Renovations and the inhabiting of the nearly abandoned building in Port Richmond, Philadelphia.
...In succession
Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended,
Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place
Is an open field, or a factory, or a by-pass.
Old stone to new building, old timber to new fires
Old fires to ashes, and ashes to the earth…
—T.S. Eliot from the Four Quartets, East Coker
We’ve done it! We’ve completely cleared out of our olde building, The Atlas Casket Factory, our home for the last 5 years and into our new space – The Foundlings Building! We’ve hauled every last tool, big and small, and every last maker into our new space – our open, air flowing, beautifully bright new home with parking and sunshine and in Port Richmond, Philadelphia. And it has all happened in less than a year!
Walter, Joe, Chris and Josh, as well as a handful of others, have been transforming the space over the last 9 months and still, we’ve all managed to make and design and send most* orders out without delay. We are incredibly fortunate to have such a wonderfully talented, efficient and productive team as well as our supportive following – you! Our new space will no doubt be an inspiring place to create more treasures, photographs, jobs, and joyful days. And in time – a garden!
In addition to the building and the land, there is an elevated train track that borders one side of the property and the wall has already become the most fantastic backdrop for our new photographs.
We named the building Foundlings, as it is my hope to discover much about this tiny piece of land, both through the locals’ stories, and hopefully (look for me with a metal detector or a privy stick!) underground. Our acre was carved out in the early 1800s, as evidenced by some old maps (PhilaGeoHistories). There were homes built upon it and torn down, and sometime between 1934 and 1942, our building was erected as the new home of The Phoenix Dye Works. In the 1980s it was closed up (maybe even before), and in it grew a darkness, loaded with stuff and years of stories. When Walter tore through the ceiling to put in skylights, the dirt and dust came alive, dancing in a beam of sunlight eager to discover new territories.
It is 2017, and at Peg and Awl, we are ready to begin building our new stories...
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Have a wander through our collection of bags and pouches made with homespun linen, a delightful variety of quilt blocks — these are much older and remind me of my childhood. There are also 1960s hardware store aprons, feedsacks, and 1930s dressmakers cotton, along with some of our favourite scraps of scraps, with which we made a variety of littles. Some of the bags are made with our classic waxed canvas colours, and others with our limited Autumn canvas colours – so many hoorahs!
Each new Of a Kind collection allows us to dig around and find treasures within treasures. Every discovery holds a bit of the past, and the story and marks accumulated. They are a joy to put together and harken back to the best part of our origin story – the gathering of old things and the reimagining and reworking of them into once again useful objects.
We have a handful of journals covered with Antique Leather Postcards! We have a selection of crossbody bags made with our limited canvas colors and vintage textiles!
Our Springy 2023 Of a Kind Collection!Happy Spring! We are getting outside, digging in the dirt, and being surprised again at the bounty of colour, texture, and wonder of the season.
This Spring collection has a different color palette than we are used to here – a Spring of the past, which is familiar, but also a palette of Peg and Awl’s past. As we are working through the layers of the shop, we are finding so many good treasures once buried, like the beloved Antique Leather postcards. We have an abundance of small treasures, as well as some particularly special bags and colour arrangements!
Have a wander through our collection of bags and pouches made with homespun linen, a delightful variety of quilt blocks – these are much older and remind me of my childhood. There are also 1960s hardware store aprons, feedsacks, and 1930s dressmakers cotton, along with some of our favourite scraps of scraps, with which we made a variety of littles. Some of the bags are made with our classic waxed canvas colours, and others with our limited Autumn canvas colours – so many hoorahs!
Alt Sketchbook: International Dial Co.
View in our ShopWe have a few blue Watch Part tins in stock – they are nearly 100 years old and have varying degrees of rust and marks of past lives. Each tin comes with 100 sheets of Fabriano Watercolor Paper, cut to size!
My Non-Dominant Hand 100 Day Project from Last Year
We don’t have many of these tins, and we are always looking for more, but in the meantime – grab your favourite tin, cut your favourite paper and voilà! Here is our short video on cutting your own paper.
Crossbody Bags made with Vintage Textiles!
View in Our ShopThe more I return to the same flea market, the more I know where to look and find treasures in overlooked corners. These feed and sugar sacks, tool belts, and homespun make magical fun of our classic bags!
Mini Tote with Vintage Homespun German Pillow Sham: Francis Standard Tote with Vintage Feedsack: Laurel 
Mini Tote with Vintage Hardware Store Canvas Half Apron: Moose Heavy homespun German pillow sham transformed into a Classic Tote lined with Fog. 
Classic Tote with Vintage Feedsack: Heidi For those city dwellers, travelers and others wanting more security, the Totes have a separating zipper that tucks neatly in the bag when not needed. 
Mini Tote with Vintage Sugar Sack: Sugar No. 2 Mini Tote with Vintage Sugar Sack: Sugar No. 1 Pouches made with Vintage Textiles!
View in Our ShopWe’ve been finding so many gorgeous textiles at Flea Markets lately that we must tame the scale of each collection. We’ve transformed the gathering of patchwork and scrap into useful pouches, giving them new life.
These pouches are perfect for littles that need organizing. As for me, I recently used mine to gather some Persimmon seeds from the wild! They’re hard to be without and you can never have too many!
These patchwork quilts appear to have been made by two, now three, sets of hands. The small squares were first hand-stitched – they were next put together with a machine, then waiting for me to scoop them up and have Tori make them into pouches with waxed canvas lining and backing.
*Custom Pouch Sizes in this Collection: We have 7 pouch sizes in our Peg and Awl catalog, but when we find a quilt block or scrap that is perfect as is, we make the pouch match its size!
Custom Pouch with Vintage Quilt Blocks: Peecha Custom Pouch with Antique Hand-Stitched Quilt Block: Cass 
Custom Pouch with Antique Hand-Stitched Quilt Block: Maeve The greens are lined with our Fog waxed canvas! 
Custom Pouch with Antique Hand-Stitched Quilt Block: Morley Custom Pouch with Antique Hand-Stitched Quilt Block: Lucia 
Custom Pouch with Vintage Quilt Blocks: Elke Spender Pouch with Vintage Feedsack: Maude Alternative Sketchbook: Chartreuse Watch Parts Tin!
View in Our ShopI couldn’t resist this colour and the mini size. Tuck it in your Sendak and come what may! The smallness makes painting ever-accessible, and the shape makes a good painting feel complete!
Antique Postcard Journals!
View in Our ShopOne of a kind Antique Postcard mini journals are back! The cover is made simply, from antique leather postcards which bear incredible old handwriting, postmarks, and on some, a stamp! The insides, as always, are made of hand-stitched Strathmore drawing paper and work wonderfully with a variety of drawing and writing materials.
Antique Postcard Journal: No. 4 Antique Postcard Journal: No. 16 
These postcards are covered in handwriting, markings, and sometimes stamps! As with all our journals, these are hand-stitched! 
These minis are each one of a kind, covered with a unique postcard! These are made with Strathmore drawing paper and work wonderfully with a variety of drawing and writing materials.
The Secret to a Good Flea (Market) Day is a Good Friend!
Sneak Peak into our Springy 2023 Of a Kind Collection
Each new Of a Kind collection allows us to dig around and find treasures wit...
Read The Post
Suggested Blog Posts
Have a wander through our collection of bags and pouches made with homespun linen, a delightful variety of quilt blocks — these are much older and remind me of my childhood. There are also 1960s hardware store aprons, feedsacks, and 1930s dressmakers cotton, along with some of our favourite scraps of scraps, with which we made a variety of littles. Some of the bags are made with our classic waxed canvas colours, and others with our limited Autumn canvas colours – so many hoorahs!
Each new Of a Kind collection allows us to dig around and find treasures within treasures. Every discovery holds a bit of the past, and the story and marks accumulated. They are a joy to put together and harken back to the best part of our origin story – the gathering of old things and the reimagining and reworking of them into once again useful objects.
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We have a selection of crossbody bags made with our limited canvas colors and vintage textiles!
|
Our Springy 2023 Of a Kind Collection!
Happy Spring! We are getting outside, digging in the dirt, and being surprised again at the bounty of colour, texture, and wonder of the season.
This Spring collection has a different color palette than we are used to here – a Spring of the past, which is familiar, but also a palette of Peg and Awl’s past. As we are working through the layers of the shop, we are finding so many good treasures once buried, like the beloved Antique Leather postcards. We have an abundance of small treasures, as well as some particularly special bags and colour arrangements!
Have a wander through our collection of bags and pouches made with homespun linen, a delightful variety of quilt blocks – these are much older and remind me of my childhood. There are also 1960s hardware store aprons, feedsacks, and 1930s dressmakers cotton, along with some of our favourite scraps of scraps, with which we made a variety of littles. Some of the bags are made with our classic waxed canvas colours, and others with our limited Autumn canvas colours – so many hoorahs!
Alt Sketchbook: International Dial Co.
View in our Shop
We have a few blue Watch Part tins in stock – they are nearly 100 years old and have varying degrees of rust and marks of past lives. Each tin comes with 100 sheets of Fabriano Watercolor Paper, cut to size!
My Non-Dominant Hand 100 Day Project from Last Year
We don’t have many of these tins, and we are always looking for more, but in the meantime – grab your favourite tin, cut your favourite paper and voilà! Here is our short video on cutting your own paper.
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Crossbody Bags made with Vintage Textiles!
View in Our Shop
The more I return to the same flea market, the more I know where to look and find treasures in overlooked corners. These feed and sugar sacks, tool belts, and homespun make magical fun of our classic bags!
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
Pouches made with Vintage Textiles!
View in Our Shop
We’ve been finding so many gorgeous textiles at Flea Markets lately that we must tame the scale of each collection. We’ve transformed the gathering of patchwork and scrap into useful pouches, giving them new life.
These pouches are perfect for littles that need organizing. As for me, I recently used mine to gather some Persimmon seeds from the wild! They’re hard to be without and you can never have too many!
These patchwork quilts appear to have been made by two, now three, sets of hands. The small squares were first hand-stitched – they were next put together with a machine, then waiting for me to scoop them up and have Tori make them into pouches with waxed canvas lining and backing.
*Custom Pouch Sizes in this Collection: We have 7 pouch sizes in our Peg and Awl catalog, but when we find a quilt block or scrap that is perfect as is, we make the pouch match its size!
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Alternative Sketchbook: Chartreuse Watch Parts Tin!
View in Our Shop
I couldn’t resist this colour and the mini size. Tuck it in your Sendak and come what may! The smallness makes painting ever-accessible, and the shape makes a good painting feel complete!
|
|
Antique Postcard Journals!
View in Our Shop
One of a kind Antique Postcard mini journals are back! The cover is made simply, from antique leather postcards which bear incredible old handwriting, postmarks, and on some, a stamp! The insides, as always, are made of hand-stitched Strathmore drawing paper and work wonderfully with a variety of drawing and writing materials.
|
|
|
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The Secret to a Good Flea (Market) Day is a Good Friend!
|
|
|
|
|
Sneak Peak into our Springy 2023 Of a Kind Collection
Each new Of a Kind collection allows us to dig around and find treasures wit...
Read The Post
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