How to turn a silk square into a bag.

Silk Square Bag

My son was invited to a birthday party recently and when contemplating how to wrap the presents I came up with the idea of wrapping them in silk squares.  The birthday twins are gorgeous kids and bright vibrant colours where on the agenda!  I figured that using a silk square instead of wrapping paper would not only be funky but reusable and an extra pressie for the wee ones.  Next I was thinking how am I going to wrap them, and I came up with the idea of making a silk bag.  The pressies in the bags looked sensational, and I have since used my silk bags for many things from carrying my shopping (far more attractive than a plastic or grocery bag!) to a makeshift bag when the kids need something to carry their ‘stuff’ in.  As standard I use a 90cm square and find this is a good size.  It is amazing how much you can fit inside depending on the length you tie the knots.  If you needed a bigger size a 114cm square would do the job, any square could be converted to a bag.  Once you know how to do it you can make a bag in just a few seconds.

Making the bag is simple. I will give you both instructions and a little movie demonstrating the process.

1. Lay your square out flat, and fold one corner over to meet its opposite.  You know have a triangle.  Lets call the corners lying on top of each other the top and bottom corner.
2. Approximately 1/4 of the way up the top corner tie a single knot.  NB.  You can vary this length depending on the depth you want the bag.
3. Repeat this on the bottom corner.  Make sure the knots are of equal length and tighten the knots.
4. Open the square out so the corners are lying in their original square directions, then fold the knots into the center of the square.
5. Bring the un-knotted corners together, shake to get everything to settle and tie the un-knotted corners together in a secure small double knot/square knot.
6. Your bag is ready to use!

So what is a silk square?

Silk is a magical fibre, I could write a novel on the technical qualities that make silk so special but to be honest, at the end of the day we all love it – we love the feel, we love its natural qualities, we love its ability to take colour, to keep us cool and warm, we love the way it makes us feel special.  Those aspects are what I want to concentrate on here, and the fabulous things we can create.  If you want a more technical approach, please email me and I will point you in the right direction.

So to start, I want to address ‘So what is a silk square?’.  Quite simply, it is a square piece of silk.  The most common are squares made of 8mm Habutai, but they can be made of any form of silk – Crepe de Chine, Charmeuse, Dupion to name a few.  Squares also come in different dimensions.  The one I will be focusing on in my blog is a 89cm square.  I find this the most versatile size.  An 89cm square can be a baby wrap, a playsilk, it can be a healing silk, it can be a backpack or a scarf, the list is endless.

Squares I  find handy are 55.5cm square, 76cm square and the 111cm square.  Whichever square I am using at the time I will tell you, but don’t feel confined to this size, please experiment, have fun change size and decorate yourself.  What I love about silk is that it is so much fun to play with, maybe it’s the feel as you work with it, maybe it’s the beautiful colours.  Whatever it is for you simply have fun and enjoy!

Hello world!

Welcome to my Blog.  As many of you out there know I was involved in a serious accident.  Completely life changing.  One of the strange bi-products of my recovery has been many nights where I bolt awake at 3am with a brilliant idea for my Silk.  Following this I wander out with my computer, grab a horlicks and spend the next few hours researching, and unfortunately more than not purchasing something online that I figure will be of immense benefit to the ideas that I have dreamt or thought about.  Originally I planned a section on my website coined ‘101 things to do with a Silk Square’, the problem was this developed into a bit of a work in progress as I myself discovered 1001 things to do with a Silk Square.  Desperate to share these with the world, this blog has come into fruition.  I want to share with you not only some ideas of what you can do with squares, but other ways of using silk (in particular my super hot products!!!).  I hope you enjoy, learn and create with silk and love every minute as I do.  Nothing compares to playing with a beautiful piece of silk, to feel and work with such soft sumptuous fabric and create is something we all deserve.  I hope you enjoy my postings. xo Peta