Treasure From Trash

I hear over and over how quilters (and I guess other crafters as well) go thru their stash and purge stuff they do not like. To me this is a waste. When you consider the cost of the fabric (as my stash is made of fabric) and the replacement cost it is like tossing money out the window. Well call me frugal. I figure any fabric can be used if you just figure out the best way to showcase it. In this case the fabrics made to crochet my bag are showcased because they have different colors. These fabrics were from a box that I was gifted by another quilter that was doing the above mentioned purging. They are really old, dated, not to mention not good quality (you can hold some of them up and see right thru them, likely if you spit at them the spit would go right thru!), and above all they are pretty darned ugly. So being the frugal person I am I cut them into long strips across the width of the fabric 5/8" wide. Then I did a freeform bag...................by this I mean that I made up the pattern as I went along so there is no pattern for this beauty. I think with the next bag I will write down my series of steps, the number of stitches and such so that I will have a clear pattern. This bag was really just a trial. The bottom line was that it was fun to make, looks pretty darned good considering what the fabrics it was made from look like and it is is functional.

I really want to credit Carla with the inspiration to make this bag. Hers are made from handyed fabrics and are truely a work of art where mine is just a way to use up stuff and get it out of my stash. You can visit Carla's blog here: http://featheredfibers.wordpress.com/