Bay Leaf Bag

In many textile traditions, embellished pockets and pouches are wonderful examples of everyday cloth made more beautiful—from embroidered pockets hung from the waist in eighteenth-century England to intricately embroidered bags in many shapes and sizes from Afghanistan. Small embroidered bags give you a chance to get stitching with a very small amount of yarn and material.

In this pattern, originally published in Spin Off Spring 2016, you'll find instructions to use your handspun embroidery yarn to create a beautiful motif. It's also a joy to embroider on handwoven cloth, so we've included Kate's directions for weaving your own project bag using a rigid-heddle loom.

MATERIALS
Sage green bag
Ground Fabric 10" wide and 26" long fulled wool fabric.
Embroidery Yarns Small amounts of fiber; 7 yd each 2-ply Merino/Tencel, 2-ply Horned Dorset, 3-ply Corriedale; 2 yd tailspun Gotland locks.

Gray bag
Ground Fabric 10" long and 11" wide piece of leg of recycled woolen trousers. Embroidery Yarns 7 yd each 2-ply Merino/bombyx silk, 2-ply worsted-spun Gotland, 3-ply Corriedale; 2 yd of corespun bouclé.

Notions 28" of cord (ribbon, woven band, plied yarn, etc.); pins; dissolvable stabilizer such as Super Solvy; size 2 chenille needle; large-eye darning needle; embroidery supplies.