Gallery

Some past favourite one-off pieces 

...that found homes before they reached the website

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.

 

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. 


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.


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/gilet was made out of a blue reclaimed quilt. I love the big pockets and those amazing autumn leaves!


Shirt made from vintage recycled table linen with 1930s appliqué on the yokes
This linen top with a 1930s appliqué yoke was one I ended up keeping 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. I carefully selected which parts of the pattern to use where. As usual it has nice big pockets



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. It appeared in my local paper The Ramsgate Recorder


A cream coloured quilt jacket with green buttons and colourful binding hanging on a grey garage door
I made a few pieces out of one 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