Denim Slouch Bag

I found this amazing old denim fabric in a Brocante recently.

 I was told it was used for making prison outfits but I am not sure if that is true!

It has a lovely edge when frayed but I am not sure I will leave this exposed. I will see how it develops. I want to make a big cube shaped slouchy bag.

I also found this very faded pale grey linen with adarker linen floral print. I will use this for the lining.

These old leather straps came from an old French copper crop sprayer. After a very good wash and many coats of oil they are ready to use as straps.

 

Up-cycled vintage bits

Vintage French Button Cards

I have fond childhood memories of my mother's sewing basket and in particular her tin of buttons. I came across a large tin of mixed white buttons at a French Vide Grenier recently and could not resist buying them.

I also bought a pile of old postcards and as part of the lot there were cards whose images were nothing special. But, not being one to ever throw anything away I kept them as they might come in useful one day.

One rainy Sunday I decided to combine the buttons and unwanted postcards with a pile of old 1940's French fashion magazines.

The vintage button card was born!

They looked so good all together that I even used them to wallpaper the wall of my stand at the Made by Hand show in Tradegar in December.

French Linen Dress

I have been in France for a year now and have discovered a good selection of Brocantes. On my last trip I stumbled upon this lovely bundle of old floppy linen sheets.

The texture of this old linen is amazing and the more worn it is, the softer it hangs.

Within the bundle there were also some old chemises. They were worn and had darns and patches which only added to their charm. 

I decided to dye them a soft indigo colour and I also dyed some of the sheets and some monogrammed hankies. I thought I could use these extra pieces of cloth to make repairs or alterations to the garments.

One dress had the monogram 'S' so I decided to make it for my friend Saffron.

I started by using one of the hankies to make a new square patch to echo the existing patch on the front.

This was sewn onto the dress.

The dress was quite large and an unflattering shape, so I pinned darts whist on the body to create a new shape

I decided it would work better with long sleeves so I took measurements at the wrist and existing short sleeve circumference. I then created a pattern for a slim sleeve.

I used pieces of old sheet from the same dye bath to create the sleeves.

The dress was very 'A' line and a little too long. My friend had a cotton underdress that was the right length, so, I stitched the outer linen dress to the underdress, pleating gradually all the way round. This created a puffball effect.

This is the finished dress, fantastically modeled by said friend who's name begins with 'S'.........