I needed something to keep my various sample pieces in one place, and that I would know without much head scratching or searching around for any particular piece of work. Of course, I would need to not misplace this folder too!

I had a fabric tote bag that had become a little frayed at the edges of the straps; the pieces of tweed used to make the bag were fine, with no damage or fraying. The bag just needed a wash.

The bag had been a Christmas present to me from my daughter several years ago, and I used it daily. I am not a ‘bag’ person, that is, having a bag for every and any social occasion, or day of the week for that matter. This bag was made at Garvald Textiles, this is a textile studio offering creative opportunities for adults with various learning disabilities, and the studio sells many of the items made by the artists there. My daughter worked for this registered charity in Edinburgh when she lived there some years ago, and much of her present buying that year was made from this source. Leonor may be aware of them, I think she lives in Edinburgh? Photo of the label attached, and remaining leftover bag pieces.

I have made another bag for myself from scrap pieces of tweed fabric bought when I visited Harris in the Western Isles.

To make the folder, I cut the body of the bag into smaller pieces and the stitched them onto a shaped piece of spare calico. I was hoping that I would have enough squares, but I did use another spare piece of tweed to complement the colours. I used my sewing machine to zig zag each piece together onto the calico. The size I was aiming for was an open A4 folder.

For the inside I choose to use up many small pieces of fabric, and to quilt them on to another piece of calico using a ‘crazy’ quilting theme, and also using hand stitching/embroidery. I embellished some pieces with embroidery, a piece of lace, a crinoline lady, and a couple of heart shaped pieces of fabric. I had 2 vintage hankies, and these I folded into ‘butterfly’ shapes and stitched them down

Both the inside and outside were completed separately, and then stitched together, inside out, before turning the right way out and securing the opening. I did think of adding some bias binding to the outside edge, but in the end I just stitched all around the edge with a blanket stitch.

I added a few felted leaves to the front of the folder, I had made these ?last year, and I think they complete the folder front very nicely. I added 2 pieces of ribbon to use for closure, but I will review this in time for my next post, and I will add some ‘pages’ to my folder to attach my work to.

I am very happy with this piece. I have reused some items, and other pieces I used were already in my fabric scrap box.