It's not as easy as it used to be. Because of our tiny kitchen/dining area, we replaced our dining table (aka the most perfect sewing table - ever) with a tiny kitchenette version. So now I lay out patterns on the bed and the fancy cutting matt on the floor, set up the sewing machine on my worktable and ironing board in the laundry room. I basically take over the whole 2nd floor of the house. Ah well, it is what it is.
But just look what I've been making! I've decided to cut and sew up a significant quantity of my treasured vintage homespun linen and I'm going to share! So there's going to be a bunch of these - Itty Bitty Ditty Bags in a variety of shapes and sizes ...
The front one is about 5" x 3" and the back one is about 6" x 4". These have dark brown Euro flax linen pulls, the front one with a stack of fine silver beads, the back one with a steel nugget. I'd have a whole slew of these, but I only bought two zippers ... gots to get more zippers ASAP, 'cause the possibilities are endless not to mention I'm utterly obsessed with these enormously precious little bags.
For branding, I'm using a KVK stamp with my Chinese chop red ink ... really like the look of the red ink on the old linen.
Love the way the bottom is sewn ... Okay, so it's not an original design, but I am putting my spin on it.
So I've got more! Here's a couple of bags in progress ... this one's got inside and outside pockets and will have a leather shoulder strap. The front flap just laps over with the leather scrap and steel discs to weight it down - the Trad Messenger.
Then this one's kind of a tube that will have a fold-over top and linen shoulder strap, mostly machine stitched but with patchwork/sashiko deets - the Boro Bag.
And last, for now, but certainly not least ... this is the Super Jumbo Tote, 19" x 18" with a front pocket. I used waxed Euro flax linen to whip stitch the selvedges for the side seams and left the raw edges at the top and around the front pocket. I'm going to run it through the wash to get those raw edges more ragged.
So that's it for now. I'm really enjoying all the pattern making and sewing, figuring out all the different elements and accents - my design palette if you will - and how to make the best use of this precious resource, 19" wide, 100 year old (or thereabouts) homespun linen from eastern Europe ... enjoying, that's the understatement of the week ... like I was saying ... obsessed.
Stay tuned for the finished products ... I'll be listing them on Etsy for sure.
So you folks in the United States ... have a blessed and safe Thanksgiving / and the rest of the world - thanks for stopping by.
with deep gratitude and Thanksgiving blessings .......
l i g a - kvk
