working with white

I've been working on a modified tote bag design for the past week. I wanted to incorporate a quilted design in the tote bags. I finally finished the prototype, and it turned out exactly how I imagined it would (how often does that happen?). I love how the little bit of white shows up in some of the hot pink and orange pieces. And of course, my photography does not do the colors justice. I'm just too lazy to do a ton of color correction for the blog.

But I made a discovery - I hate working with white t-shirts. For some reason, even if they're brand new, the coloring occasionally looks dirty to me. Which then works to drive me insane as I try to clean it. So from now on, white won't be used as my main color throughout one of these bags; I'll use it more sparingly.

My next idea? Entire quilted front side. I'm not sure of the color combination just yet, but I'm sure I'll get ideas as I go through my shirts (feel free to make color combination suggestions in my comments section). I plan to start listing these bags in my Etsy shop next week.

Tiger the caterpillar is doing well. Last Wednesday he built his cocoon and has been still ever since. I can see through his webbing a bit, and can see some color changing. I have no idea how long it'll take him to hatch. And if you know me, you know I'm checking the jar 100 times a day.