Japanese friends requested me to make a lunch bag by wool felt. We have a tradition to take “Obentou” (lunch box) with us to schools, and now more and more young people (men, too!) are taking lunch boxes and a (or a couple of) bottle of tea to their work as well. Wool has high thermal nature that is good for keeping the food warm/cold. But machine wash is not suitable for wool felt, so I am thinking to make a bag-in-bag made of cotton or linen, too.
I had an image of “round shaped bag”. Making patterns of a bag by paper.
Putting the patterns together.
Tried to make it by felt. Oh my,,, it was difficult to sew!
Well, seam allowances inside the bag are hard and hurt my hands.
I made the other bag with easier patterns and taller proportion. But no, no, still not good.. seam allowances on the side should be outside a bag, because they also make the bag’s capacity a bit smaller.
Now it came! I found the design! Well, thick felt always need the least amount of human’s work to be beautiful as a form. I shouldn’t fiddle with the material too much ;)
I thought the handles should be white with sharp line. I made the other handle with natural brown to compare.
I like the form of the bottom corners.
A bamboo lunch box is in.
I went to local textile shop to find clothes for the bag-in-bag. I wanted to get some animal prints made in Finland, but they had clothes only from Germany.
Now I’m contacting a Finnish textile design company and a Japanese one, both are my friends’ companies. Their designs are lovely, so I’m looking forward to hearing from them soon!
