Sock bag from scrap fabric

So I needed a bag/container to hold my son's socks that would also be handy to quickly grab a piece.  And I was reusing the plastic holder bag in which it came from the store. But the holder was for a capacity of 3 and I had to store more than 3 socks, I was stuffing it to the max. It was starting to wear out and wasnt containing all the socks anyway. Earlier, I would have done a couple of rounds in Lifestyle store, or in DMart or in Homecentre for some organizer and would have been done with it. But there is a ban on DMart visits in our house, and outings are really rationed with the toddler's schedule getting highest priority. So I was rummaging through my scraps and found a trapeziodal piece that I thought would fit the bill to be converted into a sock bag.

I initially started hand sewing the edges, and was wishing for something that would get the job done faster without needing to go to the tailor. While looking through Amazon for some fabric glue, it struck me that I had a bottle of mod-podge from my previous life (:P). Mod podge is a famous crafting supply - it is a decoupage medium - an all-in-one glue, sealer and finish used to attach paper and fabric to various surfaces. Since this project was anyway about using up scraps, I decided to put it to use and applied it liberally to the corners of the fabric which needed to be attached. While doing it, I was doubtful if it would work. But a few hours of drying and it was like magic! Attaching pictures and descriptions, the photo of the final product is at the end.

The design was simple - I had a trapezium shaped fabric, I decided to fold it in half and secure two of the open sides. and I could have a bag like structure ready.

So this is the bag like piece - Notice the stitches on the two sides? That's where I applied Mod podge glue and secured the two edges. It was looking a bit too plain and I was not sure if the glue will wash out when the bag goes for laundry, so I decided to make some blanket stitches just as an extra level of security.

For the top open edge, I didnt feel like mod podg-ing the irregular edges so I decided to hand stitch. While doing this, I realised that I had cut the fabric in a bit of a hotchpotch way, so I had to do different types of stitches at different zones of the same edge!!

I started with a back stitch, and ended up hemming the second half of the length!

Now, the basic bag was ready - but I still needed a handle of some sort with which it could hang on my wardrobe's handle. After thinking briefly, I decided to cut up the mini hanger from my previous sock holder and..

The old plastic socks holder from which I cut off the plastic hanger

mod-podged it in place, of course!!

The plastic hanger getting a coat of mod-podge with a layer of base fabric

Secured onto the bag

So finally this is how it looks. It was looking a bit drab - so I decided to use up some old left over fabric paint to make a design on it. Afterall, the whole project was about using up old left over stuff!

Picture with the socks getting loaded

Finally in its place -

A closer look at the design - 

Well, it is not a fabulous looking piece, it is has a lot of flaws in the sense - there are all sorts of stitches on the hem, the blanket stitch isnt done till the end, the fabric piece for the hanger is in a randomly different color, and the base fabric itself is a bit drab. But, it is functional and at this point a successfully working proof of concept. And done in a jiffy with the limited time that I have in my hands. So as the famous tagline goes - Tedha hai par mera hai. Adios folks!

Plastic ban - Vegetable organizer bag

Single use, super thin Plastic bags are getting banned in one state after another in India. It is already banned in Maharashtra and is going to be banned in Tamil Nadu from January next year (I think).

From my usage pattern, I observed that the biggest dependency on plastic carry bags for me is to organize my vegetables at the time of purchase itself as I am otherwise too lazy to sort them all over again after coming back home. I used to re-use those thin carry bags for this purpose  But with Maharashtra state government's ban on plastic bags, vendors are refusing to give vegetables even in plastic bags that I bring along with me, fearing the fine. So what to do now? Enter the brain of a educated graduate who does not have a paid 9 to 5 job.

I rummaged by almirah and found that I had a few pillow cases that I would like to discard as they are old, faded and look worn out. But the fabric still has some life in it. So here is how I am converting them into bags to carry vegetables.

Here is the pillow case 

Cut into two halves. Using a scissor, open up one side of the seam up to half the length of your forefinger. 

Fold along the edge leaving enough space to pass a drawstring through it. And sew it along. 

I don't have a sewing machine, and it has been ages since I have hand-sewn anything. So this is what my stitching looked like in the first few minutes. I wanted it to be a little durable, so I decided to do a blanket stitch so I won't have to search for  a roadside tailor to re-do the stitches for some time at least. I removed all the knots and persevered again. 

Here is how it looks after the second attempt 

Finished stitching around the edge

Drawstring inserted

Vegetable organizer ready

#FriFotos - #Spring is here

Here is my entry for this week's #FriFotos  - a weekly photo forum to share photographs from around the world. The theme for this week is Spring!

Here is a whiff of spring from the beautiful farms of Morachi Chincholi, near Pune, Maharashtra

Languages - you can only speak so much

Reducing someone to the number of languages he or she speaks trivializes the immense power that language imparts. After all, language is the living testament to a culture’s history and world view, not a shiny trophy to be dusted off for someone’s self-aggrandizement.

Excerpt from http://ideas.ted.com/why-i-learned-20-languages-and-what-i-learned-about-myself-in-the-process/.

I discovered this link on my facebook feed today, it was shared by the good souls running the TEDxGateway page - https://www.facebook.com/TEDxGateway

Being a language aficionado myself, I eagerly clicked through to know what this article had to share, and landed on something that I myself have come to realise over the years. The following paragraphs quoted from the link above, particularly, resonate with me -

“Reducing someone to the number of languages he or she speaks trivializes the immense power that language imparts. After all, language is the living testament to a culture’s history and world view, not a shiny trophy to be dusted off for someone’s self-aggrandizement.

Language is a complex tapestry of trade, conquest and culture to which we each add our own unique piece — whether that be a Shakespearean sonnet or “Lol bae g2g ttyl.” As my time in the media spotlight made me realize, saying you “speak” a language can mean a lot of different things: it can mean memorizing verb charts, knowing the slang, even passing for a native. But while I’ve come to realize I’ll never be fluent in 20 languages, I’ve also understood that language is about being able to converse with people, to see beyond cultural boundaries and find a shared humanity. And that’s a lesson well worth learning.”

And I completely agree with the above points. Reducing someone to the number of languages that person speaks is sheer injustice to the power of expression that each of those languages bring along with them. And trust me, it takes a lifetime along with a lot of persistence, to learn any language. And even then, we need to etch in our minds that it will still be only a tool to communicate, and that the actual communication is a skill that resides in our brain, that needs constant nurturing. When these two come together, is when the magic happens. And the language that you spend the time most on, will become your language of fluency. And it is ok to not be fluent in 'N' languages, your ability to communicate matters more.

And this is why, perhaps, one of the slokas in my sanskrit lessons from my 10^th standard lesson says that to be able to speak sentences that are non-provocative, yet true, yet are kind on the ears and beneficial to the person hearing it, yet reflecting what is put to practice from one's self studies, is akin to penance, a penance of speech, a penance of the spoken word. The original text -

अनुद्वेगकरं वाक्यं सत्यं प्रियहितं च यत् |
स्वाध्यायाभ्यसनं चैव वाङ्ग्मयम् तप उच्यते ||

And I am sure, my english teacher who blogs at https://forstudentswithlove.wordpress.com/ will agree with this.