Breaking up is hard to do (The X-Ray Bag)

A year and a month after moving into our sweet apartment, and we're still unpacking and unloading things. Scott came across his x-rays from when he broke his wrist. They're at least 15 years old, and he put them aside as "trash". I thought about that for a little bit. See, I hate trash, and I've been wanting to make something a little different. So I fished them out of the trash and asked if he'd mind if I made a purse out of them. No problemo, says he, so long as I cut his personal info off of them.

Well, duh!

So I got to work, once again, scouring the pattern books and magazines to find some inspiration. And there it was: a leather-punched panel bag. I took a few looks at at and realized I could change it up and make it an X-Ray bag. I had to choose dimensions (I felt 5x7" was just way too small), fiber (much as I wanted to use my Gedifra Velato, it is too stretchy), and closures (the pattern I saw had none, and that seemed silly).

I settled on a 10x2" flap, button closure, four 4x4" square panels, a single strap, and no lining (it's an x-ray, after all, and I wanted to show off the material. I also settled on plain-Jane Red Heart Super Saver. Normally, I'm an uber yarn snob, and I cringe at the thought of hobby store yarn. But it's been in my stash for three years, and it has the durability needed to support the x-ray film.

After much cutting, punching, stitching, and sewing, my final product came out about 11x11x1", with a cute flap, crab stitch edging, and a simple strap. I have to say that I'm pleasantly suprised by this one.

Lessons Learned:
1) X-Ray film seems flimsy, but punching holes in it will make your hand tire very, very quickly
2) A size I hook fits in a 1/4" punched hole
3) Cheap yarns that squeak are still pretty sturdy, and sometimes that's what you need

Now if only I could figure out how to tell people to clean it, I could list it. I'm thinking spot cleaning. Heat is definitely out, and I think any chemical would just ruin the film. In any case, look for this bag soon on my store!