When plans go awry

I wanted to try out my first bag pattern again in hopes of ironing out some of the issues I had with the first one.  This was successful, but as usual brought on a whole new round of challenges.

Jeans tend to be not super colourful.  They come in blue and black and different shades in between.  Finding colourful jean fabric at the thrift store is pretty much impossible.  So, what's a girl to do?  Fabric dye to the rescue!

Doesn't  it look pretty?

I started with a pair of black jeans.  I was concerned that with jeans being so saturated by dye already they would not pick up any of the new colour so I decided they should be bleached first.  One vat of bleach and a 20 minutes later I had a much lighter fabric to play with.

Into the tub of fabric dye it goes.

 About and hour later I figured it had done its time and I was quite pleased with the colour of the fabric.  They say you should make sure the fabric you are dying has turned 3 shades darker than your chosen shade as some of the dye will wash out when rinsed.  Excitedly I washed out my fabric and then threw it into the washer to get the residual dye out.

This came out of my washer.

What happened to my dark purple??

What happened? I was robbed!  My beautiful purple fabric had washed into a dirty looking light pink.  My mind tried to tell myself it  was now a antiquey rose colour but it was no use.  It just looked like pink fabric that had gone for a roll in the chimney soot. No fair.

I even experimented with a couple swatches to see how it would end up and they were so much nicer than this jean fabric.

I hated the thought of not using the fabric as there was no way I was wasting more fabric dye on a lost cause so I pondered this issue for a while.  How to get this fabric to work?

 Then I remembered the black poly organza I had in my fabric stash.  This came courtesy of my best friend who used it in a Halloween costume and then gifted it to me.  It is sheer and look what happens when I layer it onto the previously icky pink:

oooh pretty

Now it is a muted black with a purple shine though.   Problem solved! It was still a bit of a pain to sew with.  The organza liked to wander off during sewing but with enough pins I was able to convince it to behave.  I still don't like sewing with silky fabrics.

 

For note, this is what happens when you forget your iron is on the cotton setting and try to iron your polyester fabric.  So not good. I have no idea how I am going to get that off my iron. Oops!

all finished!

the back

Finally I got the whole thing sewn together.

Unfortunately I only have  one strap and I have not found a good place to buy the hardware needed to make my own straps.  Etsy is kind of limited and other places on-line are either super expensive or you have to buy at least 500. It is really frustraiting.

To line the bag I used this cute purple rayon (yes it is actually purple, its looks more blue in this picture) which I got quite a while ago to make a dress out of.  The dress has not really materialized yet, but it was fun to use a bit of the fabric for the lining.  And so Prince Rupert appropriate with the umbrellas.

Check out the matching snap.  With some family consultation with mum and dad I figured out how to paint the plain silver snaps I found and coat them so they will last (I hope).  Now I can make my own to match any bag I make.

Random Rupert 

 We got one nice day this weekend so Hugh and I got outdoors and walked to Morsby Park to take some pictures.  We went down to one of our favorite spots near the lake as it was shady and cool.

It was really nice because all of the lily pads which had been in the pond had bloomed.  The flowers were so pretty and I took tons of pictures.

  

I hope this coming weekend will be nice.  I am very tired of the rain.  Yesterday there was even a thunderstorm.  Short but loud.

Bag number 2

 So I thought up another bag design this week to finish up the leftover denim  I had from last week's bag.

I was hoping to get this neat 2/3 hexagon pattern on the front of the bag with 5 triangles sewn together.

In the end though it did not quite work out the way I wanted.  I pieced the front panels together three times trying to get the points to match up, but I finally had to concede defeat, it was really not going to work with the jean fabric.  It was just too thick to sew over at the joining point in the middle.

This idea needs some more work.

So I still wanted to finish the bag despite the difficulties I had with the design so I added a button from my stash to cover up the less than awesome points of the triangles.

This bag let me experiment with making my own strap which was also a trial.  Pulling jean fabric though a thin tube with interfaced cotton was really difficult and time consuming.  It turned out pretty good in the end though.  Amazing what an iron will do for you. :)

I don't think I have even used my iron so much as when making these bags.  Everything needs to be ironed to keep the seams flat so they are crisp and easy to sew through with the sewing machine.

I have realized that I really need to make myself some pressing tools such as a tailor's ham so I can iron corners and small tubes without creating even more creases.

I used some of the quilting cotton I bought a while ago off a website.  It came from one of the only internet fabric shops I have been able to find that sells dress fabric that is based in Canada.  There are a few quilting shops, but all their fabric is super expensive and not really the fabric types and weights I want.

I am really enjoying being able to use some of the cottons I have been hording in my fabric stash.  I bought this cotton imagining a really cool geometric 60s dress but when I got the fabric I realized that in large amounts this fabric is a bit hypnotic and really should not be used in greater quantities.

Lucky for me it was perfect for my geometric bag.

After sewing on the button, I added a small snap to keep the bag closed and it was finished.

Timewise this bag took about a day from pattern creation to finishing up with the sewing on of the snap and button. I think it totaled about 8 hours of work. 

If I had not fiddled with the annoying triangles it probably would have been done in half the time which gives me hope if I ever want to make another.

Sadly this marks the end of my denim stash so i am really hoping our local thrift store has a good sale on Tuesday so i can buy some cheap pants so I can continue to make these bags.

I also have my eye on some absolutely beautiful East Indian clothing that was for sale at the thrift store.  They are in gorgeous colours and the embroidery and bead work need to be put on skirts or something.  Can't wait until Tuesday!

Random Rupert

When it stops raining in Prince Rupert everyone gets out of the house.  Hugh and I went for a walk down by the pond and on the way we went by this cute MG.  Prince Rupert has quite a collection of neat cars which always seem to come out of hiding in spring.

This is another of my favorite vehicles that has been parked in front of our apartment building for while.  Check out the all metal bumper!  I can totally see myself driving this truck pulling a horse trailer.  It does have a little bit of rust but for a old vehicle in Prince Rupert it is in pretty good shape.