The money or the bag?

Up until last week, I've been in a frenzy of making stuff for sale. Given that Christmas gift-buying madness is still upon the world, it would make economic sense for me to continue down this path for at least a few more weeks.

However I've decided to temporarily retire from making stuff for sale. I'll stock-up my Felt shop then leave it to slowly deflate. The making won't stop, but I'm just getting back into making for other reasons for a while.

Ken Oath! desperately needs new loud shirts. I need some practical clothes. I'm starting a new job soon out in Realworldland and, given that my wardrobe mostly contains fancy party clothes, mental retro dresses, gardening clothes and clothes suitable for wearing while doing my Interwebland job,(OK, that's my pyjamas) I really do have nothing to wear there.

But the thing I'm going to enjoy making the most is a bag. On hearing that I was starting a new job soon, my daughter said she was keen to spend some time with me, just us two doing something together. Great, I said, and asked what she would like to do. "Make something together" she replied. Many times I've tried to suck her into my orbit of makingness but with limited success, so this was music to my ears.

So while I got all excited and sent her off to look through my stash to select the fabric, she had quite a different approach. It seems the practicalities are far more important than the look, so first we wrote up a design brief!

Apparently the perfect bag for a non-girly-girl must:

• have lots of pockets and compartments for compass, fossil-digging tools, library books, wallet and high-bounce ball,
• have secret hidey-holes for squirreling away Miscellaneous Useful Things found in ditches (springs, ball bearings, screws, shoeless high heels etc),
• open the correct way for a left-hander,
• have a comfortable padded shoulder strap,
• be adjustable so that she can use it "forever",
• have pockets and compartments that close securely so that precious goods do not fall out when the wearer is running, pogo-sticking or dangling upside down in a tree,
• hold its shape when empty,
• not be too heavy,
• be robust so that getting it dirty and cleaning it again is not a drama.

Who knew!

My son came by, saw what we were up to, said "Cool!" and now we are probably making two bags.

We are currently making the pattern. I'm trying to behave myself and teach her how to do a fabric lay so we know exactly how much fabric we'll need, when really I can't wait for the bit when I say "Let's go stash-diving!" or better still, "Let's go fabric shopping!"

So this week my choice was "The money or the bag?" Bag wins. An economist would probably call me crazy, but to me, making something with my daughter is worth more than any amount of money I can think of.

The bag pictured above is from the Miscellaneous Mental Things section of my wardrobe. Yup, those are shells, rhinestones and poodles. I wonder if I can squeeze "Must make me laugh every time I use it" on my daughter's design brief!