My teenage granddaughter started playing the saxophone so I looked for saxophone fabric online, Once I found some, I ordered one yard, the minimum. It is not 100% cotton — I am so used to quilting fabric — but rather it is a cotton polyester blend, 54" wide, with a heavier weight and velvet feel. I decided to make her a mesh project bag with a pattern from byAnnie. The pattern Piecekeeper only calls for a fat quarter of the feature fabric, so I will need to be inspired as to what to do with the rest of the 54" wide yardage. I combined the saxophone fabric with a fat quarter in yellow for the lining, and a fat quarter in gray for the binding and handle. I also bought an embroidered saxophone patch just for fun. Here is my assembly journey in stages. All went smoothly; directions were excellent.
Back and Lining
The first step is to sandwich the feature fabric, a foam center, and the lining fabric and quilt the sandwich together. I decided to angle and space diagonal stitching lines to minimize crossing the saxophones. Serendipitously, the lines came out fairly evenly distributed. Initially, I marked the quilting lines with a white chalk pencil on the black, but they were very hard to see. I increased visibility by sticking tape ¼" away parallel to the lines and stitched beside it with my ¼" foot. I used black thread on the top and pale yellow thread on the underside. Here are the outside and lining views of the bag back. The edges have all been "sealed" by a stitching a line ⅛" from all four edges. The puffy look is appealing and not overdone.
Yes, Lawrence Welk absolutely featured a strong saxophone section in his band, which was a core component of his "Champagne Music" sound. The reed section, often featuring five men, played saxophones and frequently doubled on clarinets, flutes, and piccolos.
The binding is cut on the bias. I usually cut my binding across width of fabric, but bias is necessary for navigating around the curved corners. The directions say not to press the binding in half prior to application. That tip is so true. The binding goes on more smoothly and the outer visible layer can be a tad wider than the inner concealed layer. I really should try this technique instead of my cross cut bindings. Hmmm, I wonder if bias binding would be problematic with mitered corners.
Applying the gray bias binding was the last step. I took my time and used a stiletto to help when rounding the corners. It was slow but relatively easy going. The completed bag came out snazzy as well as jazzy. Here are views from the front and the back.
At the byAnnie.com site the Piecekeeper pattern is only available in packs of 25. The pattern is one glossy sheet printed front and back. I suspect quilt shops buy them in bulk and offer one with fabric as a promotional item. That is how I got my first copy, as part of a bundle of three coordinating fat quarters to make the project bag. But individual copies can be found for sale on Etsy. That is where I had to go when I could not locate my original copy, though I had made many projects bags from it. I made twelve of these bags in 2021: seven in my post for 4/9/21, four in my post for 6/6/21, and one in my post for 6/15/21. Just this year I made a Rainbow Brite themed one for my daughter (saxophone player's mother) seen in my post for 2/19/26. They really are fun and make good gifts. Maybe I will make one for myself; I have not yet.
