Bag of the Week 25

The Museum Bag

I don’t know about where you are, but here in the greater Washington DC area this week’s temperatures have topped the 90 degree mark.  Summer has arrived for sure.  And the hot, hot colors in this week’s bag just shout summer to me.   

Several years ago my American Sewing Guild (ASG) Chapter sponsored a workshop with Barbara Randle who taught us all how to create The Museum Bag.  It was a great day and a wonderful class.  Barbara is a very inspiring teacher and, even though we were all working from the same kits, each bag had a unique personality all its own.  The bag is constructed using Barbara’s Crazy Quilting with Attitude technique (I blogged about this here) and made from beautiful pieces of silk.  The seams are embellished with decorative stitches and the bag further enhanced with couched fibers.  The bag is lined with a fun cotton print fabric and closes with a magnet.

On Tuesday I’ll be posting a tutorial I’ve been working on along with more project ideas so please check back often.  Hope everyone has a great weekend – try to stay cool!

Bag of the Week 24

Dress up a straw purse with dresses!

Here is a simple way to embellish a summery straw bag.  I created a panel of embroidered designs and attached it to a purchased bag.  I first embroidered the dress designs onto a white background and then satin stitched that rectangle onto a larger checked fabric piece.  I created a satin stitch frame around the outside by stitching through tearaway stabilizer.  When the panel was complete I glued it onto the outside of the purse with fabric glue.  If your bag is unlined you could also stitch the panel onto the purse.  Then use some of the fabric from the project to make a lining for the bag.

These designs come from A Bit of Stitch’s Appliqué Fashion Dresses.  I have used these designs on all sorts of projects and I love them.  Wouldn’t it be cute to make a dress to wear and then use the same fabric in the appliqué for a matching purse? 

Bag of the Week 23

Curvy Strip-Pieced Bag

Remember the Ribbon Handled Bag I blogged about previously (you can find a tutorial for this design here)?  Well, this is another version of that bag.  This time I took my inspiration from Hope Yoder’s Chit Chat Backsack pattern and created the fabric for the body of this bag from her instructions which she calls Curvy Wurvy piecing.  This technique is fun and very easy to do.  The curved strips are layered on top of each other and fused to a foundation.  I added the blanket stitching along each edge for added definition.  The flower appliqué is from Hope’s pattern and is also available as a machine embroidery design on her website.  It is fused into place and stitched with the same blanket stitch.  I added jumbo rickrack in the seam between the top band and the body and added striped ribbon handles.

This colorway is my absolute favorite:  hot pink, orange, yellow and lime green.  You can see a plaid fabric in this project with those colors.  The first time I used that piece of fabric years ago I based my design around those colors and have been using them ever since.  I am hoarding every scrap of that plaid and dearly wish I could find more.  It may be my most-used fabric ever. 

Bag of the Week 20

Seascape Bag

Last week I posted about a handwoven bag I made using one of Deborah Brunner’s patterns.  This week I am highlighting another of Deborah’s patterns, Handwoven Seascape Bags.  Like the previous bag, this one was created by weaving torn strips of fabric through a base made of Pearle cotton thread.  Several colors of silk dupioni were used as well as some hand painted China silk and even a piece of metallic ribbon.  To create the feel of underwater grass I added several different eyelash yarns.  Instead of weaving the rows horizontally across I created wavy lines to simulate the underwater environment.  Deborah’s patterns include instructions for embellishing the bag with silk ribbon embroidery which I did on the first bag I made (not shown).  I created a second bag as a sample for a class I was teaching and on this one I used machine instead of hand embroidery.  The plants were stitched from Cactus Punch’s Scenery Ingredients CD and the fish and starfish were freebies I downloaded from the internet.  I also added glass beads to simulate bubbles, and the strap was made from more strung glass beads.

The back of the bag was adorned as well.  The pattern includes a seaweed quilting pattern which can be stitched on the back panel of the bag.  I took a different approach and stitched the design with bobbin work using variegated silk ribbon in my bobbin. 

The edges of the purse are bound with fabric strips during the construction and the bag is lined, as well.

This is a very cute pouch-style purse (the pattern includes two views, the simple pouch style and a one with an ultrasuede flap) and the embellishment opportunity is vast.  I think this would be great done in a desert design with warm colors and embroidered with desert plant life.  Or maybe a hills and valley scene with wild flowers.  Use your imagination and create a one-of-a-kind work of art.

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.