Crafting with Flea Market Fabrics

by Deborah Harding

Flea market bargain hunting is one of the fastest growing leisure time activities. But the real challenge is what to do with your bounty after you bring it home. CRAFTING WITH FLEA MARKET FABRICS is a fun and practical guide to sewing, cutting, and gluing your bargain acquisitions into decorative accessories, toys, ornaments, and gifts. 195 color photos and illustrations.

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Deborah Harding, author of America's Glorious Quilts and former Crafts and Needlework editor at Family Circle, began her exploration of redwork as a means to satisfy her curiosity about a redwork quilt she purchased at a flea market. As she began to explore the quilt's origins, Deborah discovered nursery rhyme motifs of "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary" and "Who Killed Cock Robin?" within the stitching, along with Beatrix Potter characters including Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddleduck, and Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail. She called the quilt "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary" because of its imagery. Deborah's subsequent collection of textiles and research materials on redwork culminated in the publication of Red & White: American Redwork Quilts and Patterns

Reviews

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although dated since many of these crafts are now not so stylish, this book is an interesting collection of ideas.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. The author has divided it into chapters with specific types of fabric often found in flea markets and used these fabrics to create decorating items, gifts and accessories. Embroidered linens give ideas about dresser scarves, etc. Chenille, doilies, and lace trims also offer unique ideas for crafting. quilts are included and offer ideas to use individual blocks and entire quilts. I was very interested in the chapter about handkerchiefs since I have a large collection of them. While not for everyone, and possibly dated, the ideas are still inspiring.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad I found this book as I have a lot of old textiles that I don’t know what to do with! There are some very practical ideas that are simple or more complicated which is wonderful!