Sewing Caddy

What to do with my hand dyed fabric? I've wanted to have a go at the quick grid piecing technique for ages and also to make a sewing caddy which a friend had made recently. It opens up nice and wide for easy access to sewing equipment and so I decided to put the two things together. I used a dressmaker's cardboard mat for the grid rather than using the expensive ready gridded iron-on interfacing. It allows you to lay out the cut squares correctly on the interfacing, ready to iron.

1. Lay the iron-on interfacing shiny side up on top of the dressmaker's mat (remembering this size includes seam allowances so finished block will shrink down).
2. Cut fabric squares slightly smaller than the grid size (I used a 2" grid) and lay onto the interfacing using the grid on the mat as a guide. Don't use a rotary cutting mat as this will be ironed on.
3. Iron fabric in place using a silicone mat or greaseproof paper to avoid a sticky iron.

4. Fold interfacing between first row of squares and sew a 1/4" seam. Continue with all the rows across.
5. Snip down to the stitch line between each square and press seams in opposite directions.
6. Fold interfacing in the opposite direction to sew all downward seams.
7. Press and trim edges. Quilt.

The bag was made by adding a zip to opposite sides of the square, then seaming the lower edge across the zip end and the top side seamed in the other direction.