For my first Vera Bradley upcycle project I'll start with this much loved tote in the retired Minsk Plaid pattern from 2012. It arrived with signs that it was used for quite some time and even repaired by the previous owner, which made me very happy. I like to think that person liked to mend things like me rather than buy new -- or maybe it was a thrifter who found it before me.
The solid black fabric on the handle straps was added to cover wear and tears, just as I repaired another Vera bag with the same problem back in April. To prevent the straps from becoming too thick from my planned repair I'll first remove the old repair.
That was actually really hard to remove, it was applied so well with hundreds of tiny machine stitches -- took me about an hour with a seam ripper. With that removed, you can see what the person who repaired the bag before me tried to cover up -- a lot of strap wear.
I went to my scrap bin in search of a black solid I could use to repeat the strap repair, and found part of a black t-shirt. Since the previous repair was made with a knit black fabric, I decided to try that myself.
Worked great. The repaired areas on the straps are also more flexible than they would have been with a quilting cotton or broadcloth.
The toggle for the tote was missing, and the attachment strap for it was torn, so I trimmed that off. I did some research and found out that the original toggle was a faux tortoiseshell, which I didn't care for. Since I didn't have any black toggles in my button stash, I found a big black art deco style button that fit the fastener and suited the design.
That worked fine.
While looking for another wear spots I found a bit more at the base of the straps on one side, so I used a bit of organza lace to cover those sections. That allowed the pattern to show through while covering and protecting the worn spots.
The finished tote. I'm pleased with how it turned it, and I'll be keeping this one to use myself.
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