Jewel bags and gift bags

The little bits of silk left over from the filet lace bag I wrote about gave me an idea for my twin granddaughters' birthdays last month. The cuff, with its self-covered button was an obvious bag for a small piece of jewellery.
The strip left from the shoulder of the sleeve provided the lining for a piece of linen I had already marked up for a tiny version of one of Christine Bishop's fail-proof bags.





I borrowed an idea for a pineapple on the front of this one - from a lovely piece Margaret Adams  had in the September Gallery display at the Embroiderers' Guild. Thanks Margaret!

Into the bags I placed a couple of pieces of jewellery that had been given to me - one a pearl and marcasite drop given to me by my brother, for, I think, my 18th birthday,

The other is a pearl and marcasite drop given to me by my parents on my 16th birthday.

It was not the only thing I gave them for their birthdays, but it seemed appropriate.

On my DYI roll, I dug out a couple of initials I had drawn, a couple of years ago, on to calico, as an experiment with my Derwent Inkintense fabric coloured pencils.  I had used a book of Medieval manuscripts to create initials on calico, but the moment passed and I didn't colour them.

I dug them out, along with the pencils, and played around. What I should have done was read the instructions on the pencils instead of relying on my memory. I knew the process involved water, so coloured them, then wet the fabric, thinking that would set the colour.









Wrong.

You are meant to either begin with wet fabric, wet the pencil, or use a wet brush on the coloured fabric.

I managed to rescue them with a brush and more pencil, then let them set - by drying.

They are not my best effort, but not a disaster either.

I had planned to line them and make them into carry bags with handles, but on the advice of friends, I lined them and made them into drawstring bags.


Some ribbon completes the birthday bags.



















They're not heirloom pieces - but they are, I think,  appropriate to hold 12th birthday presents from your Nana.