‘Pocket Full of Memories’

Julie, a frequent visitor to Fieldhouse Gallery, made a short visit in June. She was admiring some of my work and casually said, “Do you know anyone who could make a bag out of a tweed jacket?”

My interest was immediately grabbed, having made a few bags and file covers out of jackets.

“Yes!” I said, “I could do that.”

There began a journey with a well -beloved jacket. Julie’s father had worn this jacket nearly every-day, Julie strongly associated this lovely soft tweed with her Dad but it had deteriorated significantly with constant wear.

Julie brought the jacket, some photos of her Dad and the I tentative idea of a back pack type bag. This jacket was clearly emotionally invested and needed careful handling.

What followed was very interesting… I became absorbed in saving as much of the jacket as possible and incorporating the structure of the garment into the bag format. We had a few meetings to discuss  the progress, to see if it was it going the right way and for input of ideas.

By July, the result  was a jacket transformed into a back pack, two shoulder bags , three purses, two key rings and a bookmark.

Julie can share these pieces with her family members so everyone has a memento and Julie has a bag with a pocket holding the memory of her father’s hand.