Well, sod you, Miss S.
I still have to make the lining and stitch the whole thing together. But already I love its crude, unneat beauty. HA!!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Ragbag.
A friend recently suggested that I knit with rags. Rags and a pair of big knitting needles. Tearing strips of fabric is satisfying in a rather perverse way, I found. A bit like ripping pages from a book. You have a sneaky suspicion that you shouldn't be doing it. That people would disapprove. "Cut neatly!!" I heard the voice of my Grade 6 needlework teacher. Or her favourite description for my pathetic attempts: "Knoeiwerk!!" (A bit difficult to translate that one - it means "shoddy work", but it sounded so much meaner coming from her lipsticked mouth in a kind of screech. I may add that she wore those 50s style pointy glasses, and she had stiffly lacquered black hair that swooped into two frightening wings on the sides of her face ...)
I still have to make the lining and stitch the whole thing together. But already I love its crude, unneat beauty. HA!!
I still have to make the lining and stitch the whole thing together. But already I love its crude, unneat beauty. HA!!
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13 comments:
I LOOOOOVE it!
its fabulous!
and I wish i could send this post to my textile arts teacher we had in highschool, thanks to her i never touched a needle for 10 years!!!! HA! in her face too!!
It's beautiful!
I lost all confidence in my sewing abilities because of a horrible teacher in high school, so good on you for "showing" Miss S.!
"Crude, unneat beauty." Well said. The bag reminds me a little bit of Saori weaving where the concern is personal expression, not order and "neatness". Really beautiful. Makes me want to run to my stack and tear some fabric strips.
And, although I'd love to create something out of old books, I cannot tear a page out of a book. No matter how old it is. Mmmh.
Your grade six teacher clearly needed an enema! Your bag is fabulous- I love the patterns and colours and all! Just FAB! So, yeah, HA!
Hahaha. Ek kan absoluut die "knoeiwerk!"-screech imagine. En ek is (weereens) jaloers op jou handewerk.
Fabulous!! I too had a terrible sewing teacher (when I was 13) I can still hear her saying 'an inch and a quarter' as we measured out the quilting lines on oven gloves .... I don't know why we didn't just measure an inch!!
Certainly a fun way to put a use to spare fabric. We all need to loosen up and play a little more than we do, I think. Your hand bag has a real relaxed and free spirit air about it.
It's awful how some overbearing teachers can stifle creativity. Your description of her was quite a visual. hehe
Same for me - I spent my whole school life trying to be neat and the rest trying not to be!!
Wohooooooooooooo! Wonderful work, A... especially for saying boo to the ghost of a cat-eyed teacher...
That is such a great effect! I want one! I could try it with all the clothes that I don't wear anymore!
I love this - really like the way you can 'see' the process, as it were... Beautiful!
this is pure genius, and i don't know what part is best - the fabulous bag, the word knoeiwerk, or SOD YOU, miss S!
Fantastic! I have a cupboard full of fabric potential for a project like this!
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