Hope On The Rocks Part II

Aka "Operation Save Bag".

So, you saw the bag in the last post.  I'm sorry I foisted that last sad, grey picture on you, dear readers, especially as I wasn't able to look at it myself for a while, but I eventually got the urge to visit the craft supplies shop (everything EXCEPT wool) and buy some fabric paints.  

Boy, those little pots are expensive, so instead of getting a myriad of purples and greens, I came back with 5 of the littlest pots they had: a green, a lavender blue/purple, a black, and white and a red.  Sadly I couldn't afford some of the more jewel tones that the yarn had been blessed with before its unfortunate baptism of fire hot water, but I reckoned these would cover all the bases.  Anything is better than grey, right?

Test one was one of the square pockets.  I know.  These poor pockets have already been through a lot, but if they survived, I knew the bag would stand a chance.  (If not, then a statue saluting our brave yet fallen yarn fellows would be... well, thought about, at the very least.)

i knew that old scottish packing newspaper would come in handy

I have to say I was a little heartened by the colours I was able to mix-up (hey, that art-school year came in handy after all!) and decided that it wasn't really being cocky to just go ahead and paint the bag.  You can tell me later that this was the point that everything went wrong, should the need arise.

colour - how lovely to see you again

After the first attempt I have to tell you, I was feeling happier than I did a few days previously.  Yes, the colours aren't (and won't be) as rich as the originals (nor will they be in quite the right places), but still, they're not bad.  Possibly a half-way point between the original jewel tones, and the grey heartbreak.  

Once these were dry, the instructions told me that to fix the dye (because I know my luck otherwise - the first sniff of rain and this bag would be bleeding colours again) by covering it with a tea-towel and ironing over it with a hot iron.  

So far so good...

I had decided that because the bag hadn't felted to the rigid fabric I was hoping for, that I'd line it in some tough fabric for strength.  So I set off for a nearby material shop (heaven - it's massive - I could lose some serious hours in there fondling all those beautiful fabrics) and came home with some lovely purple material and a few purple zips. I made a simple lining just the teensiest bit smaller than the bag, plus pocket linings and a looooong lining for the shoulder strap.  And yes, I joined the pieces up with hand-sewn blanket stitch, which may or may not have taken hours!

miles and miles of *^%&£@ blanket stitch

The first pieces joined were the strap to the bag, but before joining the main bag sections together I decided that the base needed a bit of shoring-up.  Thick cardboard sewn onto the inside of the base did the job very well...

sewing a 4-year-old would be proud of

... and won't be seen, thanks to the bag lining, complete with 2 pockets, one on each side:

note the one square I didn't paint...

Then, finally, I added the zip to the top of the bag.  And HUZZAH, although it's not the colourful, cute little shoulder bag I was aiming for, it's quite a nice messenger bag, and quite comfortably holds 3 vocal scores!  So, could be worse!

the amazing singing bag