Applied Arts: Handmade purses and bags

This past weekend we hosted an Applied Arts workshop on handmade purses and bags led by fiber artist Antoinette Winters. We started the workshop by learning several simple applique techniques which allowed participants to create a design on the exterior of their bag.  The applique could be achieved by the zig zag stitch on the sewing machine, or using a technique called “stitch witchery” where one uses a very thin fabric that becomes an adhesive when it is ironed onto a sheet of fabric.

Next everyone spent some time on the sewing machine, experimenting and learning how to thread the machines and create a number of different kind of stitches.

Everyone spent time choosing both a liner and an exterior fabric for their bags, matching up colors and patterns that would look good together. Antoinette brought three simple bag patterns that everyone could select from.  From there, it was plenty of cutting, sewing, and concentration to assemble all of the parts of the bag and bring the structure all together. It’s remarkable what everyone was able to achieve in just five hours!