Valerean

I thought I'd share my methods for upcycling thrifted Vera Bradley bags so that anyone else who's interested in doing the same can follow my process. A disclaimer: I paid $9.99 for this lot, and I'm only interested in making them useful and pretty again. As always any vintage textile of value (including bags) should be cleaned and repaired by an expert conservator to preserve it. The first step in my project is to clean out the bags and then give them a bath. Unless the bags have never been used I tend to find debris, dirt and random bits in the pockets left behind by the original owner. In this lot I found a tiny claw-type clip in a pocket of a purse, and a key chain with a fabric fish on it attached to the strap hardware on another. After they get a bath I'll reuse those, too. To launder the bags, I secure all the loose straps or elements with safety pins and group them in colors for washing: all reds and pinks, all blues and greens, lights or darks, ...

Since I didn't win any of the last Vera Bradley Wannabuts, I found three more lots to bid on. To remind you of the purpose, I want to repair and restore these bags (which is fun for me) and then donate the ones I can't use to a local church thrift store -- but only if I can get the lot for my minimum bid. This one is a huge craft/repair lot, but because of the number of items I probably won't get this one. This one appealed to me because of the colors and variety. I also think it would be fun to rehab some smaller items. This lot has a lot of colors and styles that I don't currently have, so I bid on this one, too. Stay tuned to see if I win any of these.

Now that I've cleaned this first group of five bags and wallets from my big thrifted Vera Bradley lot, let's see what shape they're in. This matching wallet and bag in the retired Blanco Bouquet pattern have no damage and thus need no repairs. Although I've heard the pattern is rare I found a similar set on Poshmark selling for $30.00. They're in like-new condition, and since I wear a lot of black in the winter I'm going to keep them for me. This small purse and wallet are in good condition; they're going in the donation bag for our local church thrift store. This purse is one I'll be upcycling before I donate or gift it. The edge of the front pocket is completely frayed. There are a couple of wear spots on the bottom left and right. The strap is also heavily frayed. I'm going to think about how I want to remake this purse, and then I'll bring you along in another post as I do.

To make the lap quilt out of my old t-shirts I had to cut all the fabric into rectangles. I decided to save the graphics from each t-shirt and put one in every row. Knit fabric is very difficult to sew on a domestic machine. It's almost as troublesome as linen, but instead of moving it stretches and rolls. I did a lot of pinning. Here's the finished quilt top. It's not perfect, but I think it came out better than I expected.

To turn old t-shirts into quilting material you have to deconstruct them. I have never paid much attention to garments made of knit fabric, and quickly learned that the humble t-shirt is really a neat garment. When you cut off the hem, collar, shoulder seams and sleeves you're left with a seamless tube. When you cut that apart to lay flat you actually get a huge piece of fabric. I ignored the book instructions and cut all my deconstructed tees into two pieces so they would be easier to handle. I also want to play with placement because I'm using several different colors besides white. Next step is to cut them down to the size I want for piecing.

For my art quilter's bingo lap quilt space I decided to use a throw project from Maya Donenfeld's Reinvention , which has a bunch of ideas of how to use rescued materials to make things. This barn throw is made from a thrifted bed sheet and old t-shirts. It's easy to thrift a queen size flat sheet for a couple of bucks; I found a nice gray cotton sheet with white pin stripes at our local Goodwill (far right.) From my closet I took a bunch of t-shirts that have become too tattered for me to wear anymore. I've never made a quilt from t-shirt material, either, so the project appealed to me as something new to learn as well as a way to reuse my old clothing. Stay tuned to the blog to see how this project progresses.