 6-ply cotton Aurifloss embroidery thread.

To keep adding texture and interesting details to my duffle bag I incorporated Dritz Extra-Large Eyelets in this marvelous antique brass finish to the closer-edge of the bag and on the boxed corner tabs. Eyelets are super easy to apply with the kit and a hammer.

Another Dritz product used in this project is their cording for the drawstring and a little extra bling with a tassel made using Dritz Tassel Cap kit. I loved this natural color of the Dritz Twist Cord that picked up the colors in the Odessa Dream tan floral in Jessica's collection.

Can you believe I've never made a tassel before with these awesome tassel caps!?!? It's so easy! I used Art Gallery Fabrics solid knit fabric.

I simply cut a piece of knit and folded it widthwise. Then I took a pair of shears and snipped fringe through the folded layers, leaving the folded edge uncut.

To make the tassel I followed the directions on the back of the Dritz Tassel Cap package and used Aleene's No-Sew Fabric Glue to roll the knit tassel and attach to the antique brass cap.

Inside my bag I've used more of the navy Tigris Indigo print along with the fun Baltic Swans Sky print for the pockets.

Plenty of pocket room to tote all your gear on your next vacation get away, quilting workshop, or wherever you wander!

I hope you've enjoyed my stop on the Tallinn blog tour! Be sure to follow along with the other makers and on Instagram by following the hashtags #TallinnFabrics and #TallinnFabricsBlogTour.