October Bag Challenge

in which I give myself a wild series of deadlines

final boss bag I made with updates learned from the October bags

I made one bag per day in October. 

I cut and sewed and embroidered and embellished each one (plus a bonus bag as a birthday gift for my sister).

I did this as part of the StreamInk October series. 31 Twitch art steamers each had a day to choose a prompt word as an inspirational starting point for creating art. StreamInk was introduced to me by my forever friend Michelina who streams her watercolor art and games and silly hangs on Twitch at MKOHomemadeDesigns. Her day was on Halloween and her prompt word was fittingly "friend". 

StreamInk prompts

I was looking for ways to utilize my mountain of scrap fabric. Bags and other small accessories are the perfect size for using the scrap cuts and quarter yard pieces of fabric I’ve been collecting for years now, refusing to throw them away because 1. They might be useful someday and 2. I hate to waste resources. 

I had been testing a few bag patterns and I thought StreamInk would be a great sample-making challenge. The prompts would force me to test a lot of ideas quickly. The timeline was too fast-paced to be precious about each piece - it was a way to switch into my testing brain rather than my go-to place of perfectionism. Better to start imperfectly than never to start at all. 

quick sketch pages to start generating ideas

So I dove in. I looked through the prompts and sketched out some rough ideas in the final week of September. I finalized my base pattern and gathered my supplies. Like the dweeb I am, I made some instructions and checklists to help track my progress.

:)

I batched the bags out a week at a time. This way I could complete some steps like a mini production line - prep and cut pieces for seven bags at once, develop seven artworks at once, embroider 5 to 7 bags and their linings at once - instead of pulling out and putting away the supplies for every single step 31 separate times.

I embroidered the prompt word on the lining of each bag.

Some designs were more elaborate than others. When I got sick for a week in the middle of October, I adjusted some designs to simpler ideas so I wouldn’t fall behind. By some little miracle, I finished all 31 bags on schedule and posted each of them on their prompt day. 

I learned a lot. I found ways to improve my sewing pattern. While wearing one of the bags around for a weekend, I realized that I wanted an outer pocket on the back of the bag to more accessibly hold my phone while I was moving through the world. I plan to upgrade the hardware and strap styles for future bags as well. After nearly 3 dozen versions, I can practically sew this clutch in my sleep. And I’ll keep sewing new versions of it. I can’t wait to share the custom versions that are currently in the works and to introduce other accessories styles as I develop them. 

Some of the bags are available for sale here. The others I am keeping for now as references for later pieces. But if you want your own custom version, let's talk.

Thanks for reading <3