Upcycled Vintage Box Bag

I thought I would start this blog at the start of my latest obsession - Upcycling. At the moment I am having a love affair with Upcycling Vintage Luggage - what better way can there possibly be of combining my love of vintage, my love of bags and my love of craft? I like the idea of adding a bit of make up to a tired old thing to bring out its beauty again and make someone new fall in love with it.

I have completed two projects already and am in the process of hunting for more vanity cases, suitcases, hat boxes and anything else I can think of that can handle a bit of decoupage!

The first project I embarked upon was a 1960's Off White Vanity Case/Box Bag. I like to take inspiration from the bag itself - it is a smart, classic little bag and needed to be treated as such - I have in my head it being used on a summers day, by a lady in a headscarf and beautiful 50's dress, jumping into a convertible and heading off for a picnic in the rolling green fields with her very handsome boyfriend!


So with this in mind I hunted for chintzy, romantic flowers which I found in old perfume magazine adverts. I also added some floating petals, hand cut out of tissue paper from shop packaging - the print of the tissue paper adds to the vintage feel with its old time script and tarnished colour.


The inside of the bag was slightly stained, so I relined it with red and white gingham to enhance the summery feel of the bag.

I am really pleased with my first ever upcycled bag - I think I have successfully made this 60 year old lady look as good as new... better in fact!

More images of the completed Box Bag can be found on my Etsy page by following this link.