Zara on her blog Zaranne Handmade wore a beautiful tea towel dress recently, made by Annie of Pearl & Elspeth. Her dress is a mix of native flora and blue fairy wren covered linen tea towels, and features doily pockets and sleeves. Feminine and so summery:
:: Zaranne Handmade's Pearl & Elspeth Tea Towel Dress ::
I have been in contact with Zara's dress maker, Annie of Pearl & Elspeth, to see if she would like to share her tea towel creations with Recycled Fashion readers, and to ask questions related to her designs.
Annie, where do you obtain your tea towels from?
I pretty much get my tea towels from op shops and garage sales, though they're getting harder and harder to find these days. Luckily I have lots of family and friends all over the place who scout for me.
:: Vintage Floral Tea Towel Skirt ::
Do you obtain your design inspiration from anywhere in particular?
My inspiration really comes from the women I sew for. I'm lucky that most of my work is custom now, so I really get to build a relationship with the person I'm sewing for, find out what kinds of things they like, or they'll send me pictures (like Zara did) which help to create the piece. It's my favourite way to sew, because that way each customer gets a made-to-measure skirt that is made uniquely for them.
Where can we see more of your work?
People can see more of my skirts, dresses and tops at my blog - pearlandelspeth.blogspot.com - which also has a lot of things about cooking and growing food as well. (sewing and craft can be searched under the relevant blog label tags).
:: Floral Tea Towel Skirt ::
How would one order a tea towel fashion piece from you?
People can email to make an order. I also do gift certificates too, which lots of people like. It's not every day someone gives you a custom-made handmade skirt as a gift!
:: Farm Scene Tea Towel Skirt :
I must say that rather fond of Annie's tea towel bolero's. I've made a similar style of bolero myself once before using upholstery fabric, but would never think to use tea towels!
Thank you Annie for sharing your wonderful resourceful sewing creations with Recycled Fashion readers.

15 comments:
LOVE these. I have made...cushion covers, a bathmat, a tote bag...umm...a laundry bag...and so on from old teatowels, but never clothes. Fabulous! Makes me want to get home and start looking on the opshops again.
What gorgeous and inspirational creations! :) Lisa
I love your work. The mix of colors and patterns is spot on to me.
What a great inspiration you gave me... now I need tea towels... more tea towels!!!
MammaNene @ SergerPepper.blogspot.it
gorgeous! The skirts are so pretty, and so creative.
A great post! Now I'll be always on the hunt for tea towels!!
Wow! Beautiful work!
Oh I like. I don't know how I missed Zara's dress though, how fabulous is it. I'm with you Hun I don't mind a bit bolero action....I old definitely see myself in one of those.
So fun, how creative these fashions are - if you get caught in the rain wearing one of these items, the fabric should absorb well too!
Amazing. Some of the best upcycling I've ever seen!
Nice to see something other than cushions created from vintage tea towels. I have the same rose tea towel with an orange background, except my vintage tea towel has a blue green background. The graphics are stunning and I turned mine into an Anthroplogie style tote. The dresses and skirts are a clever mix of vintage and modern fabrics. I am now going to look at my vintage tea towel stash with new eyes.....thanks for sharing these great creations.
Oh I want a dress, and a skirt! Not a bolero though, not my style.............
I laughed when I saw you were going to blog on Tea-Towel Clothes ... but they look amazing! I just love those skirts, they're gorgeous :-) Cheers, Alison
Wow, these are fab!
Those are awesome. I bet it would make lovely little girl's dress too.
http://www.thriftysahmway.com/2013/09/thrift-haul-last-august.html
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