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I thought I’d share a little of my excitement about my latest hobby… sewing!

Denim, to be exact.

I’m quite the beginner, and last year I started out with a batch of patchwork pillowcases made out of squares cut from old jeans. They’re kind of amusing. This year, I’m taking the bull by the horns and doing purses and various other bags – all from denim.

That being said, Big Bertha is the rather large purse/bag in my image – not the model (who is my youngest son incognito). He’s about 6’4″ if that gives you a better perspective on how big ‘Big Bertha’ is. It’s kind of an overnight and/or beach bag and I think it would fit two large beach towels, a couple of books or magazines, a small cooler of food, and the essentials like sunscreen and sunglasses.

The top portion was actually one of my favorite old pair of jeans, and the strips below are from various other pairs. I’ve been collecting hand-me-downs from my sister and thrift store jeans, as well, since a place near me sells pants for $1.00.

I was planning on laying off the #bloganuary challenge, but I saw today’s prompt and knew that I already had an answer. The question posed was: “What is a treasure that’s been lost?”

First of all, with this new hobby I’ve also done some thinking about the art of creating and how hard it can actually be to make something useful and nice, and I came to the conclusion that “craftsmanship” is a lost treasure. I’m not talking about mass-produced goods either because those come in various qualities and the more expensive products are often well made (although that too is on the decline).

What I’m talking about is the slow, handmade items that have been created by an individual… with care. Handmade products made of wood, glass, metals, and so forth. And of course, denim. Ha!

Another thing I realized – through my deconstruction of the jeans – is that we (or at least I) often take for granted how things are made. I start ripping those seams and I’m amazed at how many various pieces were sewn together to make just ONE pair of pants. With mass-production came the disposable culture and it is just so rare that we look at something as simple as a garment and experience a little wonder and curiosity as to what actually went into the item’s creation.

Anyway, that was my thought for today’s prompt.

I was excited to share Big Bertha and I’m looking forward to using her soon (for an overnight trip). I’ve also ordered a few books on bags and I’m looking forward to gaining more skills and craftsmanship.

I thought it would be fun to crop out our (messy) living room and add a little fun to the image of my rather tall son. I didn’t do the illustration portion myself though… I found that at Pixabay. I put the two together in Photoshop and then added a little oil paint to help with the blending.

I’ll let you know when I hone my sewing skills and open my own Etsy store. I love this hobby and hope to create some unique and awesome bags.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

Until later,
-Janet