i made this bag years ago. it was my first bag. i designed it to be small and useful and i made it to give new life to some old denim and indigo scrap used in a pillow. i used it to revive the patchwork pattern i used in my son's baby quilt (he used that one right up) and i used it to experiment with sashiko embroidery and ragged edge. i lined it with linen just to see how that would wear. i filled it with an old cotton batting salvaged from grandma's quilt. i almost cut it up and made it into something else... but i didn't.
i have posted about this little bag before. it is a favorite personal treasure because it has taken that shape of persistence. i admire it for working so hard and hanging on. i always let it wear a bit more before mending, because those soft and bare spots are some of my favorite places, places where heart shows through. i relate to it as i myself get older. today i will mend the tender spots... with more indigo. because really indigo ages like no other dye. it was made to persist, to mellow, to be an example of how to go on and the beauty in that.
i have been asked to make a bag like this for someone. and i will...as a gift. and i thought i might make a pattern while i am at it. because it is a small and gentle useful object. my favorite part is the bottom that is engineered to fold up, making it even smaller, to encourage less... and allowing it to stand on its own.
this bag and i, we are friends. maybe because we share something. some mutual respect and understanding. and the magic in that has me thinking about the magic cloth that waits patiently for me to return.
