While ordering the fabric for these Basket Bags, I also picked up some of this Bluebottle Field denim from Art Gallery. After a few years of working my stash off, my denim collection is down to scraps, and denim is one thing I do like to have on hand since it's useful for all sorts of projects.
One thing I like to make with denim is Grocery Bags. So as soon as this fabric was laundered and ready to go, I cut out a few bags out and stitched them up.
The Bluebottle Field Denim happens to be a lovely match for this floral print from the Wildwood collection by Rifle Paper Co. for Cotton + Steel, so that's what I used for the lining of the bags. The color of the denim matches the darker blue rosettes in this print pretty perfectly (keep reading for more info about the color of this denim...).
This is the second Art Gallery denim I've used and this one is just as nice as the one used for this Basket Bag. They are both the same weight (10 oz per square yard) and what made me really happy with this fabric is it was easy to prep for use and didn't require multiple washings to remove the excess dye. A few generic denim fabrics I've used needed 3 or 4 runs through the wash to get out the excess dye. Ugh...those ones made me swear: "no more denim!!!" (plus a few other choice words). But of course, I got over it eventually.
One thing I wish I had done before washing this denim was to serge the cut edges so they wouldn't curl so much. About 3 inches at each of the two cut ends was lost to wrinkling and curling. Impatience and forgetfulness lead me to skip this extra step, but next time that won't happen because I've learned the lesson.
A couple more things about this denim--it's not stiff and has a nice drape, it has a lovely texture, and the color is NOT the dark blue color it appears to be on Art Gallery's site. Shops with this fabric in stock seem to be using the image from Art Gallery and it is definitely not accurate.
Of course, this can happen online, but it's a significant difference in this case and this denim is actually a pretty cobalt blue. Like the name suggests, it is the color of blue bottles. The thicker threads hold the color more which also gives it a kind of iridescence in certain light.
This blog post on Minerva Crafts shows the color accurately on both my computer screens.
