Posted on by agilejack

Something Out of My Ordinary

I mentioned the other night that I was thinking of making a knitting caddy for a friend of mine. I’ve looked at a few patterns and tutorials and struck out tonight to figure it out for myself because I find noodling out a pattern entertaining. My brain gets a kick out of figuring out how something is made.

I had some basic measurements for the size I wanted to make, so I hit my sewing room, grabbed some rulers, and started cyphering.

The really beautiful thing about my notes is that they are incredibly detailed and specific so when I want to make another one of these it will be so easy. NOT!

But truthfully, this was a pretty easy little thing to make.

My friend that I’ve made this for wanted it to be pink and green. So the first thing I did was dig out some blocks that a friend gave me and sorted out a few that were mostly pink and green. Then I cut those blocks into smaller pieces and reassembled them with some crumb piecing.

Here’s some of the crumbs in process.

Here’s the crumb pieces with the fabric used for the background and lining.

I made these crumb blocks into a little strip that was sewn into the front and back panels, trimmed out the gussets and quilted each piece. The panels measured 17 x 10 inches. I cut out 3 inch squares for the gussets. I quilted with vertical lines because I thought it would be easier to keep the shorter lines straight. I like the look of this too.

I used fusible fleece on the panels but didn’t use a backing fabric on the quilt sandwich. I figured this didn’t need that extra structure and stability.

I made the handles out of the same background fabric and used some fusible fleece to give them some body. Since it’s not in my very detailed notes, I’m noting here that the handles are 13 inches long. If I was to make another one of these, I might just use some fusible interfacing in the handles. These are a little hefty for this caddy.

Then I assembled the lining, including some medium weight fusible interfacing, and sewed the whole thing together and ran a line of top stitching around the top of the caddy.

This measures about 10 inches wide, 6 inches deep and 6 inches tall.

The lining is simple… no pockets in this baby.

It’s the exact size I wanted it to be, but it feels bigger than I thought it would. And it holds a lot!

These photos don’t represent the true color of these fabrics. That’s one of the downsides of being a late night sewer… it’s really hard to get good photos of your project. I will take some photos tomorrow to get a better representation of the colors.

I have no idea if I’ll ever make another one of these. But I really like being able to figure out how to make something for a specific purpose. I’m thinking I should make a few fabric baskets of some kind to organize some of the piles of stuff in my sewing room. Might be a good idea to make some baskets to hold all the scraps I’m generating.

36 Replies to “Something Out of My Ordinary”

  1. Thank you for another wonderful idea! Always so colourful and with such clear instructions.
    I am still waiting for time to start my first Frankenbag – you are so productive!

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  2. Seriously Anne ?! This is really a fun cheery creation ! Love it ! It is pretty impressive how you get so much done in a day ! Adding useful pretty baskets to a sewing room is a great idea !

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    1. That lining is actually left over from a wide quilt backing. It was one of the very first pieces of batik fabric I ever purchased. I hadn’t even made a quilt when I bought that fabric. I get nostalgic every time I look at it!
      Anne

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  6. Great little whatchma’callit’! for your friend’s knitting. My Dad made thingamajigs for us to use to stash our things and whosywhat’sits too, for our treasures. Mostly from wood he scrounged, his plans greatly resemble your’s although he was granted a copyright/patent on one of his widgets that still used in the gears of standard shift cars.

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    1. I wish I was handy with wood. I did used to do a little welding… one of my most favorite things I’ve ever done!!! I loved it. I do have a few pieces around that I made. It’s so different to work with solid and rigid materials.
      Anne

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  8. I agree your basket is beautiful and your friend will cherish it 💕
    You are a woman of many talents! I looked at the Aboriginal fabrics on the Pioneer website. Very beautiful fabrics…. A bit pricey for me – not sure if it’s the mail order price or if someone walks in the store it’s that same price. I might call them today.

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      1. Or any country outside of the US. I looked at some British fabrics in my favorite local Artisans’ fun store and was gobsmacked at the price.

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  12. I too, would love to have a “yarn holder” like the one you made, it’s beautiful.
    If you make one for yourself for fabric scraps, make many of different colors so that you can keep pink pieces in the pink tote, blue pieces in the blue tote etc etc!
    Bad idea!🙃

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  14. Yes! Love the knitting bag for your friend. Using up scraps is one of my favorite things to do! Please post a tutorial of your creation some time. Thanks!

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  15. Love your new creation and hope you’ll give us a little tutorial. I think once we have the basic construction idea, most of us quilters/sewers could figure out how to make different sizes. I always read your blog first as I can’t wait to see what your very creative mind will produce next.

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  17. Hi Anne, I would love to make or have one of those bags to contain the package of diapers and diaper wipes I keep on hand for my granddaughter! Would you share the pattern if you decide to make it? Thank you as always for the inspiration!

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