Remnant fabric to quilted project bags

Those who have followed Craft & Thrift online for a few years, may remember back in 2022 I experimented with having some remnant fabrics quilted by Dastardly Line, an indie quilting studio working with textile waste in Glasgow. Deborah had been trialing new techniques with her long arm quilting machine, to create stunning fabric, and ultimately a range of bags, from fabric waste. My aim was to have some of the smaller remnants from my inventory, those too small to be worth the time to list, quilted into unique and unusual fabric, then turned into project bags for sale in my online shop. Deborah produced a selection of beautiful quilted velvets and wools for me, some of which I had listed as fabric and others I turned into project bags.

A vibrant African wax print cotton, quilted onto a remnant of brushed cotton

I turned one of the pieces of quilted wool into a beautiful blanket

Although I loved this idea, and am still very enthusiastic about it as a business proposition, sadly it didn’t work out at the time. Craft & Thrift was haemorrhaging money and I couldn’t afford to keep it open any longer. The project bags and quilted fabric came too late in my business journey, and between the costs of having the fabric quilted, plus the cost of having them made professionally into project bags (by Scottish based Kalopsia), I couldn’t sell them for enough money to make any kind of profit. I would love to revive this idea in the future, perhaps in a slightly different format. My skills have improved to the point I could potentially sew the bags myself, to a high enough standard to sell them. I would look to sell in limited quantities, to minimise costs spent on storage, and would keep the designs minimal and simple. I would be keen to use secondhand leather remnants, to increase the quality and value of each product, in the form of zipper pulls and stoppers, drawstring tabs, or logo labels. Something to consider for a future iteration of Craft & Thrift.

I particularly loved this design of Deborah’s, called ‘topography’ after the lines on a map that delineate changes in height of the land. Once I had closed Craft & Thrift, I had a selection of the quilted fabric and some project bags left. I gifted the bags to friends and family, and kept one for myself. The quilted fabric I’ve kept in storage, with the intent to use it for special gifts or, not gonna lie, for myself!

One of the quilted velvet bags made by Kalopsia that came to live with me. I use it for small knitting projects.

The multicoloured quilted fabric pictured above, was a remnant of digitally printed velvet. Although the design isn’t my normal style choice, something about it caught my eye and I happily kept this piece when I closed the doors on the shop. After mulling it over for a while, I decided to try turning into into a square-based zipper bag, of the same design I was having made by Kalopsia. The green velvet version, pictured above, was made by Kalopsia. The multicoloured quilted version below, was made by me. I was really pleased with how it turned out, it’s a pretty professional bag, even if I do say so myself. I had enough of the quilted velvet left to make a matching small zippered purse. I use the smaller purse for knitting stitch markers, tapestry needles, scissors and a tape measure. The larger bag is for knitting projects.

I ended up making the base of the bag a wider square, since the narrower version (pictured here) looked out of proportion

I finished it with a leather strip attached to the zipper, to make a pull tab, and a Craft & Thrift leather remnant logo. I really love this little project bag, it’s the perfect size for a small knitting project, like a pair of socks or a Sophie scarf. The matching notions purse makes it feel luxurious and practical, and I would love to bring these to a future version of Craft & Thrift shop.

I initially came on here to share a completely different quilted project bag, but that’s the way the writing gods work sometimes. I’ll save that project for another post, since this is already a bit of an epistle. I hope you enjoyed this insight into a failed business venture, perhaps one I’ll bring back again in the future…