As I wandered through the thrift store waiting for inspiration to hit, I happened upon this obnoxiously cheerful floral print dress:
No one could possibly look good in that print, not to mention the shape itself had all the interest of a potato sack. I thereby dubbed it Ugly Dress. But flowers are happy and nice and when flowers are blooming, it's usually good weather, and good weather is great for picnics. Other items that I used were: 2 gigantic stockings from the dollar store and a $2.99 red plastic tablecloth.
Thus began my overambitious project to make all the accoutrements for a French picnic set, starting with the fold-up bread basket.
Bread basket in progress: Fabric, red tablecloth, a little batting, some cardboard.
Bread basket ready for use:
Bread is all gone, time to pack up:
Next on our French picnic, we need wine! Here is a nifty lined wine bottle carrier. I used the dress' shoulder pad for the bottom because you don't want your wine bottle to break!
And of course, we have to have something to tote cheese in. I bring you... the cheese cozy!
We'll also need plates, napkins, and utensils. The plates get to ride in their own spiffy caddy. The napkins and utensils each get their own pouch, made from the dress' sleeves.(utensil pouch shown, but they look identical)
(the buttons also came off the dress)
In my attempt to "use the whole buffalo," if you will, I decided that all of this great stuff needed to be transported in something. I made a large sack that will comfortably carry all of the smaller components, food, a baguette, the morning paper, probably a volleyball, maybe a change of clothes. It's pretty roomy. But by that point, I ran out of enough material to make handles, so you'll just have to use your imagination.
Here it is all together:
Thanks for making it through all that!! Hope you guys like it (and don't hate my guts for bogging down your 'puters.)
