How to use late summer flowers to transform a bag

When Cathy Pope from Hampshire picked up her free Psalm 23 Garden bag at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show recently, she could see it had potential. 

Taking late-summer flowers from her back garden, including hawks weed, fennel, Alchemilla and erigeron, Cathy used an old-fashioned flower-pounding technique to create this lovely effect. 

‘I was knocked out by the Psalm 23 Garden,’ says Cathy. ‘I thought it was absolutely lovely. I decided to make a flower bag afterwards and am really quite pleased with the results.’ 

Fancy doing something similar? It’s really easy, according to Cathy. Here is her handy guide. 

1. Take a piece of unbleached cotton, obviously a Psalm 23 Garden bag is ideal, but anything will do.
2. Collect late-summer flowers and green leaves from your garden. Don’t pick wild flowers. 
3. Place your flowers and leaves on the front of the material and tape them to the surface with masking tape.
4. Pound the flowers through the masking tape using a hammer.
5. The impression of the flowers and leaves will quickly appear.
6. When it does, remove and discard the tape and flowers. Allow your bag to dry. 

Remember, a flower bag won’t go through the wash successfully, so keep it for special occasions! 

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