Sew Useful

I know how to make textile art. I know how to felt and dye, how to do machine embroidery, melt fabrics together, make quilts and all sorts of other textile creations. I'm embarrassed to say I have no idea how to make anything useful! I've never made clothing, home furnishings (except cushions), bags or accessories. I think it might have something to do with my inability to measure or cut straight!

Well I decided I might like to make some bags and You-Tube is always ready to help. I've started very simply with these drawstring bags. I've used some random hand-me-down fabric scraps that were lying about the place. I think now I've got the hang of them I'll use some of my more pretty hand dyed and decorated fabrics for the next batch.

I used tutorials from Made Everyday. The bag above is a simple drawstring with boxed corners. Here is the video:

The bag below is a simple drawstring bag that can also be worn as a backpack.

Recycled Bag

This week at Contemporary Quilters we were experimenting with old scraps to see if we could make a quilt from them. As usual I wasn't doing quite what I was supposed to be doing! I came across a waistcoat in the scrap pile. The shape made me think of a shoulder bag so I cut the back off and used the 2 side panels to make the bag modelled by my daughter above. One side is held together by the original buttons whilst the other is knotted fringes. Only the bottom section is sewn. I trapped some silk scraps in the bottom seam to make the fringe.

I did also start some scrap quilts, more to come on those soon.