Tag: Cotton

The Name

Man! I Feel Like A Woman! by Shania Twain

Originally I was calling this Money Can’t Buy It, but when this name popped up, I changed names.

The Bag

Dimensions: 8 x 14-inch base; 13-inch height

My original idea was a new project bag. The reason: I could be wrong, but I feel like my mother, who sews, does a less than stellar job when she is working on something that is not her own because I hate to think that she would be as messy with her own stuff. The lining she sewed into my first project bag is coming undone.

When I thought about making the new bag, I wanted something like my Cost Plus World Market (CPWM), which I love for color and carrying ease. Once I developed the bag bottom, I decided that I was going to make a cover for my CPWM bag. To begin the sides, I crocheted around the posts of my last round and worked up.

About halfway through I change my mind, preferring a strap long enough for me to hang the bag cross-body over my shoulder. So, having finished the height I started the flap, made long enough to cover the top of a full bag.

Now my bag needed structure, so I crocheted a seam on each corner. The first one was a bit wonky, but once I realized my mistake, I focused on the other three, which are fine.

As for the strap, it took my mind a minute or two to decide how I was going to work this. Despite having added corner seams for structure, the bag still seemed like it needed more shaping. I was going to try and create a folding dart on the side by crocheting seams diagonally from the corner and up the center, but that seemed more difficult than I wanted to experiment. I finally decided that decreasing the strap from the width of the bag to my desired shoulder strap width on either side would be easier. And because I wanted cleaner seams between bag and strap, I crocheted each side separately and seamed at the top to join.

When I tried the bag on – full – to model it for myself, I noticed that the strap was stretching way too much, leaving the bag just above my knees. My first thought was that I needed to line the bag. Hesitating to ask my mom for assistance and not really wanting to hand sew a strap lining, I decided to slip stitch the strap-length on either side; this worked!

I am still not crazy about the flap and think it needs a blue trim to distinguish it from the bag. Additionally, I am now noticing the straps on the CPWM bag go all the way down to the bottom, easing weight distribution and providing better strap strength; that would have help my bag, but interrupted the beautiful chartreuse and orange stripes! I think I may go the extra mile and line the bag.

The Yarn

Unknown Neon Orange

Color: Agent Orange*
Content: Man-made fiber, per burn test
Weight: 4, Worsted+

Unknown Neon Yellow

Color: Chartreuse Charlene*
Content: Man-made fiber, per burn test
Weight: 4, Worsted+

Lily The Original Sugar ‘n Cream

Color: 18114 Indigo
Content: 100% USA Grown Cotton
Weight: 4, Worsted

Both yarns were purchased at my first Newton’s Yarn Country parking lot sale, back in about 2014. I never used them or even had an idea what to make from them until this bag. Now I will consume both cones in more bags. I don’t know how I got the idea that they were both cotton – natural fibers – but that is why I chose to mix with cotton. Another surprise: both the fluorescent-colored yarns were not a steady worsted weight strand; the strand varied in thickness/thinness. It created – what I refer to as – a corn cob texture which I actually like.