Mended Wool Suit bag
Every mend carries a history.
his bag began as a man's wool suit, recycled in London into a crossbody bag: the jacket front became the body, and the sleeve, cuff buttons still in place, folds over as the flap. When its owner brought it to me, moths had found the wool. I covered each hole with its own stitch, worked in reds and burgundies against the grey check. There are rings, sunbursts, dense knots and a sawtooth medallion. Most of the mending is on the back, so the bag holds a second set of details for anyone who turns it over. It has now been given a second life twice: first as a bag, then as a canvas for mending.
The front: a recycled wool suit jacket turned crossbody bag, with the sleeve folded over as the flap and the cuff buttons still in place.
Turning the bag over, the back holds most of the mending, each hole worked in its own stitch.
A closer look at the stitches that mend the moth holes: buttonhole wheels, woven wheels, eyelets, satin stitch and star stitch, in reds and burgundies on grey wool.