A Bag for Life!

I'm a great one for carrying around a couple of those 'bags for life' - you know the ones?  

Where you paid 50p for a smart looking plastic bag that you could fold up and keep in your handbag, and proudly whip it out just as the cashier is about to pack your items into a standard plastic bag!  Love that moment!

Well it turns out these 'bags for life' aren't so immortal after all!  I keep 2 in my handbag, and they are both wrecked!

Now as a 'bag lady' you would think I would have had one of these babies made a long time ago, wouldn't you?  I guess it's just another one of those things I haven't gotten around to.

But we can thank the lovely Ayumi for inspiring me into action (check out her gorgeous grocery sacks).  I designed this shopping bag to fold up neatly and keep in my handbag:

Truth be told there is another reason why I needed to get on with making this.  I'm in the process of designing a new handbag (not as a 'bag for life') and I wanted to experiment with some shapes & sizes.

  

Not one to waste anything, I thought rather than 'waste' fabric on a trial design, I'd make good use of prototype 1 - ok the fabrics aren't that inspiring, despite an original bit of vintage thrown in, but it is sturdy!

Really this is an early draft of what I will tweak with and play some more on until I get the bag that I can see in my mind (just not yet in reality!).

I would like to make a few more of these 'bags for life' style ones, but to also work out a cunning way of holding it together when it is all folded up, like the strap you secure an umbrella with. 

I don't often get the time to just 'play' and design, I miss it and would like to do it more.  If only I didn't need to sleep or eat!!

I'll leave you with my inspiration mosaic for the upcoming mugrug & goodies swap being hosted by Fluffy Sheep.