Bag-o-rama, prologue

WARNING! This post is bag-heavy! ^^

It is the prologue to a real bag-o-rama, that can be expected next week! ^^
Today let me show you three bags I made some time ago and two I have finished today.

First, there is a "Pilgrim's Bag" based on a pattern of a XIII-th c. bag carried by pilgrims to the Holy Land. As I mentioned before in one of the posts, I am a member of the historical reenactement society and we recreate two eras: X-XII c. Scandinavia and Russia and XIII c. Poland, and I sewn this bag for my XIII c costume. It's made by hand, out of off-white cotton and maroon linnen, embroidery on the handle done with cotton floss, tassels are linnen. First picture shows you my whole XIII c. outfit (blue wool dress with cotton underlining and embroidered linnen bands, all sewn and embroidered by hand) with unfinished bag (no embroidery on the handle). Later I finished it! ^^


Then, two everyday bags:
"Provancal Dream" - this one was made to accompany the skirt I've made of the beautiful Provancal cotton (second-hand shop treasure! ^^) . You can see the inside of the bag - there is a pocket there. I found the pattern somewhere on the Web.
I still haven't finished it though... can you see the safety pins keeping the handle and the bag together?... Shame on me! I'll finish this bag next week while sewing all the new ones!


"Jacquard Surprise" - This one was sewn to match the coat and hat I made of the beautiful flowery jacquard. I like this outfit very much, it makes me feel very elegant and vintage! ^^
The bag is my own design, lined with ecru fabric, it's closed with a beautiful rose-pink zipper and I put rubber pipes into the handles to make them stiff.


Now, off to the new creations! ^^
"Blue Bubbles" - it's the shape of a pilgrim's bag, the outer fabric is a very soft thick flanela, lining is a textured emerald green cotton. I put white lace on the handle. This shape and size is very comfortable to use everyday, for A4 notebooks, for example.
Or a pair of needles and a skein of yarn... ^^


"Black Widow" - the second pictue show the beautifully patterned fabric! ^^ The lining is a dark blue cotton with golden acantus prints. I sewn two white velvet bands on the front panel. Another roomy bag for knitting tools! (or books, I always carry books with me)

That's all for today, but lots more bags are on the way. I have many bags started, with bits and pieces done, and some parts to be finished, so when I sit at the sewing machine (which will probably happen on Monday) , I'll finish another bunch of them at one go! ^^

I have also sewn two skirts this week (I'll be selling them).
The first one is called "Gothic Lolita Rabu Rabu", it's made of cotton, with beautiful white heart-shaped lace. I even found a heart-shaped red button for it! ^^
The other is just a plain thick black cotton, with a separate piece that sits tightly on hips and the unevenly hemmed lowerpart, that looks like it's unsewn, with pieces of threads sticking out, but it really is, it's just the way this design works! ^^


I've also done some swatching with my new cotton yarn that arrived this morning (*^-^*).
This swatch has been done on needles 2/US 0. I think it's a bit too dense. It's 24 st x 40 rows = 4 in.
This swatch has been done on needles 3,5/US 4. I like it more and I think I'll knit with these needles. Or maybe I'll try some size in between, like 2,75 or 3.
It's 24 st x 28 rows = 4 in.

And last, but not least, my Snow White shawl! ^^ 69 cm today (and growing...).


And I bought another Polish knitting magazine this afternoon and found there some interesting lace patterns... They are shown on sweaters, but hey, who can stop me from using them in the shawl projects!... >^-^<