New tutorials will come out each Monday and I can't wait to share my new favorite - the Purse Pack - on Monday.
You can read all about Bag It here - and make sure you show some sponsor love and start to earn those entries into the giveaway.
And remember - any bag you make from the 19th of September through mid-December counts. It does not have to be one of my tutorials. And what am I calling a 'bag'? A bag is anything you create whose purpose is to hold something else.
With the help of my newsletter readers, (see the sidebar to sign up for newsletter), I recently did a survey to help refine some definitions on experience levels of bag makers.
There were four main questions - see graphic. The interesting part came from reading through the details of each entry. For example, if someone said they were an advanced beginner, how much experience did they have different bag closures. (Click on image below to view it larger if interested.)
As a result, here is how I am defining bag maker experience:
beginner skills- basic bag construction but without sewn in closures (i.e. zippers or snaps).
advanced beginner skills - above plus experience installing a zipper and other closures in a bag
intermediate skills - above plus experience with multi-part bags (like a side panel)
These are far from perfect but it is a start and they give me a way to map my tutorials against the experience level.
While I truly hope I've written my tutorials so that beginners can tackle any of these bags, if you've never ever made a bag before start with one of the tutorials in the beginner column to gain basic skills of adding a lining and turning a bag inside out during construction. With that experience, go back and tackle the more difficult patterns.
Thanks to everyone who took the survey - it really helped.
There was a fifth question for the survey that was interesting and exciting. 78% of the people taking the survey had not participated in last year's Elm Street Quilts Bag It. That means the event is attracting new people!!
Help me grow the event - invite your friends, tell your blog readers! The more participants means more sponsors will be interested in supporting the event in 2017!!!
Thanks everyone for reading through to the end. See you Monday for my new favorite bag - the Purse Pack!!
Have a wonderful day! Patty
