Friday, May 29, 2015

A Second Filet Bag

Once again I will ask you to remember this picture:
I have finally finished a second bag out of this piece. 

Before I go into whining about size differentials in blocks, lets first look at the inspiration for my bag:
 It is from a copy of "Le Petit Echo de la Broderie", Sunday 18 May 1913 I found in Paris last year.

Now for my version of this bag... 

First, I choose the next two blocks of Filet off of the piece in the first picture.

Much to my surprise, (and why would this be such a surprise?) I found that the squares were not all the same size. You sure could not tell just looking at the original piece, but once the filet squares were removed, the size differental quickly became a problem for this project. Getting them to match up in size turned out to be a monumental feat.
Here it is at its half way point you can see the one on top is smaller:
It took a lot of steam and scrunching to get the larger one to behave and become a reasonable variation in size to the smaller one. I put it away last year because it was frustrating me. I know, easier would been to have taken a third or even fourth block and find the two that were most similar in size. I did not want to do that as it would have left orphan blocks not attached to the original piece. I would hate for one of them to become lost or broken when it got separated from the rest. As a move was imminent I could have see it happening.

Alright, so what you see in the above picture is a medium weight linen with a cotton medium weight iron on stabilizer behind it. To that the filet blocks were machine and hand sewn. The edging from the original piece was used around the filet block on three sides.

Here is the finished product:

I bought some thread knots, for any better word to call them last year in New York and I just had to use them on this bag.

How about some close-ups?
I was at a flea market this last weekend and found the lace that is now sewn onto the handles. I had enough lace for the handles and some left over for my crazy patch quilt. I will talk more about my other finds later, I am in the process of washing and ironing. 

Oh, I added just a little bling while I was at it:
Inside the bag, the lining is a medium weight cotton/linen blend fabric with images of Paris. There is a place of a water bottle, lots of zippers and places to put things.
I like this one very much.

10 comments:

  1. I like this very much too Jean! I suppose one of the "charms" of hand made, including lace, is that it is not perfect in many respects, but you have a really beautiful bag

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  2. Your filet bag is adorable! I like the lace on the handles.

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  3. Great project! The vintage filet with the heavy linen and industrial grommets is a great look, and the bobbles along the bottom are the perfect finish. Well played!

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  4. I love the way you brought the vintage piece into the modern world.

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  5. This is a beautiful purse Jean, I like the Linen with the vintage lace. You did a beautiful job. Thanks for sharing with us.

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  6. I love your purse! Of course I happen to be a big fan of lace myself. What a fabulous way to use your treasured lace.

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  7. Wow! That bag is beautiful in every elegant detail!

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  8. Love your bag and the inside lining.

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