Valerean

This shabby little Vera Bradley wristlet was well-loved by the original owner, as evidenced by the amount of wear and tear. I actually love worn-out purses like this because they're fun to rehab and repurpose. The wrist strap is pretty threadbare. I want to shore up that and the weaker spots, cover the damage and turn it into a needle and scissor holder pouch. Let's see if I can. Because they are usually 100% fabric Vera Bradley purses are easy to hand sew. I found some antique lace that would suit the colors and design and starting stitching it over the areas of wear. I used strips of lace on both sides and two wee crocheted doilies over the bottom corners where the fabric had worn away. I added a few vintage buttons for fun. The rehabbed wristlet. It's not perfect, and I didn't intend for it to be. I wanted to give it a second life here in my sewing room. I'm always hunting for my embroidery scissors and yarn needles; now I know exact...

My guy wanted to stretch his legs last week, so we went to walk our local Goodwill. There was no yarn or fabric on the shelves, so I drifted back to the books, and found a brand new hardcover copy of a cookbook I wanted to give my nephew, and four paperbacks for myself. The books cost me $3.00 total -- here's my receipt. That cookbook alone retails for $28.00. When we got home my latest thrifted lot arrived. Although the package was soiled, the six Vera Bradley bags inside were none the worse for wear. These two are in brand new condition. I thrifted this lot mainly for the big solid navy purse, which I plan to use over winter. These three need a bath, but otherwise are in very good shape. This little wristlet is on the shabby side, but I'm going to rehab it in a fun way. I paid $9.99 for the bag lot, which makes each bag cost $1.66. Can't beat that price.

The thrifted Vera Bradley purse I'm presently carrying has, like the last one I patched, developed some fabric wear holes after only a month of daily use. This one has them on both sides of the purse. I think it's the cheap fabric, which seems to be deteriorating due to thinness and age (I wasn't banging the purse into anything.) My fix was a quick one -- sew two small white doilies over the wear spots to keep them from getting worse. I'll likely switch out my purse again soon and wash this one to see if the doily repair holds. I guess the fabric wear is going to be a continual challenge.

This is one of my favorite purses, whichj developed a big shreddy hole in the back side from (I assume) rubbing against things as I've used it. It's a Vera Bradley I thrifted in a huge lot last year , so I paid only about $1.47 for it. I also certainly have enough purses to just get another from my Vera stash and use it, which I did. I really like this purse, though, so I decided to repair it, launder it and use it again. Since I didn't have any scraps that match the fabric of the purse, I went with a white dotted dark blue patch that goes fine with the floral print. I pinned down the patch in a rectangle and sewed it over the hole, reinforcing the edges with a blind stitch to give it extra strength. Here's the finished mend. Holes and fraying are common problems with vintage Vera Bradley products, as the fabric and thread used to make them is extremely thin and cheap. This purse was in new condition when I began using it back seven months ago. ...

My gigantic lot of Vera Bradley bags arrived, so let's dive in and see what I got. Thirty-five different bags came in the lot, so more than I counted from the auction listing pics. I will have to look up patterns and prices, but vintage Vera Bradley bags in good condition average about $25.00 each resale on sites like Poshmark and eBay. A few that came still have their original price tags attached (this jewelry organizer cost more new than I paid for the entire lot plus shipping.) Some of the bags do need a bath, and a few will need some repairs. Remarkably most do not have any significant damage other than soiling. Abut two-thirds of the lot are in unused or brand-new condition and will just need to be laundered to get rid of the storage smell. I thought this was a child's hat. Nope, a little drawstring purse. So how much did my major Vera lot cost me? I paid $50.00 for the lot, which comes out to $1.47 per bag. I do have my work cut out for me, ...

This is another "be careful what you thrift for" cautionary tale. After having so much fun repairing and upcycling the Vera Bradley lot back in June I decided just for fun to bid on another, much larger lot. The pics in this post show all the bags included, which appear to be twenty-five to thirty, and the auction listing noted that they all have wear and are being sold as a craft lot. Wishing but knowing based on past experience that I wouldn't win it, I put in a reasonable bid. Like all the very large lots I've bid on, I was expecting to lose it to someone willing to pay more. And then? I won it -- no challengers. This will be sixteen pounds of worn, damaged Vera Bradley bags. As you can see from the pics that's alot (I do see a pricetag on one of them, and not much wear in the pics, so I think I may find some gems, too.) Yet I bid believing firmly that I wouldn't win, so I kind of deserve to get it dropped in my lap. It's unexpe...

After all the repairs and upcycles I did, my lot of Vera Bradley bags had two left, a big shoulder bag (Indigo Pop, 2012) and a duffel (still searching for the pattern name and release date), but these are in near-mint condition without any flaws. Since I think they're valuable I'll hang onto these until I can find good homes for them. I learned a lot working on this project. One: I love repairing and upcycling these bags. It's a new creative challenge every single time, and I often surprise myself with my solutions. I'm also astounded by how much these bags retail for new. This one purse was $70.00 when it came out in 2019, and the pattern is now retired, so in a few years it will probably be worth twice that. My favorite bag from the lot was the first one I worked on, and I'll tell you why: the previous owner really loved this bag, and repaired it at least once to keep using it. They taught me something new (use knit fabric for strap repair...

This gray floral purse in the retired pretty posies pattern from 2019 retailed new for $70.00. It has some slight overall fading, probably from laundering, but only one issue. The top edge of the big back pocket is showing wear, and will likely start to shred unless it's protected. I tried a couple of lace and ribbon ideas before I hit on one that worked and added some interest to the purse. A lace doily. :) For the front pocket I stitched on a quilted tag by 14carrot to add a bit of interest to the front. I think it came out neat.

In my thrifted Vera Bradley lot were two small bags that had no issues at all. I'm using the smaller wristlet bag as is as a first aid kit for my purse. The larger pink velvet bag is the perfect size to hold my crochet hooks, but it needed a little more color. I used a quilted tag made by 14carrot to embellish the bag of the bag, and then added some buttons. These small bags are very easy to sew and upcycle. I think the buttons add a little fun. And here's the back. :)

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 re...