Special Project - Fabric Weights

ctmidd
Apr 12, 2018
5 min read

One of my friends asked for fabric weights for her birthday, she had seen some people at her sewing class using them and thought they might be useful.

Me being me I didn't want to just make a set of regular pyramid ones, I like to make more imaginative things. My friend had suggested I get balloon weights for a base but I had a look and for what they are, they were too expensive. I looked at baking beans (too expensive) and had a look for those big metal washers people use, I didn't find any. I eventually settled for fishing weights, I got 4oz non toxic soft metal ones from the local shop that sells everything.

I did lots of google searches for weights to get some inspiration, aside from a few made to look like doughnuts and some cast resin ones they were all pretty uninteresting. Mum suggested fish, I wondered about shoes, but I eventually decided to make a set of mini handbags. I like to make full sized bags, I thought it might be fun to make some on a much reduced scale. I started by searching for images of bags and sketched ones I liked, I made 12 sketches and went through my leather collection to choose colours and decide which ones would be doable. I chose 6, a slouch bag in beige suede, a gathered turquoise silk clutch, an orange suede vanity case with navy leather trim, a black leather armour style bag, a Parda style bag in light tan leather and a green textured leather duffle bag with metallic trim.

I started with the clutch, I went through my silk fabrics and chose a tightly woven turquoise/yellow shot fabric. I found a plastic case that used to contain tread wax, I got one of the weights and hammered it flat enough to fit inside the case and glued it in. The case had slits in it for the thread, I filled those in with milliput and once dry sanded the whole thing. I backed the silk with cotton and made a tube larger than the circumference of the case. I stitched a length of silver leather around it gathering the fabric slightly as I went, I added the end of a decorative head pin for the clasp and some more leather for the hinge. I covered the case with contact glue and slid it into the tube, I gathered the loose fabric across the flat sides towards the middle and left it weighted to dry. I was going to add a decoration to the middles, I had wanted to use diamante but thought that would snag on fabric so I chose a couple of butterfly charms that I had in my bead box. I cut the rings off the butterflies and tried them against the bag, they didn't quite cover the messy fabric, so I cut some turquoise metallic leather to put behind, and these were all hot glued in place.

The second bag I made was the beige slouch bag, I hammered the weight into a long oval this time and hot glued it to a piece of mount board, I made a basic form with cotton, put the weight/card inside, added some stuffing and sewed up the top. I made a pattern for the bag and made a few cotton ones till I got the shape right then cut out the suede and stitched it carefully together, I added the weight/padding then stitched some lining fabric over the top as the bag would have a partially open top. I added a some plaited cotton as a closure and tied it in a bow.

I used the same basic steps for the armour bag and the vanity case, I formed the weights into shapes for the bases and glued them to card. I made basic forms from cotton and stuffed them. I made patterns and tried them in cotton before cutting the leathers. These two bags both had stiff handles that I made using a strip of leather with smaller strips of scrap leather down the middle then wrapped the larger strip around the smaller and stitched down the length. Because the vanity case is made from very thin suede I put a piece of mount board under the lid, the handle goes through the lid and the card and fastens underneath, I didn't want the suede to stretch out of shape when lifted, I used bronze leather on the ends of the handle and for the bag closure and hinge. On the armour bag I used silver leather for the closure but there was no need for extra card as the leather is stronger.

The duffle bag was done in the same basic way in a textured dark green leather but has eyelets fitted around the top for the cord to go through. The cord was made with plaited cotton, the bag is lined with thin leather so it wouldn't fray around the eyelets and has an applique monogram.

I left the Prada style bag till last as I was undecided for ages how to go about it, would I start with a net piece of leather or separate pieces, should I use actual metal fittings or metallic leather, do I do a triangular or rectangular side. I made the padding in the same way as before. I ended up making it from separate pieces of leather and I used gold coloured jump rings for fittings. I made the handles first and stitched them to the sides, then I added the little plaque with some gold thread to represent the embossed writing. I stitched along the top with gold thread to represent the zip, I was going to add a tiny pull but I couldn't find anything that I could repurpose. I stitched along the top of each side panel to create a ridge either side of the zip, then I stitched all the sides together. I put in the padding and stitched the base on. I used a squashed jump ring and a scrap of leather for the dangler.

I'm really pleased with how the weights came out, I think they look really cool, but i'm not sure how practical they will be. It will be easy enough to make a basic set if this lot turn out too fancy to be useful.

I decided as they are collectively pretty heavy they needed a container of some sort, I got a cute little shopping basket and made a quilted liner for it. I used some pale denim, some flowered cotton and flowered bias binding with some pieces of blanket for wadding.