One more, one more

You may recall the placket cloth bag I made last year. If not, you can take a quick peek at this index entry to refresh your memory …

[Note: you’ll need to scroll down a bit as the “placket cloth” posts will include this one]
This is what the placket cloth has become, front …

and back …

It was the undoing of the old …

that enabled the remaking of the new …

So now I have retired my commercially made stitch bag and will use this one instead. Don is already shaking his head imagining what I will look like when I carry both bags at the same time …

Highly visible, I’d say …

Feeling more like myself

I am grateful to India Flint for the insights I received during her bagstories project. And I will honor her request not to divulge the construction techniques provided in her private Facebook workshop.

That said, I do want to share part of the journey that led to the creation of this bag …

As you can see, it is somewhat larger than the bag on the right, which was constructed following India’s original instructions …

But those of you who have been reading this blog for a while will most likely recognize its roots in the Remember 2016 cloth, which utilized Jude Hill’s paperless piecing technique …

Indeed, the first patches in this new bag were trial bits from Remember 2016. Others were remains of last year’s Peace Pin Project. And some were made from cloth gifted by Kindred Spirits. Most are linen, either thrift store bought or vintage clothing and linens from my past.
There were even several abandoned slow stitch projects pulled out and finally put to good use …

Speaking of which … I recently went through my scraps, discarding many that were too small and/or too shredded to be of much use. But in going through the myriad bits and pieces, I realized that I recognized each one … where it came from and what project it was used in. The memories that were triggered astonished me. 
So it is that this bag has become a holder of memory. Point to any patch and I dare say I can spin a story (or two or three). In the days to come, I may do just that. But for now, I will rest in the satisfaction of its wholeness and in sharing that here.
Addendum:

First Golden Eye …

Agarita …

and Bitterweed …

Bagstories continued

India Flint’s Facebook-based bagstories class did result in a functional bag in addition to the funky teabag bag featured in earlier posts …

It presented a great opportunity to use some eco-dyed muslin from a couple of years ago which was inspired by India Flint’s Bundle Book, using a process detailed in this post.  I tore the dyed muslin into strips and paper-less pieced it (thanks Jude) into 2.75″ squares …

Onion skin eco-dye

which I stitched together, back-to-back …

Thimble flower eco-dye

Then stitched the squares together along the inside edges and realized I needed to reinforce the seams. Which gave me the perfect excuse for using Deb Lacativa’s “Dirty Threads” …

I also dove into a collection of vintage buttons looking for a closure. I have no idea if this is shell or celluloid, but it seemed to fit …

And lucky me … since there were lots of scraps leftover, I got to piece them together into a handle …

I’m realizing that paper-less piecing gives me such great pleasure … thanks again Jude.