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Time and motion...

24/7/2016

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Having completed a time and motion study (well I kept a log of how long it took me!) and found if I made two at a time I saved two hours, I'm now making five all in one go! Not sure if the time saving will multiply, but I quite like working each one up to the same point. It keeps you focused! Come back when I've hand sewn the 10 leather handles in place and see if I feel the same!!
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More Henry Moore!

19/7/2016

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I've been asked to make more exclusive Henry Moore fabric bags, as the Henry Moore Foundation are selling out! All different, of course, so once again I relish the challenge of finding just the right combinations of fabrics and haberdashery! Here's one I made earlier!
Picture features 'Safety Pins' fabric image reproduced by permission of the
Henry Moore Foundation.


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A short(s) interlude...something useful!

13/7/2016

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I can't resist a challenge and my bro'-in-law needed a man-bag! His beloved camouflage shorts really were past it but those lovely pockets deserved a new life! So I turned this...
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Sad so sad...
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well ripped
into this....
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Salvaged a bit from the torn side to make a smaller bag
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The waistband became a strap and green ticking made an ideal lining.
And if you look carefully you can see that the seemingly random camo patterns are actually roses! There is beauty in the most unexpected places-you just have to look for it!
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Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. William Morris

10/7/2016

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Strawberry thief
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Golden Lily
William Morris's beautiful floral designs are as fresh and contemporary as they were in the 1880's.
I am very pleased to say that I had a most positive response from the William Morris Gallery who have ordered twenty bespoke items as a Christmas range.
​I already have a couple of fabric pieces to start on - so to work - no time to shirk - I need to make something useful and beautiful by late November! 
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Crysanthemum
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Henry Moore Textiles fashioned by Toots Totes

1/7/2016

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Well, here at last, we have the completed handbags!
The team at The Henry Moore Foundation put a lot of careful thought into the combinations of fabrics and haberdashery they chose from my selection.
I took two sample bags with that boho striped top and the sooo smart tweedy top,
lots of different fabric top bands,
four colours of leather handle and
the lovely vintage buttons I recently acquired for this project.
Lots of mixing and matching ensued until a consensus was reached and these five designs were chosen. Which is your favourite?
Pictures feature Henry Moore 'Heads' and 'Safety Pins' fabrics
and are reproduced by permission of the Henry Moore Foundation.

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1.) Henry Moore 'Heads' fabric teamed with a boho striped woven fabric.
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Beautiful red silk lining.
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Vintage button
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Leather handles
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2.) Henry Moore 'safety pins' fabric, with woven tweed top band.
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Vibrant green dupion silk lining
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Vintage swirly green button
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Matching green leather handles.
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3.) Chunky hopsack band with black handles and textured button.The plain colour sets off the 'Heads' fabric well.
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4.) All the greens! With a linen top.
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5.) Keeping with the green linen theme but making a statement contrast with blue leather handles and vintage button.
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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 store or the gallery, if you prefer - I won't mind!

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