Back with a Bag!

I cant believe my eyes. I  haven’t posted in more than a month. I was travelling and hence the hiatus.

I recently came upon the idea to stitch a lunch bag for my husband.In India lunch usually consists of rice,pulses and vegetables/meat items with poppadoms and pickles to add. So usually a lunch bag is something that can hold a layered lunch box.

I had some dark brown corduroy material so I took some cream cotton fabric as a contrast. Here is a picture.

The lunch box has a circular base and so I cut the cream fabric in the same shape and made it double to check for wear and tear. The formula I used for the base is simple.The perimeter of the circle is  calculated as twice pie multiplied by the radius of the circular base and this is the length of the corduroy fabric to be cut for the bag (add seam allowance as convenient).The height of the bag is equal to that of the  lunch box  with a little extra for covering the top…you don’t want people to see the box from inside the bag.I was so kicked by the idea I hardly had time to look for the fabric clips so I used all that I could lay my hands on-paper clips,file holders…

Then I stitched the circular base to the body of the bag and then the belts.

The bag somehow looked very plain so I decided to insert a piece of embroidered band. Just some free hand drawing and basic embroidery stitches like lazy dazy and stem stitch…

Then i stitched the band on the bag and the bag was ready.

 

Assisi embroidery

Travelling on work is difficult and to travel with a six month old who tries to wriggle, crawl and stand is exceedingly difficult. For the past one month I have been travelling on work and hence there are no posts on my blog. Initially I tried to click a few picture of Southern India)(thats where I am) but even that didnt materialize.I plan to post a few, but later.

Here is a small piece of void work on my sister’s handtowel, a fairly loosely woven fabric, with a letter for her name on her aloe vera plant. I plan to do a lot more later.

Void Work

 

A Fishy Story

Fishes are nice to have and good to eat. By that I mean I have two at home and named them Hardy Heron(new Ubuntu release). You ask how can a fish be named Heron? I say why not!

A Blue Fish

Trying to capture them in spirit using trellis stitch was an enjoyable experience. Between the two I like the latter.

A Red Fish

Learning: Never try trellis stitch with a  very thin thread. It tests your patience and the lovely texture of the stitch does not show properly. A perle 8 is ideal as the stitches move really fast leading  to instant gratification and the look-and-feel effect is great.
Next, a dragonfly would be a good option to try. The net like effect of trellis stitch can accentuate its wings well.

 

Stitch Explorer:Flowers

I just thought that experimenting on various kinds of flowers using this stitch would be interesting. The few I tried.

Applique Flower

An applique flower witha  square trellis stitch centre and a pink flower where the petals,leaves and the centre use this stitch.

Trellis Stitch Flower

 

Trellis Stitch:Further on

I am so happy, I am almost jumping with joy. I got the square mirrors I was looking for (they are slightly rare) and also experimented on them with a combination of two colours. Its slightly late (or rather tooearly) to be using holiday colours yet red and green are slowly turning out to be my favourite colours for embroidery. Here is how it looks !

Square Mirror

A wobbly star only reflects lack of skill and practice.

Wobbly Star

 

Trellis Stitch-Initial wanderings

I started with experimenting on various shapes. The moment the first shape, a rather shabby looking orange rectangle took shape I  fell in love with the texture and feel of the prepared piece.  I can see the potential of this stitch and just passed into my dream world. Woke up to realize that half the month has passed and I haven’t posted anything. So here they are.

Shabby Beginning

Red Rectangle

Other Shapes

When I tried the circle I realized that this could be used for fixing mirrors. I am definitely not the first one to use such a  technique for fixing mirrors. In the western states of India like Rajasthan and Gujrat they use buttonhole to fix mirrors (especially the small ones). I have only seen them on finished pieces of embroidery work so I could be wrong. I tried the trellis stitch and it works fine ;slightly tricky though as you have to hold the mirror in the less dominent hand’s thumb and stitch with the other.

Sheesha

I experimented with a round and diamond shaped mirror here and will try the square when I get a few  square mirrors.

 

My First Quilt: Part 4

Having added side squares to my quilt its time to post  photos.  I just love the fabric from which the squ are cut. I have been saving it for far too long and decided to use  it this time around. It is a red and black handloom  from orissa, a state in eastern India.  It had lovely chakras or wheels in it which draw inspiration from the suntemple at Konark. I wonder how much time it took the weaver to make the pattern and weave it into fabric. You can see a few details in the photo below but none of the chakras could be retained in full.

A fabric from the East

 

Chicken Scratch

Dotted Fabric 01

Having tried some chicken scratch on Girgham, I jumped onto the dotted fabric bandwagon. The least I can say is it started off with disastrous results! I had proceeded with far too many flowers before I realized that they uncannily resembled daisies made with detached chain or what is popularly called lazy dazy stitch. What had happened to all the lacing I used! I couldn’t retrace my steps so I just went ahead and added a few more experiments.

Spotted Fabric

And then tried some swirls and circles.

Swirls and Circles

 

12Dozen in 12Months: Stitch #02

Stitch#02

Here is the second stitch in the series.

 

12Dozen in 12Months: Stitch #1

Shawkl at http://www.shawkl.com has started a Stitch Along in 2009 called 12 Dozen Stitches in 12 Months(TDiTM). What a wonderful name! I arrived late and she has already posted about a dozen stitches. These are simple stitches that can be used as seam treatments and ideal for beginners. I will do 4 stitches each week as compared to her 3 per week to cover up for lost time. I could hasten the process of catching up but whats the point—one needs to enjoy the journey as much as the destination!
Here is my first one.

Stitch#01