With the pretty blue laptop came a not so pretty bag. It was still functional, but stained and ugly and definitely not "me." So I started looking for laptop bags.
Ever notice how much it costs for one of those? Yeah, to much for me, I'm so silly about spending money on things. If it isn't something I'm in love with, I don't want it, and I certainly don't want it $60+ worth.
So I started thinking of making a bag or re-covering the old one.
That's when I went to the fabric store with my sister. (Ahh the bliss! The excitement of fabric shopping has been known to put me in labor, hence the birth of my son.)As soon as I walked in I found ASIAN BROCADE 40% off! Yes, I know, God and JoAnne's love me. I am very blessed.
So I bought a quarter yard of 5 different exquisite fabrics.
Then (a month later, you know me)I sat down to make the bag. I lovingly pulled threads to get the cuts perfectly on-grain, then sewed the 4" wide strips together. Then I cut 4" strips the other way and staggered them when I sewed them back together. I cut out pieces on the diagonal from the zigzaggedy fabric. I wanted to do it diagonally because Asian art usually has a diagonal line to it. Then I hand stitched the pieces on with silvery thread. I also embroidered the Chinese symbol for "thunder" onto part of it, and added a dragon patch I got off the rack. I did a lot of the stitching deliberately uneven and added lots of unnecessary long reckless stitches on the seams to add a touch of funky-handcrafted feel to the backpack.
It took a while to finish because I only worked on the hand stitching in my spare time (ie during swim class, in the school pick up que, at the doctor's office.)
All in all I am very, very pleased.
It's probably a very good thing I live over an hour from a fabric store big enough to fill my strange tastes.
3 comments:
Wow! I never would have been able to combine those fabrics and make it work like you did, sis. Does the blue have light blue and silver ferns? If so, don't bring the bag to my house...that's what I put on my bed!
Lol, yeah wouldn't want it to dissapear, now would I?
It's not ferns, more like trees in silver with varied color in the leaves. I love the sound of the blue ferns though.
Yeah, it's a brocade that just jumped out at me when Dad was admiring a different pattern. Now I have to make another coverlet for another bed of mine...sigh...so many fun things to do, so little time!
So, come help me! ;^)
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