Have you seen the new I’d Rather be Playing Chess collection by Tara Reed? This fun new collection from Riley Blake Designs is seriously the perfect fabric for chess players of all ages.

This is a mini collection featuring classic chess pieces, a traditional checkerboard print, a fabric panel, and a really cool striated blender print.

I don’t personally play chess, but the rest of my family does, so these fabrics spoke to me. We own several chess sets, but all of them are anything but traditional. We picked up a Peruvian set as a nod to my son who lived in Peru for two years, a Russian set (something we purchased while visiting the country), a Mario Brothers and Dr. Who set (both my boys went through a Mario and Dr. Who phase), and my personal favorite, this amazing Star Wars set.

I decided I wanted to make a drawstring bag to hold all of the little chess pieces to keep them organized. I absolutely LOVE the free drawstring bag tutorial by APPLE GREEN COTTAGE, because of the fun corner detail, and knew I had to make it. I had two specific ideas in mind for the bag. First, I wanted to use a section of the I’d Rather be Playing Chess fabric panel as the front of my bag, and two, I wanted to make the bag large enough to hold all of the chess pieces. Damjana’s measurements were too small for both of those needs, so I took her measurements and enlarged them. I ended up with this tall, skinny bag. I like it and it’s perfect for what I need, but next time, I might make it just a scootch wider. The second smaller bag is made using the exact measurements from Damjana’s tutorial. Cute!

Here you can see better the size of the smaller bag. It fits in the palm of my hand, making it a perfect little sack for gift giving or for keeping little treasures. For the smaller bag I used the Black Checkerboard print for the body of the bag, the Black Chess Pieces for the lining (which peeks out above the top of the bag), and a bit of red text from another part of the fabric panel for the corner pieces.

I LOVE how the panel section looks on this bag, and I think the quote is not only perfect for the game of chess in general, but even more-so for the Star Wars themed chess set.

You can get the FREE tutorial to make the little bag at Apple Green Cottage HERE (and if you scroll down to the comments section of her post, she gives measurements for a larger version).

I know I’m not done with these fabrics yet, so be on the lookout here or on my Instagram for another fun project I have in the works! The I’d Rather be Playing Chess collection, designed by Tara Reed for Riley Blake Designs is on its way to quilt shops and online retailers.