Oh boy, I'm so excited! I just stitched up my 1st little shopping bag, made from an old cotton dishtowel with a tomato appliqué, from the Thrift Store.
Here is its trial run, filled with dry pasta:
I'm sewing several bags today as presents for my SIL's 60th birthday. I'm going over to my sister's house (it's her wife) tomorrow--my father is up for the weekend.
I always feel a little nervous before family gatherings.
SIL and I are not close––tangled family allegiances, you know–– but she loves farmers markets so she might find cloth bags useful.
Unfortunately, she also loves to heat and bleach the hell out of laundry. These old materials can't take that. I'll have to use the sturdiest cotton for her.
UPDATE, 3 PM: And now I've finished the 2nd bag--this one with a piece of old but "new" linen that came with a paper tag:
I gave this one a drawstring.
These took me a long while, but now I know how to do them, the next ones will be quicker.
Here is its trial run, filled with dry pasta:
I'm sewing several bags today as presents for my SIL's 60th birthday. I'm going over to my sister's house (it's her wife) tomorrow--my father is up for the weekend.
I always feel a little nervous before family gatherings.
SIL and I are not close––tangled family allegiances, you know–– but she loves farmers markets so she might find cloth bags useful.
Unfortunately, she also loves to heat and bleach the hell out of laundry. These old materials can't take that. I'll have to use the sturdiest cotton for her.
UPDATE, 3 PM: And now I've finished the 2nd bag--this one with a piece of old but "new" linen that came with a paper tag:
100% Pure Linen. Made in Denmark.
Imported by American Handicrafts Co.
These took me a long while, but now I know how to do them, the next ones will be quicker.
That is, excuse the expression, so cute. And looks durable, too.
ReplyDeleteFamily, eh?
NO, no, I'm with you, Zhoen:
ReplyDeleteCUTE is just the right word!
I'm not sure how durable the material is... It's soft old cotton. I'll test drive the bags for a while and find out.
At least they'll get a little more use and give a little more pleasure (that fat tomato!) before they go in the recycle bin,
and save a few plastic bags too.
Anyway, utility aside, I'm getting a lot of satisfaction out of this project.
That reminds me of a set of dishtowels my aunt cross-stitched, sometime in the late 1950s. Had fruit and vegetable motifs; were made of feed sacks, similar to unbleached domestic.
ReplyDeleteFunny, the memories that come up from deep in the psyche.
PS: I think your SIL will like your bags. They're a good idea, Fresca.
ReplyDeleteCROW: Indeed---those are just the sort of dishtowels that get donated to the Thrift Store, and if they're not in good shape, they go directly into the fabric recycle bin.
ReplyDeleteI can rescue items from the bin for 25 cents/each and cut them up to use the undamaged parts.
(most stuff in the bin is truly rag-ready or even disgusting, but there are also these charming items.)
Thanks for saying you think SIL will like them... I hope so!