Handprint bag

For Christmas, I made a bag for Mom from the extra paintings we had from this spring.

One side is dedicated to Keegan:

One side is dedicated to Dillon:

I did a split stitch through paper to get their names as the heading on denim.  I really like the way the split stitch looked on denim.  Getting the perfect font and then printing the name on paper from a word document worked pretty well.  I did learn to trim away the excess paper so I was not wadding it up when I was trying to hand sew.  When I wadded the paper with the fabric, it moved the paper enough that it could have ended up with a crooked name.  The hand sewing worked much better when I removed the excess paper.

I liked working with the old jeans on the outside of the bag.  I used the Elna Denim machine so I didn't have any trouble.

I tried to use knit for the lining.  It feels fine but I don't know if it is going to sag with use.  I also put in knit pockets.  I used interfacing in the pockets.  I think the pockets are too heavy.  That may contribute to sagging.  Knit is also heavy.  I think regular cotton fabric may have worked better.

In my opinion, the bag also ended up too tall.  I was so focused on getting the handprints and footprints to be included that I used as much of the painted canvas as was available.  I should have done more trimming.  Also, the name could have been on the side of the canvas rather than the top of the canvas to decrease how tall it ended up.

I made the handle around 43 inches long.  The top of the bag hit me at my hip.  I love that handle length but it may not be the way to go for normal people.  When Mom opens her gift, I will tell her that she can take a few pleats in the handle to make it the length she desires.