Creative Fabrics & Notions

Fabric and quilt stores are not the only places to find really nice, high quality fabrics, handbag hardware, and sewing notions.  Garage sales, estate sales and thrift shops are are a girl’s best budget friend.  Here is a short list of things you can find:

Old or Broken and Outdated Purses, Handbags and Gym Bags

What to look for:  good hardware that you can take apart and reuse, straps, reusable snaps, decorative pieces, zipper pulls, zippers, canvas for linings, good bag linings that can be reused, leather or faux leather pockets.

Outdated Men’s Leather Jackets/Faux Leather Jackets

There is usually enough leather on a large man’s jacket to make a nice purse, tote, or bag.  Carefully cut off any sewn areas and salvage large pieces of the leather and the lining.  Also, save the buttons, and zippers if there are any zippers.

Linens (Sheets, Pillowcases)

Use for linings, baby clothes (Christening gowns), gift bags, and any other project that calls for a delicate fabric.  Look for lacy or handworked or machine embroidery pieces to sew special gifts.

Outdated Wedding Dresses

Use for charity projects, such as making burial gowns for infants, create beautiful bridal bags, reuse beading and tulle, strip the lace for projects, and use for bag linings.  You can also make special bridal pillowcases for the bride  to use the night before her wedding day (silk pillowcases keep your hair nice and neat!) or a gift for a friend in the hospital.

Tablecloths

Rather than purchasing oilcloth (which is a plastic coated fabric used for lunch totes, lunch tote linings, etc.), pick these up for pennies!  They are usually large enough to cover a large dining room table, so there is a lot of fabric in one large piece.

Curtains

High quality curtains (especially) custom made curtains, can be cut up and unhemmed with plenty of fine materials for creating nice bags, pillows, smaller curtains, or cushion covers.  Don’t overlook the outdated prints, because those can be used as linings or making “fittings” (a practice run on a project you intend to make with some expensive store fabrics).

Old Uniforms

Lots of uniforms come with decorative pins, hardware, and fobs that can be taken apart and used on other projects.  Old military uniforms make beautiful and sturdy duffle bags, travel bags, and purses.  This type of canvas lasts many years.  Make sure that if you are using military wear, remove ALL stripes, pins, badges, etc. out of respect to the person who owned the uniform.  Also remove any identification of the branch of service—what you want is the fabric—not the identity (please be respectful). 

Old Sweaters

Make your special pooch a warm sweater using old (people) sweaters.  Free patterns can be found online.  Be careful about particular sweaters that have a high tendency to ravel.  You can also cut these up and hand “knit” them together with a needle and thread to make patchwork blankets.  (I may have to make one of these myself!)

Fleece Blankets/Old Quilts

Use these (instead of batting) to make baby quilts.  Make sure you have them cleaned well and that they are in reasonably good condition. 

Old/Outdated Clothing

What to look for:  nice buttons, zippers in good condition, reusable pockets, nice trim, etc.

Prom Dresses/Bridal Wear

Cut up and use for linings for all types of bags.  Either silk, brocade or polyester works great for linings.  These items also make beautiful remade bridal bags using metal bag frames.  Reuse any decorative accents on these dresses, also, such as beading, zippers, rosettes, etc.  Here is a link with a beautiful metal frame bag:

www.pinterest.com/pin/545076361124332086

Decorator Fabric/Decorator Swatches/Decorator Placemats

Decorator fabric is a heavy duty fabric such as that used on upholstered furniture and pillows.  Swatches come in large pieces and are sometimes freebies. These can be used for bags, and metal frame clutches as well.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/80849611/coin-purse-sakura-chrysanthemum-cotton?ref=market

Jewelry Finds (broken and not broken)

Jewelry and trinkets can be used for pretty zipper pulls for cosmetic bag zippers, jacket zippers, etc.  Here’s a great link to show you how to use jump rings, tools and jewelry finds to create beautiful and decorative detail to your sewing projects:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-open-and-close-jump-rings

Be creative!

If you have some great ideas about fabric and notion finds, please email me at beaserbags@gmail.com.  I would love to hear from you.