Bag designer J. Kimberling calls this her ‘Luscious Big Bow’ bag. It’s a bit quilted in that it uses a number of different but compatible fabrics, but not so much that it will put off a non-quilter.
The bag was originally designed to promote the lovely fabrics. Then Kimberling offered the design of the bag free. Thank you Kimberling! I like both the big bow, the slight tapering at the top of the bag and the overall simplicity of the design.
This bag is indeed very festive. Summery, but if you pick the right color scheme for your fabrics, you can easily wear it into Fall.
Have a look at the bag, closed up. Lovely, right?!
designer: J. Kimberling
Bag Pattern Illustration
In this illustration you get an overview of the repetition of the various fabrics. There are 5 different prints used in this bag. Great way of using up your stash of bits and pieces… Have a look what you have already, and then order some lovely compatible fabrics online.
Choosing the Right Fabric
For great patchwork/quilted fabric choices and for bags such as this, I’ve already done your homework and found some delicious fabric combinations, which you can see in this other bag pattern here.
These designers have many quilt fabric options for you to choose from, besides the fabric motifs shown here:
How to Pick Matching Fabrics for your Bow Bag?
I just got an email from a reader with this question and I thought to add my answer to the blog article. It’s not that easy, but with these tips, hopefully not that hard either.
When I design stuff with colors and patterns, I work it as if it’s a painting, and that tends to work for me.
Fabric Pattern- & Color-Matching Tips
1. COLOR-MATCHING: Think of it as making a painting. To see if things work, squint! What then happens is that your eye is starting to see a blended color. You’ll see instantly if they go well together.
2. COLOR-MATCHING: Alternatively, if you have Photoshop, you could run a filter to have the colors scramble together (‘posterize’). Then, find this color on a colorwheel and determine the exact oppose to match.
3. PATTERN-MATCHING: If you prefer to go with 1 overall color for your project (say purple), you can go 2 ways:
3a) PATTERN SIZE MATCHING: Go with pattern variations of ‘the same hues’ (all the same purples but with a different sized pattern).
3b) COLOR SHADE MATCHING: go 2 or 3 adjacent colors in the color wheel, but with the same or very similar print. (3 shades of purple (pastel purple; purple-deep purple), same sized pattern.)
4. EASY WAY OUT- COLOR-MATCHING: you can also go for one solid with one printed fabric, and apply technique 1 or 2 (squinting or scrambling colors) to match colors.
HOW TO GET YOUR PATTERN
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(This bag is sometimes referred to as the Kimberly bag or the kimberley bag. It’s all the same bag.)
More Bag Patterns Featured on Fine Craft Guild
We have loads of free patterns of the most adorable, well designed bags, ranging from tote bags, to shopping bags, to hand bags, back packs and quilted beauties. Visit Bags – Free Sewing, Crochet & Knitting Patterns for a pictorial overview of gorgeous bags.
