Sharon's blog: Ninna's needful things

Posted on Dec 23, 2012 1:45 PM

This isn't about gardening but about Ninna's belief that Christmas was a time to give needful things. By needful things, she meant homemade and heartfelt; things like jams and jellies and doilies and aprons. I don't have her genes for canning nor crocheting, but I can sew.  This is the saga of two old worn leather coats that became something new just in time for Christmas.

I followed the seams in the old coats, ripped every seam out and saved all the leather pieces. I measured and cut and pieced together a new backpack for my grandson from one of the coats, using the belt for straps.

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The lighter suede coat became a portfolio for my soon to be daughter in law, who teaches at a small university. It's just the right size for carrying notebooks and papers and all the bits of paraphenalia that teachers find themselves with. There was no belt with this coat, so I had to make do with strips of suede for straps.

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And for her as well, a small coin or card holder from Grandson's leftover leather.

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The backpack and portfolio are both lined, also with scrap fabric, and they both have interior pockets for pens and pencils. You can see a little of the canvas lining in the backpack. The tiny coin/card holder has no lining.

It was an interesting challenge, but I appreciate Ninna's ways of using old things to create new. She never wasted anything that she thought could be used for something else. I also appreciate that she passed that ability on down to me.  It would have been so much easier to buy these items, but she always taught me that the best gifts are those from the heart. I reckon these gifts also contain a bit of my blood, sweat and tears since I stumbled a few times in frustration, but they are for sure from my heart.

I still have a couple more old leather coats.  I should have made patterns.

Merry Christmas.

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Beautiful Sharon! by vic Jan 9, 2013 9:13 PM 16

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