I Passed the Weekender Test!

In the sewing world, the pattern Weekender is sort of a test of wills. Everyone loves the bag, designed and written by Amy Butler, but many have struggled through it with all of it's difficult directions. Because of this, I had always been leary of diving in and making it.

But after seeing Elizabeth's quilt as you go weekender bag, I knew I had to finally make one for QuiltCon. I had lots of help and tips from many people who sewed it before me. 

I found  quilting the pattern pieces, lots of fun, but much more time-intensive than I thought. However, I really love the outcome and would do it again! 

The best tip that I received was from Kim, she suggested to hand stitch the corners where most of the bulk and many layers make it difficult to sew on any machine. 

One problem I ran into was I cut the pattern pieces all out of duck canvas, then lay the batting over it. I had planned to use the canvas as my guide to trim down the batting and piecing. But once I started to piece and quilt as you go, the pattern pieces sometimes became miss shaped. Next time instead of cutting the pieces first, I will cut the pieces a little bit bigger and then trim down the entire piece.