Kokong bag

I'm spending a few days at my parent's place and you never know what pops up in their drawers and closets when you have a look around!

A few years ago (or, come to think of it, not a few but rather many now), right after I had left university I was unemployed for a few months (I graduated right in the middle of a recession, and there were no job-opportunities at all around).

This was right after I had taken an evening course in pattern construction and I did a bit of sewing (just sitting around isn't really my thing, at least not for too long).
One thing I made was this bag (the one on the left), inspired by my grandmother's old, red shoe-bag that I fell in love with the moment I saw it.  I think it's from the 1950's or 60's. I didn't like handbags much back then (made me feel like a "tant", a not very flattering word for old lady) but needed somewhere to keep my wallet, lipbalm and brand new (first!) cellphone.

I made the bag to use instead of a handbag, small enough to be quite discreet, big enough to keep all necessary things in, and with a strap just the right length for me to keep it on my shoulder, hidden beneath my arm, two hands free, when I went out (=freedom to dance without having to hold a handbag in one hand). I used it all the time.















Somehow I found out that you could apply to sell your designs at Designtorget, a then new shop where they sold new Scandinavian design, so I applied, and got accepted!

I made the label too, the pattern is from a wallpaper that I photographed in a shop, modified and later also used for my businesscard and a CD with projects that I enclosed with my job-application (the very same wallpaper, in red, was used in many H&M-shops about a year later, I find fashion works in very interesting ways. We all think similarily at about the same time sometimes...).









 Fun to put in my CV and a nice memory, but not very profitable. I probably made less than a dollar an hour.
Oh well.