Friday 27 April 2012

First non-commission commissions!

When's a commission not a commission? I suppose by its nature it must be remunerated. So let's call these requests instead!

Firstly, my brother needed a plastic bag storage solution for himself at home, and two for school (he's a nursery nurse, or whatever you call them these days). Ta-dah!...
Plastic bag organisers. It's basically a vertical windtunnel of fabric, gathered very slightly at the top with a ribbon or cord for hanging, and gathered a lot more at the bottom with an elastic ankle to it. Scrunch up your plastic bags, pop them in the top, stuff it up with more, and pull a new one out the bottom whenever you need it. My mum made a similar one donkey's years ago and this is my remembered attempt to duplicate it.

Okay, they're not very glamorous. But they are so useful. I'll be making two for myself when I get round to it - one for supermarket plastic bags and a narrower one for the clear plastic fruit/veg bags that we reuse for all sorts. Yet another thing to go on the 'to sew' list!

Request number two: The Big One needed a drawstring bag for his sports kit. It had to involve blue, not be 'showy', and I had to not mind that it's going to get beaten up, messed up and torn up in no time. Ta-dah!...
I'm pretty impressed to say I made it from two cut-up pillowcases. Impressed because it was therefore free (minus the thread and electricity) and seemed quite inventive to me at the time (my small world!). The bulk of the bag is a pillowcase cut in half down the middle, sewn up again and with a drawstring tunnel at the top. The drawstring came from the second pillowcase, cut all along its length and folded to make four layers of fabric (anticipating teenage brutality). When you knock something up from over-washed old pillowcases I don't think you mind as much that it's not going to be treated with tenderness.

I hope to start a sewing business one day (not a big surprise!). Step one: make stuff for free - it encourages me to be inventive and creative, to solve problems and try out new things before asking anyone to pay for what are, essentially, amateur first attempts. Step two: get your wallets out!

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