Changing Your Mind - Part Of The Process

Did you know that if you search by cuff bracelet at Etsy.com, you'll come up with over 59,000 options? How on earth does any body find any body on Etsy. The lowest price is twenty cents. The highest price is $21,000.00. Personally, I don't know of  anyone looking for a twenty one thousand dollar bracelet on Etsy but there it is if they are.

Having started my brain thinking about jewelry ideas, they're still dancing around even though I've eliminated going into business. I like the study of design and challenges and formats that make you work. At one point, I created 5 x 7" textile pieces. Cuff bracelets seem similar. A great format in which to develop and grow. So I ordered some blanks... from a place in the US... and shipping typically takes 28 days... so they should get here around the time I finish the handbag project. Fun!

Yesterday was the dentist and the Lori Jane Bag. The bag was way more fun. With this one, it was important to add touches of bling because Lori Jane loves it - usually the sparkly crystal kind - on the back of her jeans. Unfortunately, the colors of the hands didn't go with the white and silver of crystal type bling BUT... they did go with this copper metallic mix of seed beads. They're stitched along the sides of the zipper.

The main fabric is a striped denim. On the left side of the above picture, you can see the original stripes. On the right side, I've added a narrow zigzag in variegated metallic thread. The stitching goes through the denim as well as a layer of "old quilt" as batting to give the bag density. The finished fabric has a "winter bag" feel.

This time I worked in a different order creating all the parts first so it would be a "simple" matter of putting them together at the end. NOT a good decision. I should have know better because one of the important things about creating step by step in a responding format is a willingness to change your mind. With my students, I often saw them producing less than their best product because they weren't willing to take the extra time needed to execute their better vision. They settled for good enough as opposed to good and enough. That willingness to continue creating takes time to develop but after a while changing your mind doesn't feel like a mistake, it's just part of the process... which it is.

I started out wanting to create a barrel bag thinking that it would look like the hands were holding the side of the bag only - once the end was pinned on - and the shape established - the hands were barely visible. That didn't work.

The main body of the purse is a long flat section that can be manipulated around any shape of end piece so even though I'd already cut the end pieces and sewn on the strap and stitched the lining, I changed my mind because I knew the round shape was not going to result in my best for this piece. Changing my mind meant drafting the new end, detaching the handles from the old ends, picking out the side seams of the lining, and testing the new end - read several hours of work. Oh well!



The new end is shaped in the format above because that's the narrowest width that would allow me to re-use the strap. If the purse had been for me, I'd have used another set of handles but Lori Jane prefers a shoulder strap and since I'd already sewn this one and there was no more of the purple fabric left, it had to work.

As with a garment, the lining is a great place to test sew. It's a muslin of a different sort. On the end, you can just make out the black stitching where I fastened down a tuck. Pinning the end piece to the main piece, I discovered that it was 3/4" too high. Better to find that out on the lining than the real thing.  Apparently, I wasn't doing math well yesterday.

One of my favourite things to do is to go out for breakfast, by myself, with my journal, and spend some time writing and planning. I've been doing this for years and it hasn't seemed like much of an issue to me until the other day. My favourite breakfast place raised their prices. With a tip, breakfast was $16.00. That's ridiculous.  Perhaps, just coffee instead.

Tomorrow, I've been invited to go clothes shopping with a friend. Her job is changing and she needs more clothes. I get to give solicited opinions and spend someone else's money. OH... another of my favourite things to do. Should be fun.

Our knitting group is putting together a baby afghan for a member who is pregnant. Each of us is to knit three squares. Last time, that was a pain because they premeasured the yarn and sent it home in packages only there wasn't enough of some colors so there were lots of tied in ends. This time, we get a whole ball of yarn to use what we need and then pass it on. I brought the ball home last Tuesday night so I'd like to get the blocks done over the weekend and pass the yarn on to the next person. It's a relatively easy knit all in one variegated color which is also way less fiddly than the last baby afghan we did. It had three colors. Both were mitred blocks. This one has lace insets. It's a cute pattern. Pictures of my blocks next week.

And the Lori Jane bag will be finished by then.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - dental plans