Patchwork bag using vintage, thrifted and recycled materials

This was the second purse I made. It is a small to medium sized bag. I started with experimenting on patchwork, and then adding layers of soft fabric in varying lines, movements and colors above the patchwork. The bag is not 'square' even though there are square patches; which I like. The fabrics are of all different textures and patterns.

The top portion contains some silk and other soft cottons. I experimented with waves of stitching moving fluidly across the surface, adding beading later by hand. I took scraps of the silks and fastened them together with a button on the flap, adding beading later. I love the use of small seed beads, medium sized beads, glass and clay of larger sizes mixed with buttons because of their dramatic size differences. Beading created an aesthetic difficultly: I did not plan the bag out beforehand. I was inspired to bead after the fabrics were sewn together and a shallow inner pock made. Because of this, one wall of the shallow inner pocket is dotted with the threads of the backside of the front's beading. To some, this would not be a desirable aesthetic, but I feel like it really is not that bad, and cannot be easily seen from the outside.

I enjoyed making this piece. It opened up a world of possibility for me.The inside includes two pockets. One smaller shallow one with the underside of the beading able to be seen, and a deeper pocket that is soft and was made from an old blanket.

The strap I made by ripping strips of t-shirts, silk and other fabrics fitting the color scheme and braided them together. One of the t-shirts used in the strap was a screen print of Incubus lead singer Brandon Boyd I did in high school--twice tye-dyed over in college. Alas, it was too small for me so i never really wore it. But, the tye-dye had amazing color. The strap is sewn on the inside pocket rather than in between the layers of the inside and the outside because I made the strap later after enclosing the bag--minor details I want to perfect in the future.

I will be putting this one up for sale on Etsy soon.