Bag of the Week 19

Handwoven Mini Drawstring Bag

A number of years ago someone brought a Deborah Brunner bag to a gift exchange and everyone fought over it.  Deborah has created several fabulous patterns for bags made from handwoven (or pinwoven) pieces of fabric.  Their diminutive size makes these projects simple to complete without a huge investment of time (which handweaving can demand).  I have made several of these bags and will showcase them today and next week. 

This little pastel pink drawstring bag was created by weaving a panel of torn fabric strips (I used silk dupioni).  First, a foundation is created using Pearle cotton thread pinned to a foam core base.  The fabric strips are woven through these threads and the panel sewn to additional silk to create this 9” purse.  The woven panel was adorned with silk ribbon embroidery and beading.  The strap was created from strung glass beads.

These pictures were taken in the olden days of film so I apologize for their poor quality.  Next week I will feature an underwater seascape created with the same weaving technique.