FIG. 10 · Softgoods · bags, lights, collages

Softgoods experiments

Softgoods move fast. An idea becomes a decent prototype quickly, and the materials are cheap enough to try it again, and again, before settling.

These are the tries. Most of them started as scraps from something else. Each one taught something the next one used.

FIG. 10.01 · Bag · prototype

Field Sling

[final name and size]

Laptop sling · waxed canvas · crushed velvet lining · hook-and-loop front for modules and patches

Made in one day, from the first sketch to the finished bag. The shape is loosely based on laptop slings I'd seen online. The difference is the front: a hook-and-loop panel, so organizers, patches and whatever else can go wherever you want them. All of it came from scraps of other projects around the house. Waxed canvas outside, crushed velvet inside, and room for a big laptop.

Softgoods · Modular systems

Field Sling: fresh off the machine — fresh off the machine

Field Sling: fits a laptop — fits a laptop

Field Sling: with the sketch kit — with the sketch kit

Field Sling: the sketch kit — the sketch kit

FIG. 10.02 · Light · textile · prototype

Light scarf

COB LED strip layered inside fabric · USB powered for now · battery version in progress

I've been interested in fabric and light working together for a long time. This one started with some leftover COB LED strips and a question: could you make a light that's flexible, and that you'd want to touch? It took several tries to get the layers right, so the hot spots read warm and the fabric catches just enough of the light. Right now it runs off USB. A battery version is in the works.

Softgoods · Lighting

Light scarf: worn at dusk — worn at dusk

Light scarf: rolled into a lamp — rolled into a lamp

Light scarf: twisted on the stand — twisted on the stand

FIG. 10.03 · Light · textile · prototype

Collage scarf

Fabric collage shapes hidden inside a white scarf · COB LED strip · USB powered for now

Off, it's a plain white scarf. Turn it on and the shapes from the fabric collages show up from inside. That was the plan from the start. It still turned out better than I expected. Same build as the light scarf: COB LED strips layered inside fabric.

Softgoods · Lighting

Collage scarf: shapes through the weave — shapes through the weave

Collage scarf: on the hook — on the hook

Collage scarf: stretched out — stretched out

FIG. 10.04 · Bag · from the collages

Glyph tote

Tote · appliqué panels on canvas · lined · interior accent pocket · black webbing handles

One summer I sold bags at a farmers market. I sold about three bags total. I learned a lot, and some days people really got it. This was one of them: the bright collages laid out on both sides, tacked down, zigzag stitched around every shape, then sewn into a lined tote with an interior accent pocket. Everyone seems to see their own thing in it. It's fun, a little rough around the edges, and layered. Kind of like me.

Softgoods

in the woods

shapes cut and sorted by color

laying out the shapes

zigzag around every shape

both sides, before sewing

inside

from the side

hung on a branch

FIG. 10.05 · Bag

Lichen bag

Tote · canvas · rows of raw-edge strips · stitched straps

Strips of canvas sewn down in rows and left to fray, so the surface gets softer and shaggier the more it's carried. It came out of the quiet collages and the same question: how do you get fabric to feel like the layers of a forest? This one went toward lichen, the way it builds up slowly over everything it touches.

Softgoods

Lichen bag: hanging in the orchard — hanging in the orchard

Lichen bag: from the side — from the side

Lichen bag: on the sewing table — on the sewing table

Lichen bag: the whole tree — the whole tree

FIG. 10.06 · Bag · concept

Cinch tote

Tote · pale yellow coated fabric · drawcord rails for hanging modules

A concept for keeping a tote bag organized from the inside. The cinch lines were meant to work like the rails in a filing cabinet, so modules could hang off them: sunglasses, a water bottle holder, a laptop case, a pen organizer. The modules never got made. The bag did.

Softgoods · Modular systems

Cinch tote: flat on the mat — flat on the mat

Cinch tote: loading in progress — loading in progress

Cinch tote: pulled closed — pulled closed

FIG. 10.07 · Bag · series

Market totes

Tote series · Kindle tote · wine tote · iPad tote with a pencil holder

A tote series made for the farmers market. Each one is built around one thing: a Kindle tote, a wine tote, an iPad tote with a holder for the pencil. Lined up on the cutting mat, they look like one bag with a lot of pockets.

Softgoods · Modular systems

Market totes: the whole series — the whole series

Market totes: lined up on the mat — lined up on the mat

FIG. 10.08 · Bag · from the collages

CamoQuilt wine tote

Tote · quiet-collage panel · patch pocket

This one was a collage first, one of the quiet ones, playing with camouflage in three dimensions. A pocket went in, then it got folded and sewn into a bag.

Softgoods

CamoQuilt wine tote: the collage, pocket sewn in — the collage, pocket sewn in

CamoQuilt wine tote: trimmed to size — trimmed to size

CamoQuilt wine tote: folding into a bag — folding into a bag

FIG. 10.09 · Textile · collage

Fabric collages

Scraps of canvas, twill, plaid, boucle and felt · zigzag-stitched raw edges · free-motion stitching

I've always been drawn to the scraps left over from other projects, and to turning them into something useful. The quiet ones came first, an experiment with texture: getting fabric to feel like the layers of a forest, or mountain ranges seen from a plane, ridge behind ridge. The bright ones look like glyphs, old and a little ancient, and the colors push against that. Everything gets arranged before it's sewn, tacked, moved around until it sits right, then stitched for good. They're also a way of asking what a quilt is, and how far you can stretch the word before it stops being one. The long one lives in front of my mom's fireplace now. She liked it.

Softgoods