Make your own vintage shopping bag

If you’ve been following our Twitterings recently you will know that we have got our hands on our editor Alysia’s great great grandmother’s book of household tips, all cut out of newspapers from the 1920s-40s. We’ve  also come across this rather nifty article, probably dating from the war, about how to make a rather stylish shopper out of upholstery webbing. Not only is it cheap to make (although, what with the recent demise of Woolies, expect to pay more than 2 1/2d. per yard for your webbing), it’s superbly practical – no more yucky plastic bags – and it totally rocks the 1940s vintage utility look – what more does a girl need!

How to Turn Upholstery Webbing into a Shopping Bag

make your own 1940s style shopping bag

“Since the Government’s ‘no wrapping’ order, a shopping bag, like Mary’s little lamb, goes everywhere with most of us. And how prices for them have soared!

Here is a tough, inexpensive but attractive bag made from upholstery webbing. 8 1/2 yds of string coloured webbing is required. (Woolworth’s 2 1/2d. a yd.) Cut 15 strips of webbing 17 ins. long, then the remainder in two, for the handles.

The completed bag has 7 strips a side, with one at the bottom doubled. Treat this as a central strip, and start stitching the lengths of webbing together from the bottom upwards. When joining on the fifth strip, stitch along for 5 1/2 ins., leave a 5 in. gap for the insertion of the handles, then stitch on to the end. Sew on two more strips of webbing and one side of the bag is finished.

Repeat for the other side, again starting from the bottom central strip of webbing, so that the ribbing effect made by the stitching, points upwards to match the reverse side of the bag. Unless this is done there will be no place for the handle.

When the webbing is all joined, double it, lay it flat on a table, and slope off from the top at the top at both sides, one inch, graduated to nothing.

Next, with a half-inch turning, join the sides of the bag together. Insert the handles. Stitch right across the gap left for them, then sew the handles flat to the bag.

Circular handles for the bag are made by stitching the webbing round thin pads of cottonwool.

The shopping bag can be glamourised by a dip in a dye bath. (Dyes also from Woolworth’s 4 1/2d.) After dyeing, when the bag is dry, a narrow bind of of contrasting colour stitched round the top is decorating and strengthening. Press (iron) the bag when this has been added.

The colour scheme of the bag illustrated is tangerine with a navy bind. Other good ones are cherry and black; and emerald and brown. A small oddment of any strong fabric can be used for the bind.”

Make your own paper logs for burning

This is just a quick Thrift Bitch to tell you about something I have just discovered. 

Those of you lucky enough to have a working real flame fireplace will most likely have lit your last fire until the end of the summer (fingers crossed) but that is no need to not look forward to next winter. This contraption will also be of use to those who have a wood-burning stove.

The recycled paper brick maker is to me a wonderful contraption. Basically all you need to do is soak your old newspapers, place them in the brick making mould and then squeeze it to get rid of excess water. Then leave the new recycled paper brick to dry.

When completely dry it can be used in replacement of logs/coal, making it thrifty as all hell- pretty much free after you have bought the brick maker. On top of that it’s more environmentally friendly as you are not using carbon energy fuels and you are recycling something that would otherwise have gone to waste! Perfect.

Bricks burn for up to two hours. Prices vary from around £15- £30.

Check out Amazon for the eko-mania Heavy Duty Paper Log Maker, or B&Q for the Winther Brown Paper Log Maker.

See more tips and how-tos by our Nifty Thrifty .

My love affair with Primark…

I cannot deny I love a bargain. The ability to return home with an entire outfit for under £20 excites me. However, earlier this year research by War on Want publicised the working conditions in overseas factories of British high street fashion stores. 

Unsurprisingly, fashion giant Primark was the worst offender paying its employees in Pakistan a reported five pence an hour. So will our love for cheap and cheerful fashion be over-ruled by our morals or are we willing to turn a blind eye in order to bag a bargain?

Before 2003, Primark was largely viewed by fashionistas as an uncredible clothing supplier. I myself would shy away from the store, thinking if I stepped foot inside I would be rubbing shoulders with the unemployed and people who wore shell suits.

However, one day a friend managed to drag me in and despite the shell suits I was captivated by a navy military jacket which was on sale for a mere £10. The cotton was scrappy and the stitching was unfinished, but I bought it anyway, thinking even if it falls apart after two washes, the price per wear is still cheaper than a loaf of value bread.

I’m no Kate Moss but the jacket was featured in Vogue’s fashion pages that month. Primark was officially on the fashion map and like the majority of British women; it has since been my first port of call when shopping on the high street.  The love affair began.

Three years later, I still have the jacket, I haven’t worn it for two of those, but as I look at it now, I consider who the real fashion victim in all of this is? Is it me, for returning to Primark every week and giving in to throw away fashion? Or is the real victim the factory worker who cannot even afford my jacket after working for an entire month to produce it

After some thought, I don’t even like the jacket that much, but like everything that is sold in Primark, and many other high street stores, it is shrouded with the ‘throwaway” fashion mentality.  I’m not saying that from now on I’m only going to buy designer – and neither am I saying that I will never shop in Primark again. However, as I keep thinking about it, I think as a Western world we have become so blaze in our buying habits that we have forgotten the real cost of the latest commodities.

Let us not cut Primark from our lives, it is undeniably a wonder (I bought an electric blue woolen coat for £20 last week), but let us merely adapt our attitudes to it. Every relationship changes and develops; from now on my love affair with Primark will take on a whole new stance.

Hannah’s tips for beating the addiction:

 

• Cut down on weekly excursions to Primark thus providing less support for the sub standard working conditions.
• Instead of merely sending my throw away fashion onto a landfill site I will be dropping them into my local charity shop thus helping another cause
• Plan ahead by deciding what you want before you actually go in, how many floral print dresses does one girl need?
• Last but not least…careful of the items around the tills, slipper socks will never be on trend, no matter how cheap they are.

Hannah has more advice on how to look great and maintain an eco-fashion conscience at BookshelfBoyfriend.com.

[HE]

Real ale – good enough for a prince.

The Prince of Wales’ organic food and drink company Duchy Originals has just produced their first batch of draught beer, to be made available in a limited number of pubs as of next month.  They have been producing their organic real ale in bottles for a while now, but this is the first time that it will be available hand-pulled behind the bar.

We at Bookshelf Boyfriend strongly advocate the drinking of real ale over standard mass produced lagers, apart from anything else they taste scrumptious (and go perfectly with a good organic cheese!).  There are also a whole lot of other reasons why we should all be getting into our real ales.  Real ales are generally produced in microbreweries using locally grown ingredients, so you are supporting small businesses and the local economy around them.  By buying beer that hasn’t been shipped long distances you are also reducing fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.  If you are buying organic beer, you are supporting a farm system that uses fewer pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, which in turn enhances soil fertility, increases species diversity, conserves water and produces fewer greenhouse gases.

A top tip:

A few of us here were at the most fantastic wedding this weekend, where the father of the bride bought a couple of kegs of delicious locally produced Blacksheep beers.  Everyone was helping themselves to glasses of beer throughout the night, and the following morning(!) and a great time was had by all, and there were no cart loads of cans and bottles to take to the recycling dump.  So, when throwing a party for large numbers of people, look for breweries that sell beer in kegs, which will both keep your costs down and will hugely reduce waste, whilst enabling everyone to have a jolly good time!

Read the Bookshelf Boyfriend article about real ale and beers. 

Treat yourself to some good beers from Real Ale.com

 

[ASM]

A warming winter welcome!