A few days ago, the shawl reached the point where it needs to be contained – not so much to keep floppiness in check, as with some other projects I’ve done, but to keep the bottom edge of the shawl from getting ratty. Simply keeping the lower portion of the shawl contained is protecting it from abrasion nicely:
This particular containment bag is a former 5-pound flour bag. Yup, a flour bag – as of this year, local farmers have started selling freshly milled flour at our farmers market in simple cloth bags. I’m starting to collect a small pile of them. I had been thinking I’d turn them into small project bags by sewing a hem at the top and adding a drawstring, but I’m not sure that would be the best way to make use of them: yarn kind of wants to stick to the lightweight cotton cloth, which is fine for a lace shawl that needs to be contained but not so fine for, say, a sock project that you’d want to get in and out of its project bag easily. Anybody got any other ideas for making use of leftover flour bags?
The yarn, by the way, is also contained, and has been since the moment it was wound into a ball. Despite appearances, though, this particular yarn bra isn’t a former produce bag. It never held garlic or anything like that. Rather, it’s a much finer mesh, from a different section of the supermarket: the personal care aisle. You know those shower scrubbies you can buy, the wads of mesh tied with a cord?
Snip that cord, and the wad will unravel into yards and yards of mesh tube. Cut the tube into eight parts, tie the bottom of each closed with a bit of waste yarn, and you have awesome yarn bras: big enough to stretch around jumbo-sized balls of yarn and sproingy enough to hold on tight... all for $1.50. Sweet, eh?
Tagged: WIP.
". . . ideas for making use of leftover flour bags?" When I was a kid my mother made my underwear out of them!
» Betty Salpekar
I'm really enjoying reading your posts this month! Thanks for taking on the challenge of posting more frequently. I considered it for about 30 seconds, then cast the idea aside (go ahead, call me a chicken).
» Sandi Rosner
Betty, thanks for the idea, but I think I’ll keep looking for other alternatives! :-D
Sandi, I can’t blame you for not participating in NaBloPoMo – it is a slightly nutty thing to do! I still haven’t any idea if I’ll make it all month.
» JC
You could line the project bags with something slippery like jacket lining fabrics for those projects that need to be able to come out of the bag easier. The flour sacks would make great quilt squares, too, or napkins. I wish they were common around here!
» Mary
Yeah, Mary, if I was going to go to the effort of sewing lined project bags, I think I’d find prettier fabric – the print on most of the flour bags is kind of “eh,” if you know what I mean. Napkins are still an option, though... thanks!
» JC