I've made a couple more

I made a Japanese style rice bag the other day, and thought I'd have a go at another. This one's larger, a good size for storage or it could even have a long strap attached and get used as a beach bag or similar. Initially I used a ribbon for the closure, but swapped it for a length of cord, as you'll see from later photos. The fancy ribbon came from a stack of four posh soaps I'd been given as a present. I'd tucked the ribbon away, knowing it'd come in handy sooner or later.

The fabrics chosen were mainly pink on the outside, and more varied on the inside.

After finishing that bag, I impulsively decided to make another! I'd some pieced-together stripey fabrics lying around, made a few weeks ago without any real idea of how I'd use them, so I incorporated them into the third bag. I backed the stripes with interfacing, then trimmed them to the size I wanted. 7 inches square, if I remember rightly. More fabric was chosen for the bags lining, and I got to work.

This is the bag with the grey cord and red beads (taken from a charity shop bracelet) which I latterly decided wasn't right and swapped it.

I love that apple fabric. I'm not the biggest fan of novelty prints, but that's cute.

If I was making this type of bag again, with stripes, I'd quilt them. Hand-quilting might take time, but it'd look good.

Finally, here are pictures of the bags once I swapped the ribbon and grey cord over.

Here's the smaller of the pair.

And the larger one.

That's all for now. Hope you like 'em.

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Sari scraps, PVA, a couple of books and a necklace

I'm typing this as snow's falling, and has been steadily all day. It's not settling to any great extent, though I bet by tomorrow morning the paths will be slippery with ice. Which always makes me paranoid about falling over and at the very least looking undignified, but at worst breaking a bone or twisting an ankle. Oh well, it's ideal weather to stay inside and craft, isn't it? I finally got around to listing packs of sari scraps on Etsy this morning. I only made up six bundles as I've no clue whether they'll sell or if I've set a reasonable enough price point. Time will tell. This is a link to the listing, if you're interested. This vaguely pink fabric isn't from one of my Etsy packs. It's from a bit of experimenting I was doing yesterday. I'd seen a post on Instagram showing how a DIY version of batik could be done without using hot wax. The Instagrammer used PVA instead, and I wanted to try this out....

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HOW TO MAKE: these decorative birds

I suggested yesterday that I'd run through how to make a fabric bird wall or window hanging (can't think of a snappier title for it than that!) so here goes. I'll start with the first decorative hanging I made. It's something you could make in any colour combination you want, and would look good hanging at a window with translucent beads that'd catch the light I used five birds for this, but you could make it longer if you prefer. (Incidentally, if you're wondering about what's hanging off the bottom on this, it's a metal Christmas decoration, shaped like a lantern. For some reason I thought it looked appropriate to leave it there, looped over the end.) WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO GATHER TOGETHER: Assorted scraps of fabric for the front of the birds - aim for a mix of colours and textures. Silk looks good, as does anything with embroidery or intricate patterns. You might aim for a hippy-ish boho look, or maybe you're ...

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