Fun with bags..

Bit more progress on the bag.
(Click on photo for bigger image)

Addition of printed chiffon around the butterfly. Stitched down with seeding in toning stranded cotton. Would have been easier if I'd stitched the background FIRST!!!! This is what happens when I don't design and plan properly.
Here's a closeup.

Bags more fun..

Bit more stitching on my bag...
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A little bit of shadow work. Shapes cut from those ubiquitous dishcloths, overlaid with a bit of sheer white polyester curtain fabric, outlined in back stitch and embellished with french knots in variegated stranded cotton.

Bags of Fun - close ups

Here are some closeups of the stitching....
(click on photos for bigger image)

I did these roses a long time ago with an Easy Punch (electric needle punch). The colours are slightly different because they were just samples and I was using odds and ends of cotton threads on a piece of woven polycotton. I bondawebbed them on the back (wonder under) to hold the loops and then just machine appliqued them onto the jeans.


I drew the butterflies on the jeans with a permanent marker, then embroidered the wings in french knots in stranded cotton, to match the relief of the roses.


I have drawn butterflies on the back pockets, and some more roses on the body at the back ready to embroider, but the flowers won't be done with a punch needle this time.

Bags of Fun - Stage One

jeans bag

The legs are off, the roses are on. And two butterflies. I finally did the butterflies in french knots, to get a similar level of relief to the needlepunch roses.

Miles more to go.........

Sea-side finds

This is a box made to illustrate the use of found objects.



Maisie likes to collect bits on the beach. This is made of some of the shells and pebbles she left behind after her last visit. There are also odds and ends of beads and seeds. The shells and stones are fixed using an assortment of earring fixings, curtain rings, washers and needleweaving.



The little scorpion-type insect (yes, I know it has only four legs!) is made from beads and wire and his legs are earring fixings.



In keeping with the spirit of the exercise, the box is a cardboard tube from a reel of crochet cotton and the top and bottom are circles saved from cutting mounts for samples. The background for the box top is a piece of dyed, felted woollen blanket. The rest of the box is covered in stretch faux suede.

Probably could have done without the beaded fringe, but to take it out now would leave marks.?

(Click on photos for bigger image)

Down my way......

Gina, at Patras Place, is putting pictures of where
she lives on her blog.
I thought that was a good idea.
Here are some pictures of where I live.
All taken in April.
(Click on photos for bigger image)


This is Eastboune from the South Downs.
In the distance you can see Bexhill and Hastings.
The dot climbing up the hill is me!


Another view from the downs.
You can see the pier and the beaches.


A view of the famous white cliffs.
The highest and best known is Beachy Head,
a well known suicide spot.


This is the Beachy Head lighthouse.
Built because the old one on top of the cliffs was
often shrouded in mist and could not be seen by
ships in the channel.

.
This is the original lighthouse, called Belle Toute.
A few years ago, this lighthouse was dangerously close
to the cliff edge and huge sums of money were spent
moving it further back.
Belle Toute was used in the filming of Fay Wheldon's
'Lifes and Loves of a She-Devil'.


Here is a view across the South Downs in the other direction.
The South Downs start at Eastbourne and finish in Winchester.
A distance of just over 100 miles.

All this is within 20 minutes walking distance of my house.
Along with shops, theatres, cinemas and restaurants. And a couple of miles down the road is the harbour and marina (if I feel energetic I can walk there around the coast).
It really is a very nice place to live.

Bags of Fun.....

Sharon over at In a Minute Ago issued the challenge: make a bag or other container from a pair of old jeans and embellish it. No rules, no start date, runs for three months. To join in, just leave a message on Sharon's blog. Check it out and have a go!



I've found this pair of old jeans. Not indigo, but I guess they qualify - so old there's barely any colour left, holes in the crotch - they were my favourite pair for years! As they fit me, they should make a fair sized bag!


roses (Click on photo for bigger image)

And for the embellishment, I found these easy punch bits in the UFO drawer and perhaps they will make a good starting point for a floral style bag. They are now in the THINKING tray!

We are now battening down the hatches here for Airbourne, Eastbourne's annual free four-day airshow. Its great fun, with planes, noise, fireworks and draws crowds from all over the place. It also draws Maisie and Joe! They are coming down today with their Mum for the duration and Richard will join us on Saturday, so its a full house. We have to childproof the place because they are so CURIOUS, so all my stuff has to be put away out of reach. No more work done here until next week!

Just desserts...............

I had two glasses of a very nice australian shiraz, five pounds off in Sainsburys, and as a result I have just served up 'Cod a la Crematoria'. I'll have another glass, then I won't care!

Granny's got a brand new bag..........

I was so pleased with the fabric I made from my UFO that I made another piece using a remnant of furnishing fabric. I thought I would make a more 'everyday' bag for myself, and use the blue piece for something more exciting. I backed it with curtain interlining and covered it with dark brown net. I used the stripes on the fabric as a guide for the programmed machine stitches.

Here's a picture of the 'before' and 'after'.



And here is the bag..................

bag

The basic pattern came from Threads magazine:

http://www.taunton.com/threads/pages/t00182.asp

I added a lining, a different tab and loop closure and a strap.

I found it quite difficult to set the 'waistband' on. I tried using leather, but it didn't work out at all well. I think it was because the fabric I was using was a little too stiff for the design. Finally, I used a piece of thick metallic lycra I bought from a remnant stall years ago. I didn't know how it would work out, and I hadn't decided how to fasten the bag or what kind of strap to use. The strap is just two old jogger drawstrings zigzagged together then stitched with the threads used on the bag fabric, threaded through curtain rings.

As a 'prototype' I am quite pleased with it. I would have preferred it to be a bit more squashy, wider and less deep. Next time I make one I will decide on the fastenings first and attach them before I put in the lining and I will use a softer fabric!

Its OK, I will use it.

(click on photos for bigger image)