DO YOU HAVE A SCRAP BAG?

If you work with fabric you should have one. If you don't you better start one! Mine was out of control, all those tiny scraps I could not bear to throw away. So, the project was a tote bag made from some of those scraps. Be warned right now there will be a lot of photos!

The bag "base" was a piece of fabric given to me years ago. The bag covering was created using all of those little scraps. Here is the beginnning where I am working from both ends of a large rectangle of the base fabric. It is large enough that the final finished bag measures about 16 inches square. I hand stitched each one in place and did some layering as well as some decorative embroidery. The hand stamp was also a scrap as it was done as a test piece for another project. Here are some closeup shots of some of the pieces and stitching. Those bright curvy strips are hems from the tee shirts I cut for rug weaving. This is the back of the rectangle of fabric showing my stitches. In addition to using up little scraps, I was also able to use those leftover pieces of embroidery floss, the ones we wind on cardboard for a future need. Now all my cardboard thread holders are empty! The bag lining was a piece of an old skirt I have had for years also. The Velcro strip was left over from another project. You see? The entire bag , in its individual pieces, could have easily ended up in the landfill. Instead, it has morphed into a colorful and roomy tote bag to hold all my stuff! It is large enough to carry my art journal and a current sewing project. Ahh.....tis good!