I decided to embrace the half term with a creative mind and get to know some kids better.
We spent some time designing and planning and then got kitted up with the materials and tools we would need for the job. Here is a picture of the day’s timetable.
Sean’s snack bag
His dad is forever forgetting to bring snacks to school pick up so sean decided to design a bag that would hold snacks and would be attached to his dad’s bike.
He measured out his fav snacks and then used a stapler to fix the seams, and strips of bicycle inner tubes for the straps. As he was not as into the project than the other kids i thought it was important to find ways for Sean to actively 'make' his bag, but with the skills that he has, and also we only had one sewing machine, so sean used a stapler to staple the seams closed. I did the job and resulted in him being able to present a finished product. Even if he did get quite a lot of help!
June’s shoulder bag with pockets
June wanted to design a small compact bag to carry around her book, phone and a few small things.
Her design included a sew-on press stud, front pockets and trinket holders. June had already used a sewing machine before at school, so refreshing her technique was very easy.
We used white thread for everything and made sure everything was attached, but didn’t really worry about the tiny details. As we were working under quite tight time restrictions, we had to think of ideas that were easy and quick to execute but not compromise the look.
June did a great job and was so chuffed with the end result.
Otto’s water bottle bag
Ottos idea came from his odd shaped water bottle which doesn’t fit in regular bottle bags, so wanted to custom make one to fit it.
By using a combination of used and new elements the final product is more functional and sleek looking.
The double handle functionality i believe looks good and is useful too. Otto came up with the idea of using the bicycle inner tube for the wrist strap because the rubber from the inner tube is soft, and a bit padded. Considering the choice of fabric for functionality is something that Otto intuitively did.
Otto was so proud of the water bottle bag he made, he wanted to make it more decorative at first with some strange indian fabric with gold bits but i tried to convince him to stick to the same fabric but different colour to the main body fabric of his bottle bag. He also was quite scared of the sewing machine and really lacked confidence with this unknown machine that intimidated him. It didn't help that it was a bit hectic in the house at that time. I would recommend the sewing area / sewing room to be quite a calm space where the kids can concentrate on what they are doing.
Otto was hesitant and not confident through most of the process but surprisingly came up with a great finished product. Using both the laundry bag polypropylene fabric AND the bicycle inner tube.
Max’s convertible bum bag / shoulder bag
Initially Max wanted to make a suitcase with wheels, i admire his ambition! however fortunately he also had a back up design.
His second option was as a convertible shoulder bag that is also a bum bag. Max’s drawings impressed me the most with its annotations and creativity. He also added a person in the drawing, for scale!
My own upcycled hand bag
