The Scrap And Snippet Collection

Howard and I were both listless lumps on the couch yesterday. I did a bit of work in the studio - as detailed below - but not nearly as much as I would have liked. We had invited friends for dinner who declined saying they really needed an evening at home and that turned out to be a good decision. Apparently so did we.

After going out so many times this weekend - four viewings in all - I just wanted to be home. When another friend called asking to go for coffee, I told her that I wasn't leaving the house but she could come over. It was fun. We looked at everything I was working on in the studio and she gave me feedback on the handbag and jewelry prototypes. All good. And then I lay around lump-ish-like.

And today, I will clean and leave the house again because viewers 17 are coming through this afternoon. LOL - I've started numbering them.  On a down note, someone stole a garden ornament from our front yard last week. We're really hoping it wasn't one of the viewers - that's just yucky feeling - but we'll never know. It's gone and most likely not coming back so I hope they enjoy their stolen goods.

On Friday, Fabricland had three colors of dupioni silk in the Home Decor section on sale 50% off. It must have been old stock because the rest was full price. They were 60" wide meaning 0.30 meters was enough for two purse linings or for a front, back, and lining. I bought the two pieces above and a burgundy-brown piece and washed them without thinking about the edges ending up with this mess since dupioni silk frays like crazy. NOT a problem. I have jars... and jars... and jars... and...

... jars of frayed ends and thread bits. The one above is on the desk next to my sewing machine. No thread gets wasted, particularly rayon and decorative threads. I collect these snippets for making thread lace like on the flap of the purse. Occasionally, the snippet collection gets too big and I either throw some out or - more often - evolve it into fabric that can be used at a later date. Right now, I have many jars full and very little fabric, so I'm at that stage again.

The two ribbons above have wire edges. The blue is twisted cording. All three are from stash. The combination of colors seemed about right for the bag handle.

I used a wide stitch and rust thread to zigzag over the blue cording and the copper ribbon. The plaid ribbon has several zigzag runs of rust, green, and variegated threads otherwise the end result would have been too light in value. The ribbons were each twisted tight before zigzagging over them and then the three strands were braided to make the handle. It's quite strong.

More than one person complained about the button. Apparently, it was too plain and not in my typical interesting style although I didn't know I had a typical interesting button style. Needless to say, when more than one person disagrees with you, it's probably time to do something about that so...

... I protected the purse by placing several layers of paper under the button, sanded it, and then painted it a metallic brown color which was not quite right so I painted it again in copper. While the paint was...

... still wet, colored beads were dropped on top and then held in place with several coats of glossy varnish. I'm debating whether anything more is needed.

Here it is when the varnish was still wet and a bit white looking. All that work loosened the threads holding the button in place so I hot glue gunned it down and now it's there, like it or not. Of course, I could paint over the entire thing with copper and it'd be an interesting textured look BUT... hopefully this one meets better success.

The burgundy-brown dupioni was for the lining of this bag. The original lining was a bright cotton that seemed garish rather than fun once the bag was sewn closed. The main and bright lining fabrics were originally sewn together at the sides with French seams which created a lot of bulk. As I didn't like the look and had already decided to take the bag apart and change the lining to a drop in style, switching linings fabrics was easy. The dupioni was interfaced with fusible knit giving it a soft but flexible hand. I think I'll use that combination for all the bags. It's pretty and durable.

And - of course - there were more scraps from both the lining and the handles. Sometimes I wish I weren't quite so capable of seeing the potential of scraps because I end up with so many - the scrap and snippet collection - but luckily I have space limits on how much to keep. I'm pretty good at moving things along when I get to overload point. There was a larger piece of the dupioni silk left from this project that I'll use as a base for thread lace with these remnants although I doubt I'll get much time to sew today because...

... along with cleaning the house for the viewing, we are helping our youngest son to move back home. After two months of living on his own, he would like to return and this is good. It'll make things much easier for him although I imagine it'll be an adjustment for all of us. It's amazing how quickly Howard and I had gotten used to being childless - VBG. If I do get to sew, I will work on that sweater from Friday's posting. I have the pattern all ready to go.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - for many viewers increasing the odds of a sale and for no viewers yesterday with a day to sew and move slow

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Personal Growth - To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive. - Robert Louis Stevenson

I've learned that there's a time to pay attention to popular opinion and a time to ignore it and carve my own path.