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Just to let you know that some of my makes are now on a brand new ethical online marketplace called MyFlairUK. Check them out at www.myflair.uk. Makers are gradually adding more items so be sure to go back several times to see what's on offer during the next few months especially if you're keen to support small businesses in the UK. Thanks! x 
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I wanted to make something different so looked out the sari ribbons that I'd had waiting for a special project. These are a bi-product of sari making, the silk being torn into strips and knotted together into a continuous yarn for crafters like me to use! I found my fattest knitting needles and soon had an interesting looking rectangle to fashion into a 'Violet' bag. I decided to pull all the knots to the right side for additional texture and to use a pink dupion silk as a smooth lining. I topped it off with lovely purple leather handles, and a pink button and loop fastening, which makes a great fusion of totally boho and cute chic, I think.
 Whilst I'd been routing around for sari ribbons I came across another ball of soft woolly yarn, just enough to make a little 'Nigella' pocket bag. I lined it with a vibrant cotton and added a lovely red leather cross body strap and a magnetic fastener. A vintage button in just the right colours tops it off and It has Just enough room for a phone, bank card and keys (and the necessities for a dog walk if you like!!)
I make no excuses for not having visited this page for so long, but I thought it about time I gave a quick update and show you what I've made since the beginning of the year. Two lovely ladies sadly left the team that I used to work with, however I was delighted and honoured to be asked to make a part of their leaving gifts.
Both were made to the same pattern - my 'Rosa' design, but look what a difference the choice of fabric makes! This design has become a favourite to make and receive it seems! Let me know if you'd like one in your own choice of fabric.
Having ordered more fabric from my favourite designer Heather Moore at Skinny laminx, it arrived within 4 days all the way from South Africa, and I set about turning it into yet another 'Rosa'. It makes a lovely summery bag, don't you think? Still available at £80 (inc p+p within UK) Contact me if you're interested in purchasing.
All now SOLD Keen to use every scrap of Emma Bridgewater fabric I had. (All NEW fabrics here!) I've been making some cute little purses. Let me know if you'd like one: sizes and prices below the pics!
UPDATE: Both now SOLD With the Emma Bridgewater fabric being oh so popular I was on a mission to find some more. Frustratingly it was very difficult to find and the smallest pieces were going for mega-bucks! Then I chanced on a cushion cover that had used a whole width of the fabric, so a massive cushion and lots of fabric for me to re-purpose. (Who needs another cushion when you can have a unique Tansy Tote?) I checked with the seller that it was in good order and purchased it at a fair price. I was a little caught out as there were some marks along the bottom I couldn't wash out, but I cut them off and there was still plenty left to make two Tansy totes. With a soft wadding and plastic reinforced base to give some substance, leather handles and lovely purple or pink spotted cotton lining, they were great fun to make! The pink version has an additional feature of the design details down the side and shows no obvious signs of its previous incarnation as a cushion cover. Please note that the purple version has some stitching lines from it’s previous incarnation as a cushion, (e.g. see pic , running from cats ear upwards, which also extends down the side to the base). It doesn't spoil the overall look of the bag and if that doesn’t bother you and you’d like to add one to your collection or tick someone off your gift list, please message me below for more pics or to purchase: 👛£60 (inc UK p+p) 👛 Click on pics to see whole picture. With the pandemic came...retirement! I finally decided that to keep my sanity, one less stress might help! I'll miss my work colleagues, helping them problem solve and knowing what they're up to in their stalwart and very brave efforts to meet the challenges the NHS now faces, but I won't miss getting up early, sitting staring at a screen and office politics! AND of course I now have more time for my garden and making all you lovelies out there the bags you ask for! Another colleague made the same decision, at the same time and our team, unable to give us the usual sort of send off with 40+ people wanting to attend a farewell party, came up trumps with a lovely tea, huge bouquets, bunting and balloons and lovely gifts which they brought to my back garden! So we had just a small gathering to keep within the guidelines, but it was a very lovely afternoon, all the same! Here are a few pics to show you how it was! (Click on a pic to enlarge.) The Emma Bridgewater fabric has been so popular! I've now made four 'Rosa' bags and a little backpack and have just a shelf and a half of the 'dresser' fabric left! Also lots of little bits and pieces, which will make lovely little 'Zinnia' zipped top purses. So keep your eye on my Instagram account where they will gradually be revealed! Sourcing more of the elusive discontinued fabric has taken up quite a bit of time-there's none to be found unless you can pay mega-bucks to secure it, but I have picked up a cushion cover which I'm hoping will arrive in good condition. I felt quite smug as no other Emma Bridgewater fans had spotted it, so it came at a reasonable price and it will make a lovely bag!
As one who tends to make things up as I go along, I was rather intrigued to try out this genuinely vintage Vogue pattern from 1952. I chose a beautiful barkcloth for the outer and a sumptuous 'Daisy Chain' Pat Albeck print. Mixing up the decades a bit but a lovely combination for a retro bag, don't you think?
I must say it was a bit fiddly to make as the flap was integral to the back piece. I think I might try tweaking the pattern for next time, as I like the general shape. I'll make it with a separate flap that I attach with its lining already in place as I do with my "Marigold" bag. Not so much in Vogue as in progress, I'd say! Come back for an update...
Apologies for the seeming silence! I have no excuse and I won't mention the unmentionable other than to say I have had a little more time in the Sewing Room recently! And after posting one "Rosa" tote made from an Emma Bridgewater fabric, called 'Dresser' on social media I had orders for two more and another who will give her husband a nudge for her birthday!
The first was made in the duck egg green colourway and I literally had only one shelf width to play with, so I married it up with a jolly stripe and pink handles, which worked really well. I've also taken to adding a zipped top for better security. My early "Rosa's" were open topped.
Having already accepted a commission for another bag I then discovered that the fabric had been discontinued! I finally found it in a yellow colourway and luckily the lovely client preferred this to the original. When I offered a selection of fabrics for the lining she chose a yellow and blue chicken design, which was a no-brainer really as she hires out egg hatching incubators to schools. It was a truly fun bag to make!
The third will also have the chicken theme and will eventually find its way to Australia! The young lady apparently likes yellow, turquoise and chickens, so I think this will fit the bill!
(Bill? Chicken? Get it? Oh ok!) I spied an amazing book of craft card in a superb variety of colours that I had to buy from Lidl (as you do!) I knew exactly what I was going to do with it.  I rarely throw any of the by-products from my sewing away. Wadding goes to a toy maker, tiny fabric scraps go into a bag for school collage. Small useful offcuts go into my scrap box for purse linings or badges or in this case Christmas cards!  Great fun was had over a couple of evenings putting them together. Luckily I had a clear drying Pritt all-purpose glue, which when sparingly spread didn’t soak through and when dry worked like cement!  I soon realised that a smaller card was aesthetically more pleasing. The fabric prints lent themselves to a diminutive look. So just a quarter of a sheet of card was used on each one. Once I'd bought envelopes they cost about 20p per card, which I don’t think, is too bad, for something a bit different, even if, try as I might, I can't even think of a tenuous link between fabric cards and the Christmas message can you? Answers on a postcard or a Christmas card if you like!
And then I made some sets of badges as gifts and mounted those onto strips of fabric stuck to a luggage label quite a few of which were given to me from an office clearout for nuppence! Yay! Needless to say I've left publishing this post until this week so as not to show them before they're sent out!
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Hello, I'm Ruth Overton. My nickname as a child was 'Ruthie Toots' which is how the name Archives
March 2022
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