I was intrigued by Ellie’s bag, it looked interestingly quirky and vintage. But I could also see that it was well used and beginning to show a wee bit of wear and tear. When quizzed, Ellie told me that her aunt had made it, from a length of tweed cloth and what looked distinctly like an old fashioned lamp fringe and curtain pull cord.

My nursing instincts kicked in: could I make it better? Get it back to full strength and usefulness?

Ellie entrusted it to me and I brought it home to Tiree where I re-stitched the seams and took an invisible zigzag stitch up the delicately fraying sides, such that they retain the frayed look but the damage will go no further.

One further request was to make a new strap - the curtain cord dug into Ellie’s shoulder when the bag was full and heavy (often!). Out came my Inkle loom and I wove a good wide strap with yarn colours chosen by Ellie over a video call (one thing you can guarantee of a weaver or knitter is that they’ll have a great yarn stash - we hoard the stuff like magpies!).

I felt very honoured to have been trusted with this precious piece, and thoroughly enjoyed working on it.

“I’m just delighted to have a loved family item beautifully restored to where I can now use it daily without worry of damaging it further.” -Ellie, September, 2024