Last fall, with the help of Doni’s Delis clever bag design, I turned my hand-woven ‘garden banner’
into a bag. Here’s the front
and the back.
I chose a piece of hand-dyed hot pink plaid quilt fabric from stash for the lining.
It’s a roomy bag of about 12″ square. The wide strap will make it comfortable to carry even if filled with heavy books. A larger version with a flat bottom would be Fantastic for groceries!
Unfortunately, in the months since DH took these photos, I’ve used this bag exactly once. Wondering why, I asked myself, “If you saw this bag in a store, would you buy it?” My answer was a quick “No.”, which really didn’t tell me anything new, so I asked myself “Why not?” I had to think for a little while before answering that one.
I concluded that although it was great fun to really let loose and Play! while weaving my first free-style Saori project by including this, that and yet another yarn,
creating loops, bobbles and fringes, and experimenting with clasped weft and tapestry techniques,
the multicolored and highly textured result was probably better suited to a garden banner than a purse. sigh.
So I trimmed away its fringes
and all but the smallest of bobbles – being very careful not to clip the wrong thread.
I didn’t take off that much
but it made a Big difference in how I feel about this project. (front and back)
I’m not sure whether I would buy this New Bag either, lol, but I do like it a little more than before.
alottastitches 
I like it much better with the trimming done. However, if you find you still aren’t using it, consider making several bags/totes/accessories with this weaving as the feature fabric. See studiokatdesigns dot com slash freebies slash free patterns.
I can envision the front flap or panel of a tote or large purse and using other interesting parts of the weaving for just the front side of a credit card holder, check book cover, small zipper pouch…
I see the weaving is 7″ wide and and this tote is otherwise uncut and seamed only on the sides. It is a ‘clever’ tote pattern.
Only time will tell how often I will use it, but I think I’d be more likely to give it away as is than to cut it up to reuse the fabric, since I went to the bother of sewing and lining it, but you never know.
I love the idea of accenting sewn items with handwoven fabric though – like I did on that red and black tote bag, remember? I can also imagine weaving a piece with the intention of sewing several little items from it. I especially like the little zippered pouch and Wrist-a-Cat patterns on that website. Thanks so much for sharing!