Challenge result

We had a whole year to get our projects done. We had 4 colors of yarn, brick red, chocolate, rust and a green that all looked great together. The rules were that we had to use 3 of the yarns. We were allowed one other yarn or fabric. Cheating was discouraged altho sometimes it's necessary for structural reasons. The other rule was that we were not allowed to make the same item that we did 2 years ago when we did the challenge for the first time. Last time I'd made a vest. That's easy for me since it's what I do most of the time, weave clothing. I decided that I'd like to try making a handbag. I've got tons of patterns for bags but this time I didn't want to use any of them. I wanted to challenge myself by figuring out my own pattern. Also, I thought for a long time about weaving something other than plain weave. In thinking it through, I realized that altho I do enjoy different weave structures, with this amount of color, for me, the best thing was to play with the color and keep it plain weave. I actually got to it a few weeks ago. I figured out how long I wanted the bag, how wide and then wound a warp for 2 bags. Turned out I had only about 12 inches of fabric left once they were done!
I wanted the strap to have the most interest colorwise so mixed all the colors there but had stripes for the rest of it. As you can see, the seam is noticeable so I covered it with a pocket. Also had a pocket inside. Assembling it was a trick and it worked but took awhile to figure out. The lining was fabric I had on hand. I'd decided not to buy anything special for this, just use what I had. The colors work great together. Batik didn't look right with the stripes.

Next time I'd like to have a bigger pocket on the outside since my keys really fill that small pocket. I'd thought it was bigger than it turned out to be.

I'd like to weave more bags and maybe even sell some of them. There's alot less handwork in them than in the garments I generally make so that would be a positive factor!

We're already thinking about the next challenge. At the party we decided to start another one in January, not wait a year. So.......we're thinking color. Maybe this time we'll use 5/2 cotton instead of the 8/4 we were using. Everyone's involved this time in the color choices. As everyone gains confidence in what they're doing, it's great to see weavers coming up with combinations of color to challenge themselves with! We'll let you know our colors for this coming year when we decide on them, hopefully in the next week or so!

Carol