Making a Boro inspired Kinchaku bag
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Hello there…. a short and sweet post today about a short and sweet project. This gorgeous Boro Inspired Kinchaku bag was just exactly what I needed as a project to weave in between weekends away visiting family and long over due jobs in the house and garden. It is a non messy, user up of scraps and entirely relaxing little sewing project that produces something super pretty and super useful too.
This was one of those instagram moments where I saw the bag and bought the pattern within five minutes. After my Sashiko endeavours at the end of last year, I was happy to find something that fitted in with that vein of stitching. The design is by BeBeBold (link at the bottom of this post) and their website is jam packed full of great stuff and the pattern was available as a downloadable pdf.
Really it is super simple and although I didn’t quite follow the instructions - for example, I pieced my panels on the sewing machine - I did use similar colour ways having found a stash of plaid fabrics and some bits of old jeans. I pieced it fairly randomly with different size scraps and some plain linen pieces too.
Adding the lines of Sashiko stitching was incredibly meditative and gave the panels stability as well as beauty.
I used proper Sashiko cotton thread which glides through the fabric and is just the right thickness to give the effect of embellishment without dominating the patchwork.
Once these were all together it was a quick job to assemble the little bag. The pattern called for metal Koki clips to hold the cord, but I didn’t know where to get these and anyway preferred to use fabric. I found an old piece of red ribbon and just cut small tabs which I inserted between the lining and the outer bag. Once I had stitched around the top edge of the bag, I folded these tabs to the outside and secured them in place with the machine.
I also did add some strong cardboard into the base of the bag to help it hold it’s shape. I know this means I can’t wash it, but actually it’s not that sort of thing anyway. I managed to find some lovely 3mm leather cord (link below) and it just absolutely makes this darling little bag pop. The whole thing is just so charming and it is perfect for carrying all your sewing tools around in. It would make a lovely gift too and especially if you popped some of the lovely japanese sewing goodies inside.
