Knitting bag style update

Years ago, I was gifted some fabric, yarn and notions by Andrew’s granny. She had worked in a haberdashery, inside a department store, in the 1960s. As I’m sure many in our crafting community can empathise, she would bring home fabric and notions, stashing them away for future projects. In her latter years, she gifted some of these items to me and I was very grateful to receive such a beautiful array of vintage yarns and material.

She very kindly gifted me this large drawstring project bag. I loved the terracotta orange brown fabric, with its silky feel and quilted design. The bag was a decent size, large enough for a sweater knitting project. The drawstrings felt chunky and substantial and the overall feel of the bag was something high quality and luxurious.

Except for the lining. The lining was a sad, beige, plastic affair. It was in fairly rough shape when it came to me, with some minor holes. I then sewed through part of the bag, in a failed experiment to insert a drawstring bag into a Sierra Tote. Once this project had been rejected and picked apart, the quilted fabric was left with a row of tiny little pinprick holes. This isn’t ideal but it’s also not a deal-breaker, the fabric is forgiving enough for the holes to be almost invisible.

Not so in the lining sadly. The puncture holes left behind by my stitches, ripped open into a large gaping hole in the lining. Into this hole, scissors, knitting needles and stitch markers would disappear. I kept thinking about repairing the hole, but the horrid plastic lining put me right off. Then one day, a light bulb moment occurred. “Why don’t I just replace the whole lining?” I thought. I had recently been gifted some vintage kimono silk fabric and felt that material would be the perfect luxurious replacement lining

I unpicked the stitches along the drawstring channel, which held the lining and drawstring in place. Once the lining was out, I separated it and used the individual parts as pattern pieces. After perusing my vintage kimono silks, I chose this orange print silk. I thought the bright orange lining would be a nice contrast to the more muted terracotta outer fabric, whilst still coordinating with the overall colour family.

I cut two identical rectangles for the sides and an oval for the base. The two rectangles were sewn right sides together down the long sides, the seams pressed open and the oval base inserted into one end.

Once the new lining was prepared, I initially tried to machine stitch it into place. It was really difficult to line up the stitching on the outer fabric, which would be the new drawstring channel, with the top of the lining, in a neat manner. I didn’t want the stitches visible on the inside to be wandering all over the place. Those details are what mark an item as being ‘home made’ as opposed to ‘hand made’, Becky HomeEcky as opposed to upgraded luxury. Ultimately, the machine sewn finish was all over the place and I wasn’t happy with the lack of neatness. Out came the seam ripper and the hand sewing needle. I machine sewed the drawstring channel and hand sewed the lining. Two episodes of the Mandalorian later and my new lining was in place.

I added a new Craft & Thrift label, made from recycled cork fabric, alongside the original Vagabond label. I like the nod to the new life given to this bag, in the form of the Craft & Thrift logo, whilst acknowledging the history of the bag, in the form of the Vagabond label.

I really love the final product! It feels high value and luxurious, compared with its sad beige plastic counterpart. I’ve given the bag a new lease of life, where before it was potentially reaching the end of its lifespan. It feels in keeping with my views on sustainability, to reuse and upcycle rather than buying new. A quick and easy project, with a disproportionately positive outcome for the amount of energy input!