Portrait of a Friend

Recently I finished a long overdue gift for a dear friend in Pennsylvania. I thought she would get a kick out of a whimsical portrait. I decided that a tote bag would be the best option to show off the portrait so I designed a bag for that purpose. The back of the bag has a large pocket and the sides are cinched with some cute bows.

I started with the face shapes in Amy Bradley's book, "Quilter's Yearbook." Then I recreated her hair from a photo and added simple facial features and clothes. The "eyes" are Velcro circles that act as fasteners for the shades. The portrait background is stipple quilted and the rest of the outer bag fabrics are quilted on the fabric patterns. The applique was fused and stitched using a blanket stitch and the hair and collar details with straight stitching. Ordinary blush makeup was applied to the cheeks.

I couldn't decide which style of shades she would wear so came to the conclusion that she needed a wardrobe of them. Instead of fusing the glasses to the face, I made them removable, fastening them with velcro circles.



The inside features pockets on both sides, a covered stiff bottom piece and a magnetic closure.

My friend, Deb, received the bag in the mail yesterday. She loved it so I was very happy. I had fun making it.