I was at the Farmers Market in Old Strathcona this past Saturday with my friend Linda, and I saw the most beautiful bags. They were beautiful...delicious colours and luscious fabrics. I must admit, my heart was lusting after them, but the $70 price tag was a lot too much!
Well, Linda and I ogled them, walked away, looked at each other and said..."we could make some!"
When we got home that afternoon I made a quick trip to the local fabric store and picked up a few yards of fabric and interfacing on SALE. ( While there, I entered a draw and won a $30 gift certificate!! Yay, more bags to come!)
Back at home, I dug out a book on the subject that I purchased a year ago, put on my Pointy Hat for inspiration, and got out my sewing machine.
Before the weekend was over I had three bags of my very own! The first I made with hand painted fabric I had left over from another project. It's the smallest, but just the right size to carry some small projects to our Pointy Hat Art Posse meetings.
The second is a denim bag, lined and trimmed in a fun cotton print. I sewed lots of pockets inside, and put a snap closure in the lining.
The third is a pretty fabric with a surprising zing of colour for a lining. It's loaded with pockets, and snaps closed too. It's my favorite.
The moral here (and why not moralize?), is that if you really want something, it is very satisfying to make it instead of paying someone else to do it for you.
My father in law makes everything himself. He always says..."He has two hands; and I have two hands. If he can do it, I can do it too!"
Now I need to go back to the fabric store!
4 comments:
Oooh, nice bags! I agree that it is much more satisfying to make something than to buy it...I wonder how women used to manage to do it all in the old days...can you imagine having to make EVERYTHING??? Your bread, clothes, candles, linens...Yikes!
Ya, and imagine having to make all that stuff with a whole HOUSEFUL of little kids!!
I guess it's no wonder those kids learned to be productive and work so hard at such a young age. (My Dad always tells the boys about having to go kill and pluck a chicken if they wanted fried chicken for supper....yum).
NOt only was the house FULL of children, it was a TINY house at that - and no basement to chase the kids into - only the barn. Oh well, there's always chores for them to do out there!
But seriously, Arlene, the bags are great! Why don't you set up your own booth at the farmer's market next to the booth of bags you were looking at - and sell them for $50.oo? I like Stan's philosophy - unfortunately, we tend to busy ourselves with so much that is not nearly so satisfying or productive that we too often let someone else build or make things for us instead of doing it ourselves.
Arlene, you've inspired me. I'm out to make a bag...
Vanessa, isn't it amazing that women would make nearly everything for their homes in times past? I definitely plan on trying to do that when I have a place of my own (not everything, of course, but lots!).
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