A old and soft linen tea towel and a cross-stitched rosy doily, both costing just a few dollars each, have been re-purposed into a sweet little drawstring bag.
A sweet bag made with re-purposed linens.
I had been wanting to sew a bag like this one ever since I came across Jude Van Heel's easy instructions in an issue of Grass Roots magazine (No. 244 Dec/Jan 2017/18). I found these beautiful linens quite a while ago and finally sewed them up in a project that took less than an hour to make. 💗
A vintage doily to decorate an old towel.
The colours in the rosy doily, the pinks and the browns and the greens, match in with the stripes of the tea towel so I think they go together quite well.
Simple stitches sew the doily onto the tea towel.
Sewing the doily onto the tea towel was very easy. I used simple running stitches, sewing in and out of the little holes of the doily, all the way around until it was secure. Then it was just a matter of sewing up one side and across the bottom of the folded tea towel to form the bag. A simple casing at the top, leaving room for a drawstring to run through it, and it was time for a ribbon. A lovely long blue satin ribbon, that came tied around a recent birthday gift, was perfect and so it was reused as the drawstring to finish off this sweet and simple project.
A satiny ribbon for a drawstring.
A tea towel drawstring bag like this could be used as a project bag, to hold a knitting or stitching project, or as an alternative to wrapping paper. Ours will be used to hold the gentle goat milk soaps we have collected to give to a special Grandma celebrating a birthday not far away.
What have you been making lately?
Meg
p.s. You can visit Jude Van Heel, who lives in a sweet cottage in Tasmania, at Instagram: @fairywrencottage
I love it Meg, and I'm sure Grandma will too.
ReplyDeleteWhen you make you casing for the drawstring, do you finish the edge where you snip a slot to thread your ribbon through?
No snipping required, Cheryl. Jude's instructions are just to simply fold the top edge of the bag down around 5cm (to the wrong side) so and stitch down leaving an unstitched gap of about 3-4cm at the back on the right hand side. Then simply attach a safety pin to one end of the ribbon and feed it through that gap. Hope that makes sense. Meg:)
DeleteThat is beautiful and so easy. I keep my sewing projects for the winter as I'm too busy in the summer. I made a back pack last winter and have plans for a teddy from grand-daughter's outgrown babygro.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jan! I am really pleased with how it turned out, particularly the colours of the two linens together. I think Winter is a lovely time to make things, warm inside with a little project to do. A teddy sounds like a great idea to repurpose a babygro, so clever! Meg:)
DeleteI love tea towel bags, I have a pile of tea towels, I pick them up when I can.
ReplyDeleteI keep my eye out for old, soft and worn linen tea towels too, Marlene. I love stitching on old linen and making things with the fabrics. Meg:)
DeleteThat is lovely. It would also be perfect as a project bag for a pair of hand knit socks. (I'm working on a pair right now.) It looks so vintage. Your idea of using it for soaps as a gift is so thoughtful. I just made a batch of shea butter goat's milk soap yesterday. I never thought of using a bag like that to wrap it. Thanks for the clever idea!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stephenie. I think little bags like these are perfect for gifting all kinds of little things and they are very inexpensive to make if you source materials from op-shops. Isn't goats milk soap so gentle. Our lovely Grandma's skin reacts badly to harsher soaps so we always include goats milk soap in her birthday gift. Meg:)
DeleteHow pretty and so easy, Meg. I love the use of the doily on the bag. I am not sewing much here as we are dealing with tradies at the moment and planning renos. A bit of an upheaval.
ReplyDeleteI think it's lovely to be able to make a feature out of beautiful old handwork, Chel. Hope your reno isn't causing to much chaos, though I am sure you are looking forward to the end result. Meg ☺
DeleteThis is really lovely and super simple to do to.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kathy. It was a really easy little project. Meg:)
DeleteHi Meg,
ReplyDeleteThat bag is really lovely❤️I rode down to the op shop last Saturday and bought two pairs of soft, larger sized pyjama pants, I am going to re purpose them into dog coats for our little fluffies. I will take a patten off one of the old ones they
Are currently wearing, it’s a really good design, like a horse blanket but in minature. Have a lovely day, Fi
Thanks, Fi. Good idea to repurpose fabric for you dogs' coats. It's a frugal way to source material. Meg☺
DeleteIt's gorgeous and I love how you've matched the colours. X
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jules. I am really happy with how it turned out. Meg☺
DeleteThat's so sweet and great use of old linen. My latest creation is a little dinosaur, filled with brown rice so that it can be a warm comfort for a 2 yr old.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure your dinosaur will make a lovely "friend" for a little person, Anne. Meg:)
DeleteThat is a great way to make something useful from tea towels brought as gifts when my friends have been abroad... they must think I like drying dishes :-)
ReplyDelete