Tag Archives: coffee sack

FAB Africa

News, Wren

I was so excited when Andrew Bannis from FAB Africa contacted me asking if I would be interested in working with him to produce a range of limited edition coffee bags using African Wax Print Cloth. I have always loved African Wax Print and to work with a company that “views this cloth as a work of art and respects the creativity of the individuals whom produce these highly original cloths by hand” needed no second thought – Wren was on-board. 

The end-products are beautiful – Carry All Bags and Coffee Travel Bags with bright green and blue African Wax Print trim. It is inspiring, and exciting, when traditional fabrics that are perceived as kitsch and boring, especially in the local market, are given a ‘make-over’ and presented in a contemporary, trendy and fabulous way. As FAB Africa says “… they are age-old art forms, to be developed and promoted for future generations.”

Visit FABAfrica.co.uk to view these bags and other fantastic products.

!NEW! Coffee Clutch

Wren

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I  cannot wait any longer to show you these new coffee clutches made from recycled fair trade jute coffee sacks (aka the left over coffee sack peices from the organic coffee bags).

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A while back I discovered this fantastic heavy-weight calico that has a heat activated fusing back at a shoe maker. It works wonders when fused to the jute becuase it stabilisers the fabric making it easier to work with and prevents the edges from fraying. Perfect for the clutches.

To add some ‘fun’ to the design I decided it was about time I put my textile design background to use. I designed four placement prints for the insides and screen-printed them (to read about the printing click here).

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'Keep Calm and Carry On' in black & sunrise orange.

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'Every Day Little Treasures' in black.

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'Seagulls' in pastel grey.

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'Bird on a lace fence' in black and turquoise.

The clutches are closed with a thin rimpie (leather weaving strip) that gets wrapped around the purse and tied around the fabric covered Wren button.

cp-bird-1b.jpgThe clutches are 8″ wide by 5″ (closed) and 8.2″ (open) tall. Cheque books fit inside, notebooks, pens and pencils, receipts, travel documents, cable needles for knitting, ipod and iphone, sanitary pads and tampax, cosmetics, keys, use it as a wallet  … let me know what you would use it for becuase it can be used for just about anything.

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Visit my etsy shop here. The first three people to buy a coffee clutch will get a special extra that will only be available later. In essence, you get a sneak peak.

The Coffee Sling Bag in colour…

Wren

The Charcoal (‘From Rawanda’) and the ‘New Blue‘ Coffee Sling bag’s (pics below) were hand-dyed by me using a mixture of natural dyes.  These lining colours are a once-off and cannot be repeated.

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The stone coloured lining (‘From India Coffee Sling Bag’) (pic below) is dyed by my suppliers with environmental dyes and processes. The print is a brilliant turquoise.

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There are also two new bird pouches in my shop: The ‘Orange you beautiful’ (left) and the ‘Disa’ (right) bird pouch.

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How the ‘Organic Coffee Sling Bag’ came to be

Wren

These coffee sacks were found by chance and I fell in love with them. I did not know what I was going to do with them….but I could not leave them there so I bought a selection. Two days later I went back for the rest. They were too gorgeous to leave any behind …

Then, as per usual, for days I thought about what kind of bag these sacks wanted to be …and it seemed as though this design did not want to wait. At the same time I was busy with an environmental competition with the CPUT students and Hemporium was one of the sponsors. They provided some organic Hemp canvas swatches for the students to see what the fabric was like so that they could design their products accordingly. After seeing and feeling this fabric (which I thought was beautiful) I had a ‘Eureka’ moment: Why not use the hemp canvas together with the coffee sacks? When I got home I put the two textures together and they were a match made in heaven.

I always start a new design by drawing a selection of bag designs in my journal. Then I select a few and play around with the fabric to see how it moves and how it hangs. The final design for this bag came rather quickly and I pinned it together to get the full effect.

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Then I worked out the pattern pieces for the bag. This process always takes me a long time as I have to give it 100% focus all the way through. I am not a natural at working out how the pieces will fit together and I often have to ‘build’ the bag in my head. I cannot be disturbed doing this or I have to start all over again.

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Once this is done I create the pattern pieces. I use newspaper because if I make a mistake with the pattern, it is not a costly mistake.

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After this I make my first sample. I still have not learnt yet from my mistakes as everytime I tell myself, “agh, you have the pattern right this time, you do not need to use cheaper fabric. Use the real fabric. I am sure it will be perfect”.

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As expected, it was not.

Luckily only a few changes needed to be made and I made these on the proper card pattern pieces: the overall size of the bag was too big, the strap was a little bit too long, I added an extra pocket inside the bag and changed the tuck sizes. Otherwise, the whole bag was the quickest I have ever made anything from start to finish.

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The Organic Coffee Sling Bag is my favourite bag. This goes to show that sometimes the best things happen by chance.

The NEW Organic Coffee Sling Bag

Wren

I absolutely ADORE this new bag … for several hundred reasons …

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1. It is the perfect all day, everyday market bag. I am not a ‘big bag’ person but I have not been able to get my Organic Coffee Sling Bag off my shoulder. I am too attached. I can fit everything into it and it does not look full or empty on my shoulder. It just looks great!

2. It is 100% environmentally friendly. The main fabric is a RECYCLED Jute coffee sack, the lining is certified ORGANIC Hemp canvas of the highest quality (it is the fabric that Rembrandt and Van Gogh created their masterpieces on), the very sweet big Wren wooden buttons close the bag and there are 3 great pockets inside that my Moleskine diary fits into perfectly. …and that’s not all: My laptop sits in the bag both lengthwise and upright! :)

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3. Each bag has it’s own special uniqueness and story. There are bags from Zambia, Guatamala, Brazil, India ….all over. They are also from FAIR TRADE farms which is nice to know. I especially love this mark on one of the bags: “Save the Amazon Use Jute”.

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4. When I do take the bag off my shoulder I do not have to worry about the fabric getting dirty. It is such an happy-go-lucky-bag.

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5. The tactile quality of this bag is so interesting. The Jute is rough to touch but I cannot stop hugging the bags none-the-less (and Mischief, my cat, takes every opportunity to curl up asleep on them). They have been worn soft by their journeys and the roughness is not scratchy or hard. The Hemp heavy-duty canvas is also the perfect match becuase it stabilizes the open weave of the jute, is strong but soft and smooth. The bag also has a great smell – with a hint of coffee. :)

6. The two sides of the bag are completely different. I can turn the bag around and it looks like another bag. For example, the two pictures below are from the same bag.

I cannot rave enough about the Organic Coffee Sling Bag. I battled taking photographs of them for my online shop/s because they each have a personality (and the bags refused to stay perfectly symmetrical). They are made to be worn, used and loved.

Go and see the ‘Organic Coffee Sling Bag’ in my etsy and dawanda shop.