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...

I want to use the rectangular blue basket I thrifted as a project bin, but the interior is a bit rough and would likely snag things. I went digging in my quilted pieces stash and found this vintage pillow sham that I've always wanted to use for something, and decided to make that the liner. I folded the sham first and pinned it in place to see if it would work with some tailoring. It's a bit thick, but I like the combination. I cut and sewed the sham into a basket liner. It's not perfect, but it was hard just getting through my heavy-duty sewing machine. Using a very long upholstery needle, I sewed the liner to the basket. I could have hot-glued it, but I prefer to be able to remove and launder the liner (so I used big, loose stitches that I can cut when I do that.) The finished basket. This is perfect as a bin for small crochet projects. Very happy with how it turned out.

For my calendar project tote in March I'm set on a theme of green via repurposing. I'm going to try to use only vintage or thrifted fabrics for the patchwork that were originally something else. My first two candidates are this tablecloth and curtain, both of which I thrifted last year. The green fabric I thrifted doesn't quite go with either of the repurposing pieces, so I might save that for something else. The tablecloth is really interesting -- probably from the seventies -- and I don't think I have the heart to cut it up (it fits my kitchen table, so maybe I'll use it for that this summer.) I have no problem cutting up this pretty curtain, so this will be my primary fabric. I found an old Bath & Body Works tote in my stash that I can also repurpose as the foundation for the tote. The first step is to rip the seams so I can get it to lay flat and see how much fabric I'll need to cover it. It's not gigantic, but I can ma...