sewing, but different

 So this is what I've shoved my current quilt top aside to do: preparation for the field part of the research, IF it ever cools down enough for me to dig some shallow trenches without dying

These are the mesh bags. It is that nylon netting material (sometimes used for cheap bridal veils, or, I remember a time when there was a fad to use it to make 'swans" over styrofoam forms for....I guess for decoration? I don't know. I had a purple swan years and years ago, I don't remember where it came from.

It's not pleasant to work with BUT the holes are just over 1 mm in size, so big enough to admit the soil invertebrates I want to study while (hopefully) not being so large I lose a lot of the leaf litter.

I am making 120 of these. The tracing paper I bought will fit 6, with a little offcut, so I drew 4 1/2 by 4 1/2 squares (to allow for a 1/4 inch seam allowance on either side) on these. The red thread was a last minute thought - they don't have to be PRETTY, so why not pick a color I can see easily? And I wanted to think about a "better" needle than the typical size 14s I use for quilt tops.

Fortunately, Friday afternoon, the quilt shop was still open (they close at 4 pm) when I thought of this, so I went out there. They advised me to use an "embroidery" needle (which I bought), which I guess are a bit thinner. And I bought a red thread. I probably had one somewhere at home but it gave the shop a tiny bit more business and saved me having to hunt for it.

It's a little tedious, if it's all straight seams. I can do the long sides in one continuous seam, just lifting the needle to "jump the gaps" and then I do the two crosswise seams.

Then the really tedious part is pulling off the paper (which you PROBABLY need to do, it's cellulose and could mess up the attraction/consumption of the actual litter) and then cutting the bags apart.

I decided to use my kitchen shears - I cut before removing the paper and I didn't want to dull my sewing shears.

And this is what you get

I did one set of six Friday afternoon as a test, and then sewed up a bunch more. I think I have 30 left to do - I worked on it Sunday afternoon until I was thoroughly sick of it.

I need to do more but it's SO hot and that room only has one air con vent, and it gets really warm at the end of the day. I might stay home tomorrow and finish them in the morning.

the one thing I'm stuck on is how to close them up once I've weighed out the dry litter and put it in them; I don't want to staple them shut (ideally, I would like these to be reusable? Maybe?). Hand sewing them closed would be way too tedious. I don't want to use twist ties or anything like that.

I'm leaning towards pins, though I'm afraid those will rust. At any rate - I'll have to think on it more. Maybe get plastic coated fine wire and use that like a twist tie? 

But I'll be glad to finish these and get my sewing machine back for quilt making.