‘Katie’s Dancing Bag’
In Katie’s own words…
‘Two or three times a week I go to the beach to dance for an hour or so. I wear headphones, face the horizon, it’s the healthiest, best kind of therapy.
Up until now I’ve been storing my coat, hot drink, post-exercise banana, and when it’s cold, my gloves, scarf and hat, in a shopping bag. It’s not an elegant solution.
I’ve worked with Kerry on this website so I know she’s a combination engineer/artist who never stops making and never makes the same thing twice. I gave her five pieces of fabric that had great meaning for me and asked Kerry to make me a bag the would have the capacity to contain my coat, hat, scarves, thermos, gloves and banana.
I thought this would be something of a challenge, to me the colours didn’t go together at all well. The fabrics comprise…
A shirt bought for himself by my eldest son from a trip to Gambia when he was fourteen years old
A piece of material from the same trip, a present for me
A T shirt with the word ‘Mum’ on it which I used to love when my sons were small
A blue skirt my mum gave me around the same time, because her mother had given her a pink Chanel suit when her own children (myself and my brothers) were small
Some striped fabric that belonged to my grandmother, my mother’s mother
What she came up with took my breath away. She made a patchwork on one side, strips on the other, lined the inside with pink and created a pocket for the banana and another one for my thermos. She used the ‘Mum’ from the T shirt to line the inside of the strap.
I will treasure this forever.
And when the weather gets really cold there will be room for a hot water bottle or two, too.
