Heirloom, OLFA, and Omnigrid: The right brands for the right quilting tools

Yesterday, I completed the craft bag’s exterior from start to finish. To give stability to the bag I used Bosal In-R-Form Unique Sew-In Foam Stabilizer. It proved to be a sewing machine-friendly bag with which I had no issues sewing through multiple layers.

Today I’m showing how to make the interior of the craft bag. To accomplish today’s work I’ll need the help of the Omnigrip Ruler – 2012″ x 2012″ (52 x 52cm), an OLFA Splash Handle Rotary Cutter, and the Heirloom 24″ x 36″ Double Sided Cutting Mat and the Oliso Pro TG1600 Pro Plus Smart Iron.

Tools a quilter needs

I indicated yesterday all the fabrics you need for the craft bag in the cutting list. The only fabric not used was the one for the interior. To make things easier here’s the list.

From the interior bag fabric (1 yard) cut:

  • Two – 14¼” x 18” (back and front)
  • Two – 6¼” x 18” (sides)
  • One – 6¼” x 14¼” (bottom)
  • One – 12½” x 12½” (pocket)
  • One – 7½” x 12½” (pocket)

The first step is to take the two fabrics earmarked for the interior pockets. Turn the edge approximately ¼” on all four sides of both the 12½” x 12½” and the 7½” x 12½” pieces.

Turn over all edges ¼” on each of the two fabrics earmarked for the pockets.

With the edges turned and pressed, I sewed a seam on the folded edge of one long side of each fabric for the pocket.

Sew next to one long folded edge of both pocket fabrics.

Center and pin the 12½” x 12½” piece to the 14¼” x 18” piece of fabric then center and pin the 7½” x 12½” piece to the other 14¼” x 18” piece of fabric ensuring the folded edge with the seam is on top.

Center and pin a pocket fabric to each of the inner bag fabric’s 14¼” x 18” pieces.

Once the pocket fabrics are pinned to each of the 14¼” x 18” pieces of the inner bag fabric, make a stitch line on the sides and bottom of the pocket fabric. To give more strength to the pocket I highly recommend adding a second parallel stitch line next to the first.

Stitch two lines next to each other on the pocket sides and bottom.

I want this craft bag to be multi-purpose. For this reason, the large pocket will only be stitched down on three sides. These pocket sizes will allow me to easily put in a book, a decent size ruler, a large pattern, and many other items.

For the wider pocket, I decided to place another set of parallel seams in the center. This will allow me to put smaller items such as knitting circular needles, a box of pins, pens and again many other smaller items.

Stitch parallel lines down the center of the wider pocket.

With the pockets in place, it’s time to sew the four sides of the inner bag to the 6¼” x 14¼” inner bag bottom. When doing so ensure the pocket openings are not facing the bottom piece.

Sew the four sides to the bag piece.

For the last step, take the four sides and sew them together. The inside of the craft bag is then completed.

Completed bag

Normally once a bag is completed it’s turned inside out. Today there’s no need to do so. Because tomorrow I’ll insert it in the outer bag that I made yesterday.

I can’t stress enough the importance of having the right tools for the project at hand, Today those tools were the Omnigrip 12½” x 12½” Ruler, an OLFA Splash Handle Rotary Cutter 45mm, the Heirloom 24″ x 36″ Double Sided Cutting Mat and the Oliso Pro TG1600 Pro Plus Smart Iron.

Join me tomorrow as I complete the bag. I’ll show you a few easy tricks and give you my comments on the whole process of using Bosal products.

This is part 4 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 3: Bosal Sew in Foam Stabilizer gives shape to your sewing projects

Go to part 5: Inserting an inner lining for a quilted craft bag: Tools to make it easy

Related posts

T-shirt quilts – 4 ideas for layouts that work!

Stay warm with a quilt made with Fairfield batting

Pinning a quilt – It’s the little things that count