Creative Mending Quad

This month I'll be creatively mending four sample tops from Fabscrap. Sample garments are made by manufacturers for a designer as prototypes, so they can see how their design translates into an actual product before mass quantities of the design are made. These prototypes are quickly made, and sometimes don't have both sleeves, all the hems finished, etc. Some samples result in changes to the design, so they can be the only one ever made in that particular fabric or fit.

Since they're not made to be sold sample garments are regularly discarded, which is how they end up at Fabscrap, like this pretty blouse.

The only thing actually wrong with the blouse, which is beautifully made, is a tear in the left sleeve.

This pajama top is full finished, too.

It has two circles of fabric cut out of the bottom hem.

This black and white top is one of the more hastily-made garments, and still had hanging threads on its seams.

The hem and bottoms of the sleeves remain unfinished, too.

This flannel shirt is beautifully made, just like the black and white one I mended last month. It's sole flaw is that it's missing part of a sleeve.

While creatively mending these garments I want to try and keep as much of the original piece intact as possible. It would be easily to trim off and hem the bottom of the pajama top, for example, but I'd lose about six inches of the garment. Finding a way to fill in the two holes in the hem is harder, but more fun, Stay tuned to see how I do.

Comments

Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.

In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Valerean

Search This Blog