Another bag trio

This week I returned to embroidering a couple of flowers on Ink and Spindle Black Cockatoo linen that I had set aside while working on a couple of major gift projects. The linen was already cut for a bag, and I had begun embroidering a couple of the flowers using bullion knots in perle 5 cotton to add a touch of dimension. I finished the two bullion knot flowers and added one in straight stitch. The back of the bag uses the same fabric but is left without embroidery.

I had another two panels in the flannel flower print, already embroidered and awaiting construction into a tote, as well as another length of fabric set aside with a Nicola Jarvis bird I had embroidered several years ago, so I spent a few hours ironing and cutting out lining, sides and bases to make up the three bags.  

The two sets for embroidered totes made up fairly easily over a couple of days once I put my mind and machine to it.

The grevillea print was trickier. I try to work with the shape and orientation of the fabric and this piece suggested a horizontal orientation, so I worked on a folio-style bag with a zip along the opening. 

As usual, I was working it out as I went along, and intending to attach a shoulder strap across the top, but realised, after I had stitched the zip to the outer layer, that it would need handles in the centre as well, so they had to be added. This also meant it would be better if the shoulder strap could be kept inside the bag until needed, but that could only work with the bag unzipped.  

The shoulder strap was, at this point, in two pieces, waiting to be joined. 

It occurred to me that if the shoulder strap clipped together in the centre, the two pieces could be tucked down their respective sides of the bag, so I made a trip to Spotlight for a clip to join the two ends, rather than stitch them together as I originally intended. 

At the tab end of the zip, the strap can be tucked in the open bag. 

At the other end I made a gusset, so the strap is tucked between the lining and the outer layer. It’s a somewhat strange solution I admit.

In addition, the bag is not entirely symmetrical - an unintended consequence of my work-it-out-as-I-go approach. It is 41cm wide and 30cm high in the centre, but with a 2cm discrepancy at the side edges.

It is, however, sturdy and will hold a fair bit - certainly a towel and beach equipment, artist equipment, or even overnight travel needs. It was fun to experiment. As I learned while doing Barbara Mullan’s Design Online Course, I fall into the design-as-you-go rather than design-it-in-advance group and that's OK.

These three add to my growing pile of tote gift bags - and I have fabric for more. I now have the zipped bag, seven embroidered linen tote bags and three printed tote bags awaiting homes. I have linen for at least another six, probably more. Better, I think, give tote bags a rest for a while.

Cockatoo Bag

I recently bought a kit for a Cockatoo Tote Bag from The Fox Collection. When I finished the Bee Cushion I thought I'd go straight on with the Cockatoo Bag and, as usual, rushed right in. Unfortunately, I made quite a big mistake. I mistook needle-felting for punch-needle, dug out the wrong tools and began needle-felting the cockatoo.  

The cockatoo outline is printed on the inside of the bag, while the flowers are printed on the outside. Both needle-felting and punch-needle are worked from the underside.

It was not until I had the head and shoulders felted that I realised what I had done, by which time it was too late to go back, and too difficult to undo. 

I could embroider over the felted mess on the right side, but could not disguise the contrast between the felted background on the upper body and the lower section without felting. The only way I could see forward was to continue to put a layer of needle-felting on the whole cockatoo, then embroider over it.

The felted result looked more like a crested alpaca than a cockatoo.

Eventually, however, I had something resembling a cockatoo, using a mixture of feather stitch, straight stitch and open chain.

Fortunately, and somewhat surprisingly, the flowers proved to be both more straightforward and more pleasurable. They were primarily worked in satin and long and short stitch. The stranded cotton provided was smooth with a good sheen, very easy to work with.  

The colour combinations differed in each of the three flowers. I was nervous about the length of the straight stitches in the outer flower borders and early on I added some couching.

As I progressed I got a bit more trusting, and did less couching - a decision I now regret. Some of the white guide lines are visible under the edge of the flower on which the cockatoo is standing. They didn't wash out completely before blocking.    

The thread provided was not only good quality, but generous in amount. I have easily enough left to make the whole thing again, probably twice over.                                                              

Although I was pleased with the result when it came off the hoop, I rinsed it gently and blocked it, hoping the print lines would dissolve. It didn't disappear, but it did fade. 

With an outside temperature of 38C, and 26C inside, it took 12 hours to dry.

Although there were no construction instructions, I decided if the bag was to be used, it needed lining. The back of the embroidery was likely to be caught or rubbed on any contents and needed protecting.

I selected a wavy navy cotton stripe, cutting it to the exact size of the bag. 

The fabric was large enough for me to create a gusset along the sides and the base, keeping the face of the bag the size illustrated on the kit package while maximising the internal size.

I'm delighted with the result and have added it to my slowly growing pile of gift  totes.