A couple of weeks ago I met Virginia del Giudice at Maria Robledo’s house. Virginia is a long-time Improvised Life reader, photographer and co-owner of La Percalinaa shop that sells very fine vintage clothes in Buenos Aires whose stained fabric fix Improvised Life posted recently. That evening, she presented me with the most lovely gift: a net bag made by Kichi indians in the north of Argentina. She said: “When I read your post about these king of bags, I decided you should have this one.” And what I beauty it is, made with natural fibers and dyes; I did not want to put it down. Something made me drape it around my neck and loop it like a scarf so I could wear it:  A suprising, impromptu use of a beautiful neg bag:

Virginia Giudice
Virginia Giudice

…In addition to the usual uses like carrying a books, wallet or the meyer lemons you found at the market.

Sinnae Choi
Sinnae Choi

… It IS the perfect traveling bag for it rolls up very compactly:

Sinnae Choi
Sinnae Choi

We haven’t found a source to this exact bag, but are sure that ones as beautiful as this are to be found once you have your eyes peeled. Meanwhile, we found that there are many tutorials on the internet for making your own, like this one at Instructables and a more visually-appealing one from The International Guild of Knot Tyers (we hadn’t realized that net bags are all about knot-tying):

igkt.net
igkt.net

The key: use a wonderful fiber. For starters, Hemptique sells Spools of Hemp Cord in black, natural and brown and a a lovely shade of redHemptique hemp cord red   Thanks a million Virginia!

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3 replies on “A Net Bag Becomes a Scarf and Necklace + DIY

  1. Not to dissuade you, but knotting is harder than it looks. As a needlelace maker, I’ve learned that the hard way. There are numerous kinds of knots or netting or knotless netting (looping ) and methods of making something, such as a bag. Getting the holes uniform and orderly when you have no framework to mount it on is very difficult. It’s like learning the tension in knitting, tatting or crochet, but harder. Like most things made well, it takes practice–lots of it. But if you’re willing to put in the time, it’s a very enjoyable skill to learn.

    Some links: http://donnakallnerfiberart.com/looping/
    http://www.basketmakers.com/topics/bytechnique/knotlessnetting/knotlessnetting.htm
    http://www.interweave.com/needle/projects/Treasure-Pouch.pdf

  2. Most of the things in my imaginings are harder than they look. But I’ve found it’s great to know how something works, is made, along with where to buy it which is why I often include links and images. The possibility of making something can lay dormant for years, and then suddently emerge because the information is in your head.

    Doing a website is way harder than anyone thinks and something I knew nothing about. But Improvised Life is based on the idea that with practice and TRYING, we can learn how to do things, if not terribly well, with great pleasure.

    Thanks a million for your reality check and your great links.

  3. those bags “авоська” (avos’ka) was very common in USSR.
    nstlgy

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