Two Very Different Bags

Hello HoffiCoffi here!

I have had a bit of a bagmaking frenzy here in the past month.

The first bag I would like to show you is made mainly out of three pairs of jeans.

I just cut the shapes out freehand and appliqued them onto a plain cotton background, adding a pocket at the bottom because I like the embroidery on it.

The back of the bag is a little... different.  This bag is intended to be used at the beach and so I wanted it to have a lot of pockets - and why reinvent the wheel! 

Pockets in action!

I was happy with the bag, but I had purposely appliqued the shapes quite a way inside the cut line.  This is because those big waves looked far too calm when completed.  Neat - but calm.  The idea was to put the completed bag in the washing machine with a lot of towels and then tumble dry it with dryer balls to agitate, agitate, agitate.  The denim then frays to reveal the white warp (or is it the weft?) threads in the jeans resulting in a lovely white foam crest of the wave. 

The above is a before and after shot.  As I say, this bag is meant to go on the beach in all that sand and on the rocks and the plan is that the more battered it gets the better it will look!

My second bag is completely different.  I made a bag for a friend.  She handed me a bag of sewing notions that she had retrieved from her grandmother's house as they were clearing her belongings; she gave the notions to me as she knew I would make use of them.  I am always honoured when I receive things like this and I wanted to make something in return.  The bag I made is on the left there in the above montage.

My friend also gave me a few pieces of clothing she no longer wore, and I used the floral fabric from one of her tops for the front of the bag.  The main body of the bag uses the last remnants of black flannel I had after making a dress and a skirt for myself, and the lining is the last of the remaining fabric I had from the pink jacket of my last refashion.  The purple button used for decorative purposes was from my friend's grandmother's lovely button box, pictured top right.

I do have one more bag in my latest blog post.  I think I may make something other than a bag next. :)