Bag of the Week 2

This week's Bag of the Week is the Safari Bag.  You can read more about this bag in my previous post (New Beginnings).  I have created a tutorial describing how I made this bag so you can create one for yourself.  The sidebar on the right hand side of the screen contains a tab for Tutorials.  Enjoy.

New Beginnings

A new year.   A time to set goals and begin fresh.  Each year I vow to become more organized and, on a macro level, I’m happy to say that I achieve that – year end finds me a little more organized than the beginning of that same year.  But there is still a lot of room for improvement.  Particularly in my sewing space.  It could use a lot of help.  Each time I step into the closet (an act that is becoming increasingly difficult with each passing week) I see projects that need completing -- UFO’s (that’s Unfinished Objects for those of you who may not know).  One year I vowed that for each new project I started I needed to finish a UFO.  That didn’t last long.  Once again, this year, I am hoping to finish a few of these long overdue projects.  The satisfaction factor is pretty high with UFO’s – not only do you get the usual satisfaction of completing a project but you get the bonus of feeling virtuous about clearing something out that has been hanging over your head.

Back in 2006, before my first child was born, a very dear friend asked me to make her a dozen bags that she could give to clients at the successful completion of their work together.  This is a friend that I would do just about anything for so I readily agreed.  I enjoyed creating a label to go inside the bag and quickly whipped up four of the bags.  Well, along came child #1 in late 2006 followed by child #2 in late 2008 and the other eight bags remained uncut fabric in my closet.  When my friend asked me about these bags recently I knew that I had to finish them for her and clear my conscious, along with my closet.

The Safari Bag is made from chenille upholstery fabric in an animal print.  The outer fabric is soft and drapey so I knew I would have to provide some sort of stabilizer for the bag.  I contemplated fusing interfacing to the pieces but rejected that idea as too time consuming and a risk for crushing the nap of the fabric.  Instead I purchased heavy black canvas (duck) for the lining fabric.  With that stable layer on the inside the bag holds its shape nicely.  This bag will be my bag of the week for this week – look for the post on Wednesday along with a tutorial and pictures on creating the bag. 

(And if you ever need a realtor in the Annapolis, MD area contact The House Huntress, you just might end up with one of these bags for your very own).

Creating an orchestra

The things we do for our children.  Our oldest son has been obsessed with musical instruments for some time now.  He creates all sorts of scenarios involving instruments and insists we play along.  He received his first play dough for Christmas and immediately wanted to make instruments from it.  Or, I should say, he wanted mom and dad to make instruments from it.  He has been known to sit at the kitchen table for two hours playing with these creations and gets so much joy from them.  One night my husband suggested we make some more permanent play things from polymer clay.  So, for the last two nights, after the kids were in bed, we have been creating an orchestra.  Our band consists of a piano, xylophone, violin, cello, bass, cymbals, tambourine, bongo and snare drum (with drumsticks), clarinet, saxophone, flute, trumpet and bassoon. 

My husband is a very fussy creator and took great pains to make his instruments near perfect. 

I took a bit more relaxed approach (except when the yellow clay proved too soft to work with easily). 

All look like they stepped out of a Dr. Seuss book.  We had fun working together on this project and can’t wait to see our son’s reaction tomorrow.  Knowing him, he will probably come up with new and imaginative ways to play with them.

Update on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 3:51PM by Julie Bowersett

Three new instruments joined the band:  banjo, accordion and rainstick!

Forget-me-not

My good friend Joyce came to visit the other day.  She arrived with a little paper bag filled with goodies, one for each of my boys and one for me.  Inside mine I found some vintage treasures.  The calendar is a reproduction of a vintage trade card for Niagara Spray Starch.  These color lithographs, popular in the late 1880’s, were a major form of advertising for products of the time.  Also in my bag was a beautiful aqua-colored organza and velvet floral hair comb which I am contemplating turning into a lapel pin.  Finally I discovered two bouquets of vintage paper millinery flowers, forget-me-nots, in beautiful shades of pink and aqua.  I’m not sure just what I will do with these (maybe another lapel pin) but they did bring back memories from my childhood.  When I was little I used to watch (and sometimes help) my mother create tray favors for patients at Sibley hospital (where, 40 years later, my first son was born).  These classic retro favors were made from the plastic lids taken from aerosol spray cans (particularly hairspray).  Do you remember when those lids used to have a small circular wall in the interior of the cap?  That little indentation was filled with some form of putty and then flowers such as these were inserted to mimic tiny little floral arrangements.  Patients at the hospital had their food trays brightened with these little blooms.

Treasures like this are available through many online sources.  Tinsel Trading Company has a wonderful selection of vintage and contemporary flowers, many dating from the 1940’s as well as fabulous trims, embellishments, beads and buttons.  If you ever have the chance of visiting the store in NYC don’t miss it – it is a wonderland.  Closer to my home is Accessories of Old located in Bethesda, MD.  This store is packed with vintage embellishments of all sorts, most dating from the 1920’s.  No doubt you will find some treasures of your very own at these shops.

Update on Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 2:07PM by Julie Bowersett

Thanks to Kathy for letting me know that Accessories of Old has closed their store in Bethesda but evidently still has one in Frederick, MD.

Bag of the Week

I love to make bags:  purses, totes, shoe bags, pails.  You get the idea.  In fact, I have made and photographed nearly enough “bags” (some of the items may be somewhat loosely defined) to feature a bag a week for the entire year.  Check back each week for new ideas and pictures.  Tutorials will be included on some of the pieces.

The Vintage Reticule Pattern was created by Hope Yoder.  I first made this bag in a class with Hope (watch for pictures of that bag in the future) at Sew Special Studio.  Each year I make and donate a few items to a silent auction for the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance, and this is the bag I created for them in 2008.  The color scheme was inspired by the fabric used for the top band – a chocolate brown printed velvet with tones of taupe, green and rust.  The bottom portion of the bag is crazy quilted with coordinating silk dupioni using Hope’s instructions and then embellished with couched fibers and bobbinwork decorative stitches.  The bag was lined with rust colored silk dupioni; the same fabric was used to make the top ruffle and to cover the large button on the front.  Beaded eyelash trim separates the two bands and the bag was finished with a beaded tassel.  The strap was made from thick cording covered with bias cut chocolate brown wool crepe using a FasTurn tool.