Daisy, Daisy

I am really looking forward to the Stitch Gathering this coming weekend and have nearly finished the homework I need to do.

Maybe you remember this?  This is the bag which is also an entry ticket, and the idea is to decorate it for your secret partner.

I have been staring at it on and off, waiting for inspiration - for a while I kept thinking of a quatro stagione pizza, but I'm not sure if anyone would appreciate that on their bag!

This is it now.  This is the front.

The centre of the daisy is FMQ'd with two layers of batting and is also sewn over a small wodge of stuffing to pad it.  The petals are made in the same way that I make speedy bunting flags, and I folded the bottom corners in and then threaded them together to hold the folds and gather them into shape.

This is the back.

The flowers and leaves are fused into place, then zigzagged round the edges (flowers) and free motion embroidered (leaves).  The stems are satin stitch (close zigzag on my machine).

I lined the bag with Ikea curtain lining fabric which was almost a perfect match.  I had already had to unpick the side seams and open out the bag in order to decorate it, so I cut a piece of lining the same size as the opened out bag plus a turnover allowance along what would become the top edges.  I folded and pressed this allowance down, then with the bag opened out flat and with wrong sides together I sewed the bag and lining together close to the top edge.  I then folded the bag back up (ie bag shaped, handle to handle) right side out and lining inside and zigzagged down each side before turning inside out again and sewing a straight line outside the zigzags, thus making French side seams.

Among the dumber things I did was fusing my blue-green circle to the bag before sewing the daisy on, which made the daisy very, very hard to stitch in place. One day I hope to get to the stage of being able to make things without it being a learning experience!