Umami Bag…

I love Japanese crafts, bags, mentality, culture…  EVERYTHING! 

I adore how things can be simple and yet beautiful.

A perfect example of this is this great book, where I found inspiration and the courage to try leather crafting and I actually enjoy it! Even if I understand NOTHING in it, because it is written in Japanese (yeah :/) but the bags are simple, getting harder by levels and there are drawings that explains some steps… so all you need is an OPEN mind and some IMAGINATION!

So here is my version of this bag:

I used: Faux leather, grey metallic, snake imitation

Recycled Kite Bag…

Yes! When I say KITE, I mean Kitesurfing Kite… Yes, yes… that’s the other kind of surfing apart windsurf…

Kitesurfing is really amazing  and there is this feeling of “freedom”, even if some times it is terrifying (a bit contradicting, but if you think about it most of the best things are scary 😛 even ice-cream..euh.. ok… well not the ice-cream by itself, but the calories in it…).

Except being a fanatic of outdoors sports, I LOVE recycled items. It’s fun what you can do with recycled material!!! With my little laptop and my tiny mouse  I started looking up recycled materials, and then I said to myself I could do a bag out af a kite, why not?

With my abilities in sewing being practically zero… and my abilities on making a pattern -10000 😛  I took a pair of scissors, an old kite (that a friend was so kind to give me), some pattern sheets and an old beach bag… (praying was helpful too)  I started with confidence (yeah, right)  cutting the pattern sheets and the kite: in squares, rectangles and saw them together… the wrong way at first, than in the proper way, than did the same mistake to the other side (who said you learn from your mistakes?)… The first skill I mastered, was how to unstitch, and PATIENCE (I wanted to tear everything apart the second time!!! ARGGHH).

Did a little break, to refill my courage and started from the beginning to check that everything was in “place”. Kite material slips, and my stitches are a bit of wavy 😛 (it is for the style, I assure you… really)

Now that I think of it, I did not just only wanted to make a bag, but I wanted to put a pocket to! (crrrraaazyyy girll) it wasnt hard, but reaaallly a pocket?

The outer side was ready, and the inner side as well…. and how do you put those two together? euh… one second, I have to put my brain in a reverse way of thinking, because I realised that is sewing all about. REVERSE THINKING!!!! You have to think how to put everything in THE WRONG WAY to create something in the RIGHT WAY!!! After one hour and half, reading different sites and finally understanding what I have to do and doing it I was there! But oooops! I forgot the strap!!!!! (ARGGHHH..again??!!!)

 BREATH IN, BREATH OUT!

BREATH IN, BREATH OUT!

But NO worries, I have yearned the best ability remember?..UNSTITCHING! to the one side, to the other (yoohooo! I’m the best..)

Strap..strap…strap… a long rectangle, folded twice and stitched in place? yeap!

That’s it! Result, a fluffy beach bag… (and a big mess 😛 got to clean up, poor Dakine she won’t move!)