My ORTS project.

Some people put the bits of left over embroidery thread in a jar.  Some put them inside clear plastic ornaments and use then as Christmas decorations.  Some, throw them out!

I have had a different approach, for many, many and I do mean many years.  Much longer than the Thread bag even before the Thread Ball there was 

 THE BAG

Also on occasion known as the everlasting project (wrong as it is finished but I am getting ahead of myself) there is of course a story behind the existence of

THE BAG

A brochure popped through the letter box, landed on the mat.  A brochure from a charity selling things to raise funds to save endangered species and their habitats. So I looked through the W.W.F brochure and I bought a stationary set and a 100 % cotton bag with a design on each side in green.  A picture of the world surrounded by  some of the creatures the charity aimed to support.  I rather liked the bag and I had been using it just as it was.

Then it went to London with me on a trip, and I put some fruit in it (in its own bag, but that split and I ended up with squashed fruit on my bag.

That's OK it would wash and it did and it did again but this time I noticed a bit of fading in the green.  That was this projects moment of birth, I wanted to keep the design, so I would sew over it.  If you have visited my blog before you will know it could not be just that simple, and it wasn't, I would just use bits too small to use for anything else. 

And so it began , about twenty five years ago, it began.  

For the first side I just wanted to use earth tones, the greens and browns and subtle yellows.  They did tend to be the colours I was working with the most.  My brighter toned threads went on the other side.

That is not to say it stopped being used as a bag whilst its pattern preservation commenced. It became the project bag for holidays, the stuff a jumper in it and it becomes a pillow bag for camping trips and it was still getting washed and still fading.   

The green side was finished first.

W.W.F Caring for our world.

I did bend my rules for the blue lettering and the leaves, but only in so far as these leftovers could  have been used for other small projects

(The dark green in the body of the whale, elephant and the continents is the original print, I settled on outlines for those rather than trying to fill them in.

The second side took longer, it felt longer, for there to be the thread to fill in all the little dashes of the pattern.  I guess there were less bright colours in the other projects I was doing to produce bright ORTS.

The coloured side

Having finally finished the sewing I felt the bag needed a lining to give it a bit of extra strength.

Here it is finished

WWF shopping bag

WWF shopping bag

oh and a few close up shots just for fun and to mark all those years.  With my sewing thread (thread bag) and my embroidery thread scrap projects completed, I wonder what I will do with them next.

W.W.F Panda

The classic black and Gold Panda on the green side.

W.W.F Panda

And one in a green that is very close to the original stamped pattern colour.

Tree with French Knot fruit.

Penguin and Polar Bear

Brights penguin and Polar bear

Elephant and Kangaroo

Trees

Bird and giraffe

close up of the dashes on the tones side

and on the bright side

And its first job as a fully finished lined bag, to carry my parents large print scriptures to Church for the 2018 Carol Service as we all had readings to do.