Afrika Bag

When I was making this bag, I thought I had so much to say about it - and still have - but where to start?

Maybe from the beginning - the material. 

You have seen this UV printed Washpapa before if you follow me on Instagram. I used it to make a traveller's notebook cover for my bullet journal and diary.

I was looking forward to make a bag from this zebra-patterned paper, but very often when I have a material that is quite precious for me, I hesitate and delay in order to choose the best idea. Sometimes I just think: 'Go for it!' and do that first cut. 

 

Anyway, the size of the bag was pretty much determined by the size of the sheet I had. It was half of the standard Washpapa sheet you can buy. I decided to use a pattern I already had because it was small enough and I like its proportions.

Another thing I wanted to mention is the red UV printed Washpapa. Again, it is even more precious for me as it was custom-printed with a red shade of my choice. The print is done on a white Washpapa standard and I like the shine of it. Recently, a red-dyed Washpapa appeared in the shop and it is on its way to me, of course. For a moment, I regretted that I ordered a custom-printed one. But the dyed one is softer, which is great but sometimes not so good for certain projects, and also is matte. 

I decided to incorporate a small red accent because the zebra pattern and red is one of my favourite combinations of all time. At the same time, I wanted to use turquoise pompoms as they worked well with the zebra skirt and shoes <click here> 

I find it difficult to stop myself from adding more and more colours as I love them, so this time I stopped at three, okay four: red, turquoise, green and silver. Also, I had some remains of red Preciosa crystals from the previous project and thought I could add some bling. More is more?

In these kind of projects, ideas appear during the making process. I lay different fabrics and trimmings on the table and play with them to see how it all works together. Initially, I wanted to use pompoms (Minerva Crafts) horizontally, but that would have been kind of obvious. So the vertical pompoms idea came to my mind. 

Not only that, I don't know if it is just me and my weird imagination, but I started seeing a face on the bag pattern and it just looks to me like some sort of African warrior mask. I know it is crazy, but I can't help it.

The pattern on the back of the bag is different and I like it so much as well.

 

The next thing, I have to admit, I am very pleased with are the bag handles. I struggle a lot with finding nice, good-quality handles for my projects. I found a company in the USA that manufactures perfect handles, and I used them before, but they are not available anymore from the UK shop. I am still trying to work out if ordering them directly wouldn't be too expensive after paying custom fees, etc. 

In the meantime, I decided to work with materials I already have. Initially, I just wanted to used a red non-leather strap (have you noticed how those two reds match perfectly by the way?) and make short handles. But somehow it didn't feel enough for me just to sew in those plain straps. So I brought all the hardware to the game: silver rings, rivets and tools. And that was much better option.

I will definitely use this solution in my futures projects.

Of course, the bag is fully lined and there are two small handy pockets made of contrasting fabric. Unfortunately, it didn't want to photograph well inside of the bag. Next time, maybe I will snap a photo while sewing on the pockets.

I think I've said everything that I wanted about this little square bag (30cm). As a standard, I try to add bag feet whenever the shape of the bag allows it because it helps to protect the bottom of the bag and it also looks nice. The devil is in the detail.

P.S. This bag can be made to order, just send me a message and we can arrange everything.