Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Upcycled bags

A friend bought a 'Grenfell' coat at a thrift store. These coats were, and probably still are,made in Newfoundland. They are made from blanket weight wool and embroidered with motifs, most commonly, eskimos. She gave me some of the wool when she took apart the coat. I decided that this was too heavy for hooking. After a while of dwelling on the material, I figured a purse would be nice made from it. Keeping the embroidery intact (I don't know the name of the crafter who embroidered it), I cut out the pieces for the purse, lined it with satin lining from a sports jacket that I had taken apart,(complete with a cellphone pocket inside) and added a recycled leather belt for the strap. Here is the result
Seeing I was in a crafting mood, I then took a sweater that I had felted, lined it with a printed cotton fabric, added a pocket outside for a cellphone or keys and added a set of wooden handles (recycled too, of course) and another purse was born. Here is the end result.....
All in all a very productive few days. Now that the Forests Secrets rug challenge is finished, I have started a new rug. This one is a Jane McGown Flynn pattern called 'Crewel Allure' I purchased this pattern that was printed on burlap from a lady that was selling off pieces from an estate sale. Will show some pictures of progress in next post. Happy Hooking .................. and crafting. Melaine

2 comments:

  1. Melaine,
    Great bags. Very creative re-use. I'm sure you will get lots of compliments on your new arm candy.

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  2. Thanks Kim. I just love recycling. I guess that is why I love rughooking! I have been recycling since I was a child. Our Dad used to bring up for a drive down the highway on his day off. He would drive slowly down the shoulder of the road and we would walk along and pick up pop bottles that we would bring to the local store for refunds. My first foray into recycling. Great memories for sure.

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