Sew Thus is Life...

This is my last week of college. EVER. (hopefully). I'm so stressed that I broke out into hives last night. It's BAD. Add to that the stress of packing to move home and finding a job since it doesn't look like my internship is going to come through for me, despite a positive general review and glowing praise from one of my favorite teams. (At least that's how I feel, one of the managers isn't happy about that either.) A job I applied for last Saturday back in Maryland is already rubbing me the wrong way and upon some research I almost feel this is not where I need to be. It's too much uncertainty pushed into a small window with very little hope. I honestly just want to be done. I just want to sleep.

So when I started my collection I asked a few of my peers (and my very out-there work study supervisor) how they felt about a purse made of lacquered feathers. It was met first by confusion, then intrigue, then finally after some thought, a hearty "Yes! Do it!" So I embarked on stalking eBay for bird feathers. I decided on macaw parrots as they naturally have the greens and blues so prevalent in my collection. I found a great deal on sets of 50 (thanks to kcvpjulie ) and set out to make a feathered bag. I already had hollow clamshell purse frames in my possession and I also needed to make the "shells". My professor suggested using buckram (a glue-covered woven fabric that's used in hat-making  to create the shape of my bag. I found buckram alone to be too flimsy- but backed with oak tag (a heavy paperboard) I found the shape and sturdiness to be quite pleasing. It ended up looking like this: buckram frame from the inside From there I had to practice my...