Wednesday, December 8, 2010

A thrifted rescue project

A trip to Goodwill on Saturday yielded some fun results (also, this creepy head which you already saw if you follow me on twitter) like this travel bag.


I house-sit a ton and packing up all my toiletries takes 3 bags. Yes it really takes that much to make me beautiful! Ha ha, actually I am usually gone so long everything I take has to be full size and that stuff will not fit in a tiny travel case. This bag should fit it all no problem! Except...
when I brought it home I realized...





Crappa dappa.

Was this bag a drug mule or something? Why would there be this huge slice in it?! And HOW did I not notice it at the store? And why didn't the tag specify as-is? SHEESH.

But it did not go through the lining...


And as you can see the bag was only $3.99. Honestly I'd much rather have the traveling capabilities over the four bucks store credit so I decided to see what I could do to fix it. I mean look at all this space!




And all these slots for my bottles (like my Latherati perfume or my Threla facial mist)


So I did what any desperate person would do. No I didn't use duct tape. I did, however, use glue; E6000 to be precise. The sides are a sort of stiff foam and sewing didn't really seem to be an option. I'm terrible at sewing so that also helped my decision along.

Once it was glued and dried I still have this knife fight scar to deal with. I scrounged some black fabric to cut "leaves" from (I freehand cut them, so don't judge too harshly) and I found a lovely rose patch I've had for years and never used. I stuck them on with liquid fusible web by the fantastic Aleene.


Now the scar is hidden and held together at the same time.
(And just in case you're wondering, I sanitized this bag to bits.)

Just in time for me to take off house-sitting again!

Linking to:

The Shaby Chic Cottage's Transformation Thursday



9 comments:

Kristy said...

OH wow! I love this :D You're seriously talented. I think I need you closer to me :P haha Sometimes I come across items in my house I want to give you because I know you MUST need them for creating such useful things!

Eunhwa said...

Hello Molly, I ended up at your blog by following you from my Etsy shop. I am leaving a note to tell you how I love your blog! I only read several posts but we seem to share similar taste in many things like books, and the same corningware pattern!

Marie said...

Fabulous job! I love that you rescued, I do the same when I can. Plaid is always worth an investment in my book.

Marie @ Lemondrop ViNtAge
Christmas bracelet giveaway

Anonymous said...

Great solution...Very eclectic chic...

Take care,
Lisa

Megan Gunyan said...

Ah, very clever and elegant solution! Adds some charm as well!

Amanda Dale said...

Great fix!
-Amanda

foreverdecorating said...

Great save. Terry

Anonymous said...

I really like that save.

Jennifer said...

Great fix-up! It looks so cute with the patch. I featured you today on my thrift store round up :)

http://sunshineandchaucer.blogspot.com/2011/01/thrift-store-re-do-roundup.html