A New Temple Bag for ME!!!

A little more than a year ago, I hosted a quilt along making a 

temple bag for my daughter and mom :)  

(Scroll to the bottom to read more about what a "Temple Bag" is)

You can see all of the posts HERE.

I never made one for me... until last week while I was at 

Cabin Fever II quilt retreat. 

(I had a BLAST!!!)

I decided to use Happy Go Lucky and Scrumptious by Bonnie and Camille.

The colors are SO cheerful

I LOVE the zippered pocket fabric!

There is a tutorial HERE on my blog for the super easy herringbone pattern.

For the front flap I went with a mini Swoon by Camille Roskelley.  I found it fitting (and ironic) that she designed the fabric and the front flat block :)

Under the flap, on the front of the bag, there are two small pockets for Family File* cards and my temple recommend**.  The larger pocket is for whatever goodies I need to slip in, like keys or my phone ;)

This cute bag is going to make #TempleTuesday*** so much more exciting ;)

We are SUPER excited because a new LDS temple will be opening right here in Payson, Utah.  For about a month, April 24–May 23, 2015, anyone who would like to (Mormon or not) may tour the inside of the Payson Temple.  

Open House details can be found HERE.  If you would like to come and see the temple, please let me know.  I would LOVE to take you!!!

Current information can be found on the official Payson Utah Temple Facebook page HERE.

FYI- Some of you may be asking yourself, "What on earth is a Temple bag?"  Well, in my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka "The Mormons"), when we are adults we attend our temples for sacred worship. While we are in the temple we wear special/sacred clothing.  We use small suit cases or other bags to carry this clothing to and from the temple.

Life is too short for an ugly temple bag ;)

*Family File Cards- we use these to keep track of sacred Priesthood ordinances we do for our deceased ancestors in the temples of our church.  

**Temple Recommend  In order for members of our church to enter into our temples, we must meet with our ecclesiastical leaders (every two years) to determine if we are living in accordance with church principles and eligible to worship in the temple.

***#TempleTuesday- Each week my husband and I try to attend the temple.  We try to go Tuesday morning, but often have to adjust and go another day.  It doesn't matter which day you attend, or exactly how often.  We are asked by our church leaders to attend as often as our circumstances allow :).  Most of the LDS temples are open Tuesday-Saturday.  We are very lucky as the Provo temple is open Monday-Saturday.  The Provo temple is INSANELY busy.  We are very lucky to have two new temples opening soon in our area :)

PLEASE please PLEASE feel free to ask me any questions you have in the comments below :)

Rustique Temple Bag

My oldest daughter and her husband are going to the temple tomorrow. I thought it would be most fitting to make her a temple bag for the special occation. *more info about "the temple" at the bottom :-)*

Anna loved the deer and the hexagon print.  I used all of the selvages in the fat quarter bundle to make a hezy style log cabin for the front flap of the messenger bag.

Anna loves blue, so I used it for the binding and the straps.

(Anna chose Emily Herricks new collection Rustique.  I have been dying to use it!)

I followed my tutorial/QAL for the pattern, of course!  blogged HERE.

There is so much variety in this colleciton that the bag is just HAPPY happy HaPPy!

The zippered pockets just make things so perky!

For the lable, I use another hezagon.

I used a quilt as you go method for the main body piecing and for the flap.

I can't wait to give it to her tomorrow!

Some of you may be asking yourself, "What on earth is a Temple bag?"  Well, in my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka "The Mormons"), when we are adults we attend our temples for sacred worship. While we are in the temple we wear special/sacred clothing.  We use small suit cases or other bags to carry this clothing to and from the temple.

Some of you may remember that Mike and Anna were married a year and a half ago by our Bishop in our church building.  Mormons believe that in order for our marriages to last beyond this life they must be solomized in on of our temples.  Read more HERE.  Anna and Mike are going to the temple tomorrow to recieve that ordinace.  We are VERY excited!

Embroidered Temples

One of my quilty BFF's is an Embroidery Guru!  She has templates for many of the LDS temples :)  She will embroider an LDS temple for your bag, if you'd like :)  It is $5 if she already has the template, and $10 if she needs to order it.  Please leave me a comment, if you are interested.  Be sure that you are not a "no reply blogger" or I cannot get your info to her :(  If you are not sure if you are a "no reply blogger" please include your email in your comment.  One hint that you might be a "no reply blogger" is if I never reply to your comments :(:::.....

DewberryCrush Diaper Bag

Here is the diaper bag version of the Temple Bag I made for my daughters, sister-in-law.  It is super cute!!!

TOO many pictures for your viewing pleasure :)

I LOVE this Notting Hill poppy print.

Pockets for cell phones and keys or binkies or whatever :)

Aren't those pink bunnies CUTE!!!

The inside.

This divided grey bunny pocket is an addition that I find useful in a diaper bag. *Instructions at the bottom*

Side bottle pockets.

Inside zipper pocket.

The back side :)

The back zipper pocket.

And finally the strap :)  I officially LOVE this bag!!!

Because I made this bag with what I had on hand from the Joel Dewberry windfall, I needed to modify the size.  It is the PERFECT size.  Here are my modifications.  All measurements are the cut size, unless otherwise noted as a finished size.

Measurements:
Exterior 19-1/4" x 27-3/4"
2 large inside pockets 13-1/2" wide x 22" high
front pocket finished size 7.5" x 12"
bottle pockets 8" x 17"
flap finished size 12-3/4" x 16"
finished size for the additional  shorter divided pocket on the inside 5-1/2"x 12-1/2" *

*to add this pocket, place the finished shorter pocket on top of the finished larger one and top stitch the dividing seam down the middle of the shorter pocket, THEN top stitch the whole unit into the interior lining to form the large pocket.

Temple Bag QAL Diaper Bag Modifications

So, for the diaper bag you are going to make everything the same except, you are going to make two more pocket, as shown below :)  These pockets go in the sides of the bag for holding bottles :)

**** this step is done right after the interior bag's sides have been sewn but the corners have not been formed yet, but you have marked them :)****

Cut your pocket fabric ~9"x17" ...it can be a bit longer or a bit wider, you will see that slight variations wont matter.  You will need two of these.

Cut a piece of pellon to fit half way across the pocket ~10'x8" ;)  Press in place.

Fold in half and press.

Now, put the pocket rights sides together and sew down the two sides, but leave the bottom open.

Clip the top corners.

Now you can turn it right side out and press.

You need to find and lightly mark the center of the bottom.  You can measure or...

Just fold it in half, as I have done and finger press the center :)

I am not exactly sure how to describe this next part :(  You need to make a pleat in the center bottom, so that the total width of the bottom is under 5".

Here you can see that it is just about four inches wide.

Here it is just under 4"... it is not going to matter too much, it just needs to be smaller than 5" and not too much smaller than 4" :D

Tack down your pleat with a scant 1/4" seam.

Before this next part, you need to have drawn your corner lines on the bag interior. ...but DONT SEW IT UP!!!

The bottom is tacked and you will need to pin the pleat together up higher on the pocket.

Now carefully insert the pleated pocket end into the corner a good 1/2-3/4 inch.

From the outside, feel to make sure the pocket is in far enough all of the way across.  You may pin if you like.  Then sew across the line.

Your corner pocket will be firmly in place now.

Do this for both sides.

Now turn your interior right side out.

Pin the top corners of the pocket in place.

Now for the SUPER FUN part!  NOT!  You are going to need to snuggle your bag  onto/upto your machine and top stitch the pockets down.

It is a bit tricky and irritating!  You will likely not be able to top stitch all the way to the bottom seam.  I figure that is good so any crumbs will  fall out :)

See!  Not so bad!  Take you time and try not to swear ;D

Now you can proceed back with the regular bag assembly instructions :)

***The measurements for this bag are slightly different than for the temple bag (the lady this bag is for wanted this fabric and I only had a little bit, so I modified)  The measurements I used will be posted later this week.  HERE

Check the schedule for the QAL HERE.  Visit all post's tagged Temple Bag Qal HERE

**** As a special side note, if you live anywhere close to Payson, Utah, we will be doing this project together on the last Thursday of January.  Please message me if you would like information about coming to sew with us :)  No creepy murderers, please ;D

***One of my quilty BFF's is an Embroidery Guru!  She has templates for many of the LDS temples :)  She will embroider an LDS temple for your bag, if you'd like :)  It is $5 if she already has the template, and $10 if she needs to order it.  Please leave me a comment, if you are interested.  Be sure that you are not a "no reply blogger" or I cannot get your info to her :(  If you are not sure if you are a "no reply blogger" please include your email in your comment.  One hint that you might be a "no reply blogger" is if I never reply to your comments :(:::.....