Upcycled tobacco pouch progress report

I was able to gather the materials very easily for this assignment. I only needed parchment paper and a shopping bag. I used a bag from my normal shopping and grabbed some parchment paper, which I needed anyway.

Here you can see my materials. Next I cut the bag up into 14.5″ by 6″ panels. I arrived at the dimensions from the constraints of the bag, how much room I would need for storage, as well as the golden ratio, to give the final dimensions a pleasing aspect. The process I chose for the project requires layers of bag to be fused together to create a stronger material. By sandwiching the layers in parchment paper and ironing, the desired effect is achieved.

Every so often I had to check the plastic and see which areas still needed heat while trying not to overheat other areas. After the ironing, I realized that the overall size had shrunk almost two inches longways and half an inch sideways. This changed the ratio I had planned and the storage size of the pouch. For future iterations, I can calculate the shrinkage and account for it when cutting material. But for now I want to finish the shrunken version.

I readjusted the dimensions for the new size after I trimmed the edges to eliminate the waviness created by the heat. I marked where the fold needed to be and grabbed a sewing machine. It only needs two easy stitches down the sides. I still managed to mess these up, but it doesn’t really matter as it will be turned inside out anyway. I got rid of some of the extra material to make the transition work better, but this left too little material on the outside of the thread, which popped a few stitches. Not a huge deal for now.

Next came the aesthetic choices. I was initially planning on letting the disjointed pattern of the cut up bags speak for itself. But I accidentally stitched the wrong sides together and the outside of the pouch was completely gray. I went to my original aesthetic and found a Japanese Ukiyo-e print. I was able to trace most of the drawing using my computer as a trace table, but once the material doubled up it was impossible to see the image. I freehanded the bottom section and ended up liking it. After a touch of color and my own addition of a cigarette the first version is done.

I really like how the pouch unfolds to show the whole image, but rarely will the whole image be seen at once. Usually you’ll just see a piece of it as the rest flows around corners. This is a hallmark of Ukiyo-e which unfold rather than appear in a frame like western art.