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The Demitasse Bag (or: Timtex Challenge Part 1!)
This is a bag design I’m calling The Demitasse. It reminds me of something you might carry with you when meeting your friends for brunch in a cute little cafe, maybe drinking something out of a small demitasse cup… you know? Or maybe not. But the name came up and off it went to become the name of the bag!
This is the first of two bags to come out of what I’ve begun to call my own personal Timtex challenge. (If I’m feeling really dramatic, I refer to it in my head as “The Great Timtex Challenge of 2009.”) At the end of the day, all I want to do is to see if the newly reformulated Timtex sew-in interfacing, sold by C&T Publishing, is a good replacement for the old Timtex, which was discontinued a while back, much to the dismay of Timtex-addicted bagmakers (like me)! This bag was made with the NEW reformulated Timtex. Soon, I’ll be posting a second bag, exactly the same (different fabric!), that was made with the old tried-and-true Timtex with some thoughts about that experience.
This bag design, in all its pleated glory, took exactly one package of the Timtex Craft Pack – a 13.5″ x 22″ piece – with nothing but tiny scraps left over. I designed it to be exactly the right size for the amount of Timtex I had to work with. Thankfully, I have that same amount from an old craft pack of the old Timtex as well, so the comparison opportunity is perfect (and I’m just the geek that would think that)! Anyway, I was thrilled to design my first bag with pleats. It was fun and not so hard!
So what’s the verdict? Working with this stuff was FANTASTIC. I mentioned in my last post about Timtex that it seemed slightly lighter in weight than the old version, but as I worked with it, it was just as strong and firm as I remember the old one being! It gives the bag excellent crisp shape, but isn’t so inflexible that it feels stiff. And if you’re a bagmaker, you know about the part where you have to turn the bag all inside out and upside down through the small hole you’ve left, just before it’s all done? Well, that part was tough city, just like in the olden days, which is a good thing.
I love the stability and shape it gives to these corners. Crisp, without being too hard to sew through, you know?
Both Timtexes came with creases in them from being folded in the craft pack, but true to its nature, a little quick steaming and ironing did the trick to get the creases out. It seemed a bit easier to get the creases out in the new one than in the old, but that could also be a product of how long my old craft pack had been lying around…
The only thing I noticed that was a little odd about the new Timtex sewing experience is that the corners began to separate a little bit after they’d been worked a lot. It appears that Timtex is actually a bunch of layers of fiber put together, and a little bit of separating of these layers started to happen after a while, but nothing that I really worried about. Since I sewed the Timtex onto my fabric and was trimming the edges by the seams anyway, it didn’t really bother (or affect) me that the edges frayed a tiny bit. Just a difference I noticed.
So a big thumbs-up from me for this new version so far! I’ve still to see how it wears, but I’ll know that over time, I suppose.
Oh! And! The best news of all about this little challenge? I may have created just the bag to go with my red coat! What do you think??
Anyway, thanks again to the kind and generous folks over at C&T for bringing back Timtex and for letting me try some of the new stuff out. It appears I may be heading back down the path of addiction!
With that, I’m off for a short trip to Florida to visit my most-delightful parents and to see some spring training baseball. See you later in the week!
Posted by robyn on March 7th, 2009 under crafts, sewing
5 Responses to “The Demitasse Bag (or: Timtex Challenge Part 1!)”
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I'm Robyn. Thanks for stopping by! This is my craft blog.
Contact me at robyn [at] dognamedbanjo [dot] com.
March 7th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Oooh, that bag looks great with the coat! I never doughed out the money to use the old Timtex…I was always lazy and stuck w/ Peltex and heavywight-but-not-timtex-heavy interfacing for bags. Have you ever compared them? It looks great though! Maybe I’ll try it some time…
Kristines last blog post..Easy Peasy Cowl
March 9th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Hi Robyn, I am thrilled to hear you are happy with the results of our new Timtex product from C&T Publishing. We worked hard on creating the perfect formula and it is always exciting to see the beautiful projects that come out of it.
Megans last blog post..Weekly Giveaway: A Touch of Felt
March 10th, 2009 at 9:10 am
[…] This one was the proud recipient of the old Timtex, in all of its coveted glory. Just like the first Demitasse Bag I made, this one used the entire contents of a Timtex craft pack, ‘cept this one was the old […]
March 10th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
So is your entire bag made with Timtex? It seems to me it would be too stiff, although it doesn’t look it with the pleats and such. Please explain. Thanks!
It does look nice with the coat. 😉
CJs last blog post..Just sayin’
March 15th, 2009 at 8:53 am
@ Kristine:
Hey Kristine – Timtex is WAAAAY better than Peltex if you want something firm. This is my experience, anyway…. Tough to shell out the dough, but so worth it!