Gallery


Some past favourite one-off pieces 

 

A shirt made of recycled embroidered tablecloths. It is mostly white with colourful stitched flowers. It's hanging on a red-painted garden gate

This shirt was made from a patchwork of recycled embroidered cotton and linen tablecloths. It has a large patch pocket, a hanging loop and slightly mismatched found yellow buttons.

 

one-of-a-kind shirt made from a vintage linen tablecloth and napkins with embroidered playing cards motifs

I found a vintage linen playing cards tablecloth at a seaside brocante and was delighted to discover it came with matching napkins. The mini embroidered motifs were just perfect for the shirt collar and pockets.

I have a funny story about this one. I was photographing it in some local woodland and soon after I snapped this photo, a passerby was so taken with it she gave me cash for it on the spot! 


I adored the colours in this wool blanket and the geometric weave reminded me of a patchwork quilt. A lovely returning customer spotted it on my Instagram Stories and claimed a vest made from half of it. The other half of the blanket was used for another custom-made vest for somebody else!

 

 

'Sweet lilies close their leaves at night' - Edwardian embroidery on a reclaimed linen tablecloth that I incorporated into this light and breezy shirt, which found a new home at the Water Lane Spring Fair 2024

shirt made from a patchwork of recycled tea towels, featuring trees, cocktails, wild flowers and strawberries 

 I'd been collecting vintage linen tea towels for some time before I had just the right ones to patchwork together to make this shirt. Imagery includes wildflowers, British trees, cocktails and strawberries

 

shirt made from recycled linen tea towels featuring 'fresh cream', old English pub signs, flags, strawberries and a map of cornwall on the back

Another shirt made from recycled linen tea towels. This one features fresh cream recipes and signs of the zodiac, strawberries, old English pub signs, nautical flags and has a map of Cornwall on the back. It sold at Goodwood Revival 2023

 

Pink shirt made from an antique French linen bedsheet

The quality of this French linen bedsheet was incredible - so heavy. Can't imagine what the thread count must have been! Also the embroidery was so dense and thick, it was tricky to cut and sew through. But I did! I particularly like the two large pockets with a little bit of ladder work on each. It sold at Goodwood Revival 2023.

 

Detail of shirt made from a vintage linen tablecloth with unfinished hand embroidery
Detail of shirt made from a vintage linen tablecloth with unfinished hand embroidery - you can still see the transfers in places. I think this makes it extra special, and the vintage ricrac on the collar took this shirt to the next level! It's another one that I said goodbye to at Goodwood Revival in September 2023... and here it is on its gorgeous new owner, who went off wearing it straight away!




A light summery vest made from some deadstock striped denim I found at the Scrap Store where I volunteer. Sold at the Water Lane Spring Fair

Shirt made from a reclaimed vintage flour sack
I found this vintage flour sack in an antique centre in the North of England and stashed it away while I mulled over what fabrics to mix it with. It also needed a bit of (visible) mending. I made sure I used all the text from the original sack, stuck to a washed out, pastel colour palette and I think it worked. Sold at Goodwood Revival 2023.



Springtime in a shirt! A patchwork of pastel coloured tablecloths and a tray cloth featuring maypole dancer embroidery. This one sold at Water Lane on the May Day bank holiday weekend, which was rather appropriate.



Shirt with 3D shoulder cat I made for an art exhibition in March 2024. Constructed from calico and corduroy offcuts; trimmings from my overlocker were used to stuff the cat's head and tail.


Made from a set of vintage linen napkins, this shirt was quite tricky to construct as the beautiful appliqué detail was all around the edges, meaning there was no seam allowance, but I figured out a way to make it work and loved the finished result. Snapped up early doors at Water Lane Spring Fair.

Linen shirt hand made from a recycled vintage cutwork tablecloth and hand finished with Sylko thread
Detail of an off-white, short-sleeved shirt I assembled from three buttery soft linen tablecloths, including one with a scallop edge that I topstitched to form the edge of the yoke. As always, every component was reclaimed, even the thread – in this case I sewed on the shell buttons with vintage Sylko in 'Silver Sand'.

 

 Hand quilted patchwork gilet/vest/body warmer/waistcoat in shades of blue, back view, on a hanger against a brick wall
I made this patchwork hand-quilted top from various cotton and linen offcuts in shades of blue. This is the back view



Back view of a boxy, short-sleeved top made from a cream-coloured cutwork tablecloth, hanging on some wooden hooks
Back view of a cream-coloured front-fastening top made from
a vintage linen tablecloth




Blue quilted waistcoat/gilet/body warmer/vest with wooden buttons and patch pockets hanging among some red autumn leaves
This bodywarmer/vest was made out of a blue reclaimed quilt. I love the big pockets - and the backdrop of amazing autumn leaves!


Shirt made from vintage recycled table linen with 1930s appliqué on the yokes
I ended up keeping this linen top with a 1930s appliqué yoke for myself!








patchwork boxy top made of reclaimed pastel coloured linen napkins
I found a set of pastel-coloured linen napkins and made this boxy top out of them, with a few extra bits added in. It has random binding and coral-coloured poppers




Cream-coloured quilted jacket with square patch pockets hanging on some swirly black iron gates
A cream-coloured jacket that was once a quilt. As usual I carefully selected which parts of the pattern to use where. It has nice big pockets and hidden fastenings





pink quilted jacket with patchwork pockets and red binding on a pink hydrangea bush
This jacket started life as a Laura Ashley quilt. The pink check you see here was the back of the quilt and the other side is pink patchwork, meaning the jacket is reversible




Boxy shirt made from a blue and white checked tablecloth with floral embroidery. Hanging on a rather dirty mustard yellow garage door
I made this top out of a beautiful linen checked tablecloth with floral embroidery on each corner




Cream-coloured blouse with floral appliqué and red buttons, made from a vintage tablecloth. Hanging from a tree in a park
The 1930s appliqué tablecloth that I cut this top from needed the pattern pieces laying out very carefully to make the most of the design. It ended up in Australia



Hand quilted vest/gilet/body warmer/waistcoat with a landscape, tree and sunrays appliqué and stitched onto the back/ Multicoloured binding. Photographed on a pebbly beach
I based this bodywarmer/waistcoat on one of those knitted landscape jumpers from the 70s. It's hand appliquéd, hand quilted and hand bound and, as always, made from 100% recycled fabrics





A cream coloured quilt jacket with green buttons and colourful binding hanging on a grey garage door
I managed to make a few pieces out of one very large quilt. This jacket has asymmetric button fastenings (reclaimed of course) and patterned binding made out of vintage fabric

Handmade shirt with large pink and orange poppy print plus a diagonal hearts in brown. Reworked from a vintage 70s skirt. Recycled and one-of-a-kind

Another keeper: This shirt was once a skirt that I bought in a vintage clothes shop back in the early 2000s. I wore the skirt a lot at the time and when I rediscovered it recently, I decided I'd wear it more as a shirt, so I reworked it, combining it with some reclaimed plain black fabric from my stash for the sleeves
  




 White cotton top made from a vintage tablecloth, hanging on a wooden hook

I'm especially fond of this one as it's one of the first tablecloth tops I made

 

quilted jacket with appliqué design of cutouts from vintage souvenir tea towels and tablecloths from places in the UK

I made this in 2021 for an art exhibition and called it Life Jacket. It's hand quilted and features places I've lived, holidayed in etc cut from souvenir tea towels and tablecloths