Tag Archives: Sewing

Making Bags for Donations

During the pandemic, I have made several tote bags following a pattern by noodlehead with variations… I’m also offering to make a grocery size bag on demand using fabrics that I have or that the buyer supplies.

Here are the current bags I offer (usually in a fundraiser, that I list in this page)… Contact me for questions!

Rainbow Unicorns Sold!

The unicorn bag differs from others in that there is no outside pocket, and the inside pocket is divided. The sides and the bottom have a canvas interior, and the handles are made with the same dark blue twill as the bottom.

Horses

This bag has two outside pockets and one inside, the bottom is made with a thick denim fabric, the inside lining is black twill.

Orange in Red

This bag has two outside pockets, both inside and outside bottom sections are made with a sturdy fabric. The lining and handles are a bright orange twill that complements the ensemble.

Pink in Blue Diamonds

I worked at a studio alongside quilters and was inspired to build these panels and combine these fabrics with the pink twill used for the lining. Two outside pockets, and one inside. The bottom has a foam layer inside.

Flower Squares

Two outside pockets, and one inside with a snap button. The lining, handles, and the bottom are black twill.

Shopping Bag

This is the bag I use every day and is the model for a custom-made bag if you request it! The lining is a natural color fabric (the vendor says it’s waterproof), the handles are a 1″ webbing. Ask for what other fabrics I have, or supply your own (I find many at Discount Fabrics in Berkeley), preferably cotton. I have been using this bag every day, it’s even been a favorite at the check-out counter!

Pride Month/Week/Day/Hour

This week-end in San Francisco was going to be one of the biggest annual events, but due to the pandemic, everything is virtual. But in a conversation with my sheltered friends (they’re cisgendered) about how I could express pride, I was having trouble figuring out how I could make the jump from a life of low self-esteem made medium esteem to actually feeling pride about who I am. But I took up a bag I just sewed together undefined and said I was actually proud of this bag that I figured out how to make, sometimes out of fabric remnants. I was also in the process of making my own Trans Pride Flagundefined from what turned out to be difficult to find pieces of fabric because the fabric store is closed and I couldn’t get similar fabric types in all colors. Anyway, I ended up recycling a shirt for the white band… Here it is, hanging in front of the house, where people hang flags, most often patriotic ones, which raises a point of thinking about what is pride for those people? Is it belonging to a group you identify with? Being part of a country that has serious issues of bullying and has a bully as its president? That they accepted for 4 years now? I wonder.

Putting aside the memories of crushing any self expression when I was a child, today I am proud of who I am, and I want others to recognize that I exist. I also want others to recognize that their patriotic or religious pride has been hiding racism and transphobia, not to add misogyny and homophobia. By existing, by walking around and letting them figure out whether I should fit in their narrow view of the binary, or just let go, I am expressing pride in who I am.

But it’s a lifelong battle. I learned that in these months of sheltering, people no longer care about personal appearance, which was great news to me. There’s less pressure to conform to expectations. Although I should add that zoom meetings have been difficult because I constantly have a mirror in front of me, and I hear my voice as not the voice of the person I want to be. Yet, it was great to care less about the image in the bathroom, and it was great to use a mask or scarf to cover the lower part of my face, so there’s less scrutiny at the store.

I am happy that this year marks a kind of point of no return for abolishing systemic racism, not only in this country, but in others where people keep denying its existence. I guess it was obvious to me when I feared the scrutiny of others about my gender, that people of color have experienced much worse on a daily basis. So I’m proud of who I am, but I’m not proud of being part of a larger group that discriminates. That has always been an issue for me, that big movements were led by people who laughed at me, so why should I join them? Now I think a greater number of people have said enough of that, let’s examine what we’ve been complicit with, and change.

my sewed-together trans pride flag!
two of my recently completed bags, moments of pride…

p.s. I am confused by the new WordPress editor… I inserted images both inline and as individual blocks for now. Hopefully this looks ok.