Another year is winding down…and we’ve begun the headlong slide into the holidays. Before I look ahead to the promise of a new year, I wanted to take a moment to assess what I’ve accomplished in the last twelve months.
My word for the year was ADAPT…and part of that adaptation for me was a change-up in my art process. I made a pact with myself to resist buying any new art supplies and to use up what I already had…to adapt to my present supply situation. As I looked around my studio, I had several plastic storage containers filled with fabric …when we moved to Everett almost 20 years ago, I had 19 storage containers of fabric…I was now down to 8, most of that attrition due to donating/gifting to other artists and their projects. I just didn’t seem to sew much anymore. I looked through the bins…some of the fabric were pieces that I bought years ago, just waiting for the right project…it seemed to me that the right project had just arrived.
Previously I made vintage-inspired pillows, but the customer response was somewhat lacking (not the right color, not the right pattern, already had too many pillows, too bulky to ship.) I hit upon the idea of making Artist Tote Bags…given the eco-conscious bent of banning plastic bags, who doesn’t need more fabric tote bags…I went to work.
Sorting through a mound of fabric and organizing piles was a messy process…I needed heavy weight fabrics for the foundation of each tote, lighter fabrics for pockets and pocket linings plus material for straps. I wanted to combine a couple of color coordinated fabrics for each tote and to make each tote unique…something that no one else would own.
I made my first tote on January 2…I created a design that would be substantial enough for a trip to the farmer’s market, large enough for a day at the beach or arty enough to corral journaling supplies. I double-stitched all the seams with no raw edges exposed and added a pleat at the bottom for extra roominess.
my first Artist Tote Bag…with my own Spoonflower printed fabric on the outside pocket.
As of December 1, I have sewn 65 Artist Tote Bags…with supplies for another 15 bags.
Along the way, I was reminded of a few things…
Some fabrics were a breeze to work with, gliding along effortlessly under the presser foot, while others were a bear, the grain of the fabric off-kilter and stubbornly unwilling to yield to the sewing needle…each type reminding me of people I have worked with, and my preference for one over the other.
The old way is not always the best way…after I knocked over my 40 year old plastic pin box…and spilled all of the pins…twice…I had a revelation. I dumped all the pins into a vintage coffee cup I had on the sewing table…its weight will make it difficult to tip over and there’s more room inside the cup to grab a pin when I need one.
Working on a project for an entire year enhances your skill, your concentration and your perseverance. I never really intended to spend the entire year sewing…I was a collage artist…I work with paper and found objects…what was I doing spending all my creative juice on fabric? I found that it helps to shake things up with one’s art practice when you tackle a different medium. Sewing brought me back to my first artistic love with fabric…going forward I want to explore meshing fabric and paper together in some fashion.
Since I’m nearing the end of sewing up these Artist Tote Bags, I need to determine the next step. I do have an ample supply of fabrics that are not large enough for a tote bag but possibly some sort of cross-body mini-tote…or maybe I’ll design a funky quilt…ideas are percolating.
But I’ve also accumulated a mountain of remnants…so my idea is to bundle up these fabrics in coordinated colorways, add in some ribbons, buttons, fun found objects and offer them to you for your own snippets of inspiration, embellishments for your art journal, supplies for tags and ornaments, material for visible mending…whatever strikes your fancy! I have 18 Fabric Bundles that I have listed in my Etsy shop starting today.
As a year-end thank you to you, my newsletter subscribers and readers, I will give each of you 20% off any Fabric Bundle you purchase during the month of December…just use the code FABRICFUN when you check out.
And now its time to turn my attention to holiday plans and presents…I think I have plenty of textiles to inspire me…
