Craft Consortium 'English Garden', Paper Weave, Bag

Several years ago my daughter was bought a Paper FX - a toy you can use to tear, crease, fold and weave paper.

I never threw it out or donated it elsewhere as crafting was our thing together when she was young...  

Well, I dusted off that toy for this project - which thankfully came with some instructions! 

 Unfortunately they weren't accurate instructions - which meant time was wasted on making paper strips I didn't actually need.

Ho hum...  I'm sure I'll put them to use somehow!

So would you like to see my project?

As you can see I've chosen to use three different patterns from Craft Consortium's 'English Garden' premium paper pad.

Then I've simply added a topper, glued on some lace around the top edge, added handles from a dark brown twine that I also weaved together (sticking with a theme here!)...  and job done!

Now you might be thinking, 'yes, that's all very nice.  But I don't own a Paper FX'. 

Well, the truth is you don't actually need one. 

But you do need to be able to paper weave!

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Craft Consortium Supplies used:

English Garden Premium Paper Pad

Always & Forever - Elegant Lace Ribbon - Heart Chain

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Instructions:

You will need to make your paper strips first...

7 long - measuring 30.5 x 7cm
16 medium - measuring 17.5 x 7cm
10 short - measuring 13cm x 7cm.

You will need to score each of these strips from top to bottom (as shown).
Score at a 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 mark.

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Once all of the scoring has been done, you will need to fold the two outer edges into the centre fold for each piece of paper.

 Repeat that step so that each strip has been folded into itself twice.
(see photo above).

You have now made 26 OPEN strips of paper...

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CLOSED strips are when an OPEN strip has been glued along the centre to prevent it from coming apart.

Keep 2 long strips OPEN and CLOSE the rest.

Keep 2 of your medium pieces OPEN and CLOSE the rest.

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(This photo is for illustration purposes only and does not use the correct sized pieces...)

I suggest that you use a clip board of some kind and some large bull dog clips - at least until you get going.

First create three woven pieces...

The first should be 7 'long' strips wide by 12 'medium' strips long.



Secure the 7 'long' strips into place at the top end only - with a slight gap in between each piece.
The first strip on the left should be OPEN with the opening facing outwards/away from the rest of the strips.  The last strip on the right should also be OPEN with the opening facing outwards/away from the rest of the strips.

The 5 strips in the middle should be your CLOSED 'long' strips.


To paper weave, you are going to thread one 'medium' strip at a time through the 'long' strips - and you are going to add a dab of glue (one 'medium' strip at a time) on to those 'long' strips to help keep everything in place.
The first strip you use must be OPEN, and your final/last strip must also be OPEN.  The rest are CLOSED strips.


***You weave must always start and end with OPEN strips that have the opening facing outwards/away from the rest of the weave.*** 


This 7 strip x 12 strip piece is the base and two sides of your bag.
Just fold it so that you have a 5, 2, 5 configuration (5 strips down, then fold = one side of bag, 2 strips down, then fold again = base, 5 strips left = other side of bag).

Leave the top edges of your bag for now...

I'll come back to the method on how to make those TABS into a CLOSED EDGE later on.

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Now to make the two side parts...



These will each be 5 strips wide (5 'short' pieces) by 2 strips long ( 2 'medium' pieces).

2 medium pieces - OPEN strip.
5 short pieces - 2 OPEN, 3 CLOSED strip.

Don't forget that your weave must always start and end with OPEN strips.


(Start by securing the two medium pieces from the top with bull dog clips - just like before)...

(This photo is for illustration purposes only and does not use the correct sized pieces...)

One you have finished these two pieces you will note that they are the same length as the body of the bag you have already folded into shape - except that the edges do not look like edges just yet.

They are TABS.

You will need to fold and glue these TABS into the OPEN edges of the 7 x 12 piece you made and folded earlier to create your finished bag shape.

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Now all you need to do is to finish off the top edge of the bag...

Fold the TABS into the OPEN strip - and glue them all into place.

Once dry, glue the entire OPEN strip closed...

Finished!  

...  (except for adding handles and decoration/s of your choice)...

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I hoped that helped somebody somewhere...

Donna. x