Connecting Thread: Preppy the Whale Bag Tutorial

Remember when I showed you my Preppy the whale quilt that I started? I am still loving this pattern and am making the 70 whale blocks assembly line style, but I will admit that it is taking me a bit longer than I had planned (I blame a busy summer and NOT the quilt itself). I couldn't help myself though and wanted to use those adorable whales RIGHT AWAY! I decided to make a zippered wristlet/clutch from two of the whale blocks I had made and will fill in more towards the quilt later.

Here is what I made:

Here is what you'll need:

A Preppy the Whale Pattern (make 2 whales in any color that you like)

Thread I used silver, 100% cotton

This is one of my favorite threads. It is durable but soft and I never have trouble with it breaking. 

2 pieces of your background fabric that are 2" x 13"

2 pieces of your background fabric that are 2 " x 7"

1 piece of background fabric that is 3" x 9" if you want to make a wristlet

2 pieces of cotton batting 5.5" x 13"

14" zipper (mine was smaller, so I used fabric to make up the difference)

2 pieces of background fabric (or what you'd like to use for your lining)  14" x 6"

walking foot (optional but helpful)

pins or clips

Let's get started!

Look at these cute whales! My favorite of my own completed whales are the coral and lime. I am using two coral Preppy Whales for this bag. I am using silver fabric as my background and lining. 

Square your blocks up and trim any loose thread.

Assemble your materials. Because I was so excited to make this up, I used what I had on hand, which was a zipper that was a bit small and poor lighting because it was late evening. Let's roll with it, it's all good!

Sew your 2" x 13" strips to the top and bottom of your whale and then sew your 2" x 7" pieces to the sides of your whale. You should have a block that looks similar to this. Because of all of the piecing to these whales, mine fluctuated in size a smidge, so trim any long sides and make it work. Do this to both whales. 

On the back side of your whale blocks, place a piece of batting. You can spray it with basting spray if you'd like but I just took it straight to the machine and it didn't move. Notice that my batting is a little smaller than my block. I did this on purpose so that when constructing the bag, it wouldn't become part of the seams and be too bulky. 

I used my beloved walking foot for this part. Starting in the middle of the block, quilt a wavy line from one end of the whale to the other. Repeat until your block is quilted with lots of wavy lines and your heart skips a beat because of how adorable your whale looks. 

Then repeat the whole thing on the other whale.

Cute, no?

Iron down the top of the block towards the wrong side 1/4 inch. 

If your zipper is a bit smaller than your bag, fret not...just sew a little fabric to both sides of the zipper until it is as long as your lining piece. Your bag won't open as wide, but on the bright side, it's easier to sew up because you won't worry about breaking your needle on the hard ends of the zipper. 

win~win!

If you are intimidated by zippers, please do not be. Don't even unpack that zipper foot!

Pin your zipper to the top of one piece of lining. Notice the direction that my pins are facing. 

Then grab a whale block and pin it to the opposite side of the zipper, like this:

Then take it to your machine. Move your needle to the far side that is close to your zipper. In this case, I moved my needle all the way to the right to be close to the zipper that is on the right side of the sewing machine foot. 

Then stitch, baby, stitch.

The do the exact same thing to the other side of the zipper and stitch.

Now, if you want to make a strap to turn your pouch into a wristlet, take your piece that is 3" x 9"

Fold in half lengthwise, sew, turn inside out.

Then wavy~line stitch it so it looks like your super cute bag.

Fold your step in half and pin both ends. When we sew the bag up it will be sewn tightly in place. I also snuck a tag on the front side of the strap for my blog's name. 

Open your zipper. 

Arrange your bag so that the fronts are facing each other on their right sides and so are your linings.

Stitch all around the large rectangle, leaving a 3" opening to turn your bag right side out. 

{Like this bag}

Gusset your corners if you so fancy.

Turn it right side out and iron it down nicely.

Hello, Preppy the Whale Bag!

All of the supplies I used came from Connecting Threads, a sponsor of this little ol' blog. They were sweet enough to send me the quilting supplies to make up this quilt, but I had to share with you the other things you could make with this pattern! I have another great quilt idea to try in addition to the classic on shown on the cover of the pattern. 

Visit Connecting Threads to get your goodies and get started!