It probably comes as no surprise that Jon and I are road trip junkies. Living in Charlotte, North Carolina gives us access to much of the southeast and mid-Atlantic… and vacations often have a junkin’/Sadie-blogging aspect. Plus, driving our car allows us to fill it up with vintage and thrifted treasures. So marrying our love of road trips with my love of vintage road maps inspired this folded map project.
I’m not quite a hoarder of old maps, but I have a decent stash- mostly from the southern part of the country.
The ones from the 50s and 60s are my favorite- they spotlight the original highway system (pre-interstates) and the colors are usually fabulous!
And check it out, this one even has an eco-friendly message!
Anyway, I wanted to commemorate some of our favorite road trips by stitching our routes. And since we typically focus on the “back roads” instead of expressways, then vintage maps are the perfect canvas to use!
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Road Trip Aesthetic with a Folded Map Project
Anyway, back to the project. For this folded map project, I planned on using an early 1960’s Gulf Oil map of southern Georgia and northern Florida.
If you’ve ever been to Thomasville, GA, then you may understand why I loved this road trip so much. It’s just a DARLING town.
Next, I gathered some embroidery floss and an embroidery needle. I used embroidery floss that I already had on hand. But next time, I’d probably bring my map to the craft store and coordinate colors a little more closely.
Then, I carefully stitched our route with the blue embroidery floss. I used a very simple back stitch to give our road trip route a solid-ish line.
Of note: The back stitch works wonderfully for this project, but I highly recommending poking each subsequent hole from the front of the map before coming in from the underside. It helps ensure that you don’t run off the road!
And that was it! In no time at all, I had stitched our entire road trip on the vintage map.
Folded Map Project with Simple Embroidery
This is a great project to work on while catching up on some Netflix, Hulu, or DVR’d shows. And the end result is so fantastic!
I love the idea of creating keepsakes of our most enjoyable road trips. They can be framed, scrapbooked, clipped to clipboards for display, or however you want to display them.
Since we have a love for the back roads and old country highways, vintage road maps work perfectly; we don’t need that fancy-schmancy interstate! Everyone knows that the best junkin’ takes place in the back parts, right?
Besides, that’s how road trips and family vacations used to be. Old highways lined with roadside motels, quirky diners, and photo-worthy attractions that commemorated the trip.
But no worries if your road trip involves expressways- keep an eye out for an outdated atlas at the thrift shop or even your childhood home. This folded map project is also a GREAT use for the Rand McNally that is no longer used.
If you enjoyed this folded map project with simple embroidery, then you may also be interested in other types of recycled paper crafts, as well!
And for commemorating a summer beach vacation, these memory jars are a favorite of mine!
Craft on!
S
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Sarah Ramberg is the owner of Sadie Seasongoods, a website that celebrates all things secondhand. From upcycling ideas and thrifted decor to vintage-centric travel itineraries, Sadie Seasongoods is a one-stop shop for anyone who loves thrifting and approachable repurposing ideas. Sarah is also the author of “Crafting with Flannel” and has been featured in numerous media outlets and magazines.
What a lovely lovely idea…What a great way to remember a road trip!
Thank you, Kim! And it’s fun to do, too! 🙂
Great idea. Thanks so much for sharing at VIP.
Love this idea!
Thank you!! An easy way to commemorate a trip. 🙂
What a great idea, It’s really personal and reuses something in a new lovely way – two of my favourite things! It’s a shame to throw a map away once it’s out of date, so I do love seeing cute ways of using them. Pinning for one day when I need this idea!
So glad you like it, Julie! 🙂
Cute idea. 🙂
Thanks, Jill!
totally fun idea! I love how this trip became a heart. I am thinking all the fun trips that you could plan based on the shape you embroider vs embroider where you have been – just sew away, get your needle back home and then say Hey Honey! Here’s our next trip! like a double adventure lol
This is such an awesome idea! We are a military family, and move quite a bit. I’m going to make one and display it on the mantle, and keep adding to it! Thanks so much for sharing on #cityoflinks!
Oh, this would be PERFECT for your family, Olivia!!!
Thanks for coming and linking up at #The Weekend Social. Please be sure to come back next week starting Thursdays at 9PM EST on KitchenDreaming.com ! I hope to see you there!
Oh I remember getting those road maps FREE from gas stations. Thanks for sharing at the #WWDParty.
This is SO clever. I love it. Thanks so much for sharing at On Display Thursday!
Thanks, Bre!
Very cool idea! You could even have a family map and use a different color for different trips!
I adore embroidery on out of the box objects, what a great idea to commemorate a trip on a map, love it!
Thanks, Brenda!
Such a clever idea. Love this! Pinning to my travel board. Thanks for sharing at the party this week @DearCreatives Theresa
Thanks for linking up to Handmade in the Heartland! This is such a great idea for remembering a road trip.
Very cool! Thank you for sharing this post at City of Creative Dream’s City of Links last Friday! I appreciate you taking the time to party with me. Hope to see you again this week 🙂
What a fantastic idea! I LOVE it! Thank you for sharing on Merry Monday Link Party! Julia
Thank, Julia!
Love this! Thanks for linking up to Friday Favorites Sarah! laura
What a cute idea! Pinned!
Love maps, love embroidery, love this.
Thanks so much, Claire.
I am definitely doing this next week after our vacation! Thanks so much for sharing at Inspiration Thursday!
Thanks, Lela!
You got me on all points. I love to travel. I love to embroidery. I love old road maps. How delightful.
I found you at Mrs. Olson’s party.
Thank you so much, Dayle!
Now why didn’t I save hubs old trucker atlases? Doggone it anyway. Sure would love to embroader some trips we’ve taken, our moves from one part of country to other. I got a US map from Amazon but using old maps would have been more fun. Maybe someday I’ll find couple old maps. My parents used to save old maps. You’re the smart one having found old maps. I like the atlases as pages sturdier to sew on. What a fantastic idea you had. Glad you shared it. Happy summer and road tripping.
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I absolutely love this idea! Although we have no big road trips planned this year I hope to do something like this to highlight the states that we have been to. Thanks so much for sharing at Dream. Create. Inspire. Link:)
Thanks, Tara!!
I love this idea! Your play on the word embroidery was so fun also! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
Sarah –
this is a fantastic idea! We have done so many road trips and it would be so neat to do this! I would love to get a huge US map and do this with all of our trips! That would be so much fun and a great keep sake to keep building on. Thank you for sharing at Dream. Create. Inspire. Link!
What a lovely idea and a great keepsake. Thankyou for sharing on #HomeMattersParty linky!
Sonja
Sustain My Craft Habit
I have a nice collection of outdated maps and such which it is possible, I may have been hoarding. Very cool idea!! I did a project in Feb. which involved sewing through a paper bag covered in duct tape with embroidery thread. It wasn’t the easiest task but turned out great just like your map! Thanks for sharing with us at Merry Monday. We love your creativity.
This is super cute. Such a brilliant idea and perfect for a crafty girl!
Super Cute idea!! Thanks for linking up on My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday!! I loved having you!! Hope you can join us again tomorrow!! Pinned to My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday Pinterest page!! 🙂
What a unique and wonderful idea! I can’t wait to do this! Stopping by from the link up 🙂
I just found your blog and I am LOVING it!! You are so creative. I look forward to trying many of your projects!!
Thanks so much, Lisa! I hope you come back again and again. 🙂
This is such a great idea! We will be retiring in a couple of years and intend to do a lot of traveling by car. One of our sons lives in the Seattle area and we plan to drive out there from Ohio stopping to see different places along the way since I have never been west of Chicago. This will be a great way to mark where we have been. I think I will do it with one color for airplane flights though and another for road trips. I may do one for my son to show all the places they have been but also show X’s or something for where they have gone in other countries. They have been to Paris, Germany, Italy and Iceland so far so I think it would make a great memory.
Thanks so much, Diana!