Kate Bird – Fiber Artist

Designing and Creating Your Own Tool Kits

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Kate Bird

in

Demo for the Tampa Bay Surface Design Guild, September 2025

Making your own tool kits is a fun way to put your art fabrics to use and allows you to design exactly what you need for your workflows.

Process

  1. Design your tool
    • Consider workflow: what tools do you use together? How do you use them?Consider the best elements and materials to store and easily access these tools.
    • Think through construction by sketching on paper.
  2. Make a prototype
    • Test ideas with low-stakes materials (muslin, cardboard) and minimal finishing.Approach this as an artist, not as sewist! Be inventive, not a construction perfectionist.
    • The goal: a useful tool, not perfectly finished corners!
  3. Make your first version
    • This is a great opportunity to use your dyed and printed fabrics or items from the free table.
    • No need to consider something finished – keep exploring ideas through updates or new copies.
  4. Document your process
    • Keep your sketches, notes and prototypes.
    • Add notes about the materials you use, things you learned during the design and creation process, and any ideas you have for future iterations.

Example Tools

  • Needle case
  • Notions bag
  • Project bag
  • Tool bag
  • Tool belt
  • Apron
  • Sewing machine mat
  • Pincushion bracelet
  • Tool roll

Elements and Materials

  • Pockets measured to fit each tool
  • Canvas and elastic tool loops
  • Grommets for guiding yarn & thread
  • Felt for needles
  • Peltex, cardboard, felt for stiffening
  • Magnets for needles, pins, stitch markers
  • Metal sheets for magnets
  • Snap, zipper, draw string closures
  • Old bags, totes and belts

Resources

Find patterns and tutorials for similar items that you can use as a starting point and guide and then adapt and riff on.

Explore books available through the library

  • Sew What! Bags:
    18 Pattern-Free Projects You Can Customize to Fit Your Needs
  • The Bag Making Bible:
    The Complete Creative Guide to Sewing Your Own Bags
  • Sewing Terrific Totes & Carryalls:
    40 Bags for Shopping, Working, Hiking, Biking, And More
  • Simple Bags Japanese Style:
    Twenty Designs to Sew

Look for ideas and inspiration online. Find examples from other crafts and professions – woodworkers, cooks, and gardeners all have interesting options to draw from.

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