Toots Totes
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Sustainability

16/3/2023

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Now SOLD
​I'm trying to do my bit in the quest for more sustainable living. I seek out sad wicker baskets that I can clean up, refurbish and pretty up with a lovely lining. The latest was a little big to use as a handbag, so I decided to make it into  a sewing basket.
I used some preloved William Morris  "Briarwood" fabric and with padding and pockets a-plenty, I think it works quite well.
I will be taking it to the Vintage Day Out in July, but it is listed on Etsy if you'd like to purchase it first!
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Blossom

16/3/2023

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A perfect title for this time of year! I haven't made a Toots Totes "Blossom" for quite a while but it seemed to me to be a perfect design for the upcoming Vintage Day Out.
The first one, made with some delightful floral handles and a pretty floral lining, sold in a flash when I posted it on Facebook, so I've made another! 
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A vintage button of course!
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The straps had to be sewn on after the bag was made as attaching them before would have made sewing the lining in impossible. Luckily they supply these extra little fobs to disguise the stitching!
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Back view
The second one involved some piping around the top band. I won't be doing that again-it was soooo fiddly! But the end result is pretty but smart, don't you think?  It had to have red leather handles and a red vintage button finished it off nicely!
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Vintage makes

16/3/2023

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I'm having great fun sourcing vintage and vintage style fabrics for the upcoming Vintage Day Out. It's the perfect excuse to buy and those of you who are fabric addicts will know what I mean!
Jacqueline Fleming, an expert and very knowledgeable vintage fabric stockist based in Woodbridge, who supplied some wonderful complementary pieces when I was working with Henry Moore designed fabrics, found these beautiful kitsch kittens for me.
I used the 1952 Vogue pattern to make a Toots Totes "Daphne" bag and I'm rather pleased with the result!
​The lining is a pretty floral cotton that adds to the vintage feel and I added modern haberdashery to make it more user friendly.
I had a lovely pink leather strap, which co-ordinated well, that came from Ukraine with some others, at the beginning of the conflict. They took a while to reach me but it felt good to have gone a little way to helping support a small business to keep trading in such difficult times.
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I had thought about adding a big pink bow to the flap for additional kitsch value, but a straw poll on social media quashed that idea! And I think they were right-it was a step too far.
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A Vintage Day Out Essex

16/3/2023

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1 JUL & 2 JUL AT 10:30 – 16.00  A Vintage Day Out Essex
Event by Helen Rollason Cancer Charity
Cressing Temple Barns and Gardens

So pleased to be selling at this event this year!
​Please put the dates in your diary and come and say hello!
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    Author

    Hello, I'm Ruth Overton. My nickname as a child was 'Ruthie Toots' which is how the name 
    Toots Totes'
    came about!
    I come from a family of artists and artisans and the creative gene has resulted in a desire to make stuff. There's nothing I love more, than to sit at my old treadle  machine, sewing. It was handed down to me, through the family having been bought by my Grandad for Grandma in the 1930's. (See my blogs about the machine here.)
    More recently I have turned my attention to designing and creating bags and 'Toots Totes' began. 
    I'm going to blog about how ideas for bags come about and how things happen in the sewing room, so join me there if you want to, or bypass this to go to the Shop or the gallery, if you prefer - I won't mind!

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