I am making the Miranda bag by Lazy Girls but I would assume that other purse patterns are structured in this same format. My question has to do with when you quilt your pieces together for the outside of the bag.

Per the directions, you cut your top and bottom bag pieces (one big piece for each) and cut batting to fit them both. Then you quilt the top and bottom pieces. After that you cut into smaller pieces so the top and bottom bag pieces will be seamed together, etc.

Currently I cannot FMQ so I am doing cross hatching styled quilting designs. I told myself I wasn't going to worry about the top and bottom bag pieces lining up perfectly with the quilting lines, but some of them aren't even in the ball park. So, my question is, is there any reason why I could not piece the top/bottom pieces together first, then machine quilt?

Thank you in advance. :)

Kim

Will the seams be too heavy to quilt through?

This is what I did on the Bow Tucks and not once did I use my Quilting Foot.

That was my worry, but after I posted this I decided to try it out (so I could make the top and bottom a little more aligned looking) and it was no problem to sew over the seams using a walking foot. So maybe it is okay to do it either way??

If it works, go for it.

The reason the directions may have suggested to do them separately is that it is easier to handle/quilt smaller sections at a time.

I did it on my DD tote bag and it worked fine.