I’ve never been a fan of fringe, trimmings, or too much extra embellishments. The occasional studs, sure. And sometimes chains to make things more “edgy”, but fringe was always a no go for me.
Working on these tote bags kinda changed my views on certain things. For one, I’m really loving the “bohemian” look. I think I kinda always did, but the fact that the term “gypsy” is associated with it makes me uncomfortable, especially since it’s an ethnic slur and I don’t like going there – that whole “cultural appropriation” land. I think a good substitute for that term is “bohemian/boho“, so we’ll stick to that. I’ve been digging that look lately – the colors, embellishments, fabric combinations, etc. I’ve been accepting the fringe at the bottom of my bags. I’m totally feeling it. And I’ve never noticed how many color variations there can be, and even if you use the same exact colors and fabrics, it will always end up being executed differently in rag weaves.
I’ve been trying to keep my bags simple, but I’ve come to realize how much trimming I have on hand. So much. And while visiting my grandparents for Thanksgiving, I managed to walk away with bags and bags of trimming and fabric from their basement. As I spoke about last week, my grandma was a seamstress, so she’s got loads of fabrics and such that she doesn’t use anymore.
So now I have come across the challenge of trying to incorporate trimmings and lace and beads and strips of excess fabric onto the bags while making them look nice and not cluttered or overdecorated. I don’t think it’s too visible, but believe it or not, I’m not a fan of overkill. I’m kinda digging this challenge because it’s much different from the way I handled my projects in the past, as I like to keep things kind of simple for myself, but this time around I’m not creating for myself. So it kinda makes it easier to experiment with less pressure. I can go wild and crazy.
So that was me, checking in, wanting to share about how my views of trimming has changed. Especially since now I have so much of it, I have no choice but to like it, hah.
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