Recent Project

This is a bag I recently finished. It was made from a repurposed men's size extra large shirt. The shirt was made out of a very soft suede-like polyester fabric. Sorry for the colors in the photos, I borrowed my brother's camera and it is an older model. The color is more of a dark greenish tan than what is shown. The flap is actually the top of the sleeve, and was designed to utilize the shape of the sleeve cap. I did a crazy quilt cover on the flap. The bag is fully lined and I used fleece as the interfacing to maintain the softness of the bag. The over all size of the closed bag is 13" wide X 15" high.

With the flap open, you can see the two front pockets of the shirt which have button closures, handy for things you don't want to lose in the bottom of the bag like sunglasses, keys, etc.

The lining:

Close up of the stitching detail on the flap and strap. The strap is long enough to wear across your chest to facilitate hands free carriage. I hope you enjoyed looking at my little project. I have a couple more of these shirts in different colors, a rich burgundy/wine color and an olive green.

I did not use all of the shirt in this bag, only one sleeve and part of the front and half of the back. I don't have pictures of the other items I made from it. They included a wallet, a cross body "rock" pouch for a friend's son (he wanted an "Indiana Jones" bag), one bracelet and one chapstick carrier/key fob out of the cuffs and a couple of eyeglass cases. I kind of made it a quest to see exactly how much of the shirt I could use and how many items I could make from it. By the time I was finished, I had only a couple very tiny scraps left.

Pictures

These are two of the bags I have made recently. Sorry for the picture quality, I am not a photographer. I will post some more for you later. I would like to say, I am of the mindset that you just cut and sew, therefore, no patterns are used when I am making bags. No two of my bags are exactly the same size, shape, etc. Truly one-of-a-kind items.

You can never have too many . . .

No matter whether you call them purses, handbags, totes, pocketbooks or whatever, you can never have too many (unless you're a guy, in which case, ignore this post). For some reason, somewhere along the trail to civilization as we know it, it was decided that the woman/mother/family caretaker would be the designated carrier of all things for her family. This caused a quandry, I mean, for heaven's sake, a woman has only got 2 hands. I am no historian, but my guess is that's why pockets were invented. But, then, pockets aren't really large enough for carrying all the essentials. Besides, if you only have one pocket, and it's full of stuff you need/want to have with you, you may look lopsided as you walk. Enter the handbag/purse/tote/whatever you call it, the "extra hand."

Some are carried in your hand (clutch: basically a big pocket), but that defeats the "extra hand" feature and just makes you look stylish (maybe). So, we add a handle to the basic clutch and call it a "wristlet." A little more convenient, and allows your hand to hold something else as you wear the wristlet around your wrist. But with the wristlet hanging from your wrist, you realize it's not exactly stationary. It bangs against your thigh, it bangs against your wrist and everything else because of it's free-swinging design. (Cute if you're the Mary Tyler Moore type bouncing down the street in a carefree manner. Ever tried carrying a hot cup of coffee while having a wristlet attached to your wrist? OUCH!) Don't get me wrong, the clutch and the wristlet both have their uses especially if you only need a few essentials with you, or are a party girl. However, the majority of women "need" more holding power.

Enter the "shoulder bag/tote." Wow! What an invention! Worn either on the shoulder or cross shoulder, it adds a lot of . . . Umphf . . . to your carrying power. Depending on it's size, you can carry just the basic essentials, or a week's worth of clothes or the kitchen sink (not recommended for obvious reasons). They may be constructed with or without extra pockets, inside or out or both (to corral all those absolutely necessary little bits of stuff you don't want to lose in the abyss that is called the "bottom of the bag").

So, you ask, why is she telling me all this? ROFL, I do have a point to all of this, I really do. Making purses/handbags/totes is one of the things I do. I had planned to show you some of them but blogger isn't cooperating this morning and only wants to place them where it wants to, not where I tell it to. So, I will have to devise a way to circumvent the stubbornness of blogger.