Valerean

My ten dollar bag of vintage scraps needed to be hand-washed and picked through before I could use them, so I spent an afternoon last weekend working on that. This is one of the recycling chores I do that I really enjoy, as it's a little mindless and gives me time to think about other things. I've worked with a lot of vintage textiles over the years, and I knew some of the scraps were so old they would have disintegrated in the washer even if I put them in a lingerie bag. I don't mind hand-washing them, or drying them on towels on the back porch table. It's weirdly soothing for me. Once the scraps were clean and dry I needed to pick out all the snipped thread pieces left in the old hems to make them usable again. This is my favorite part of the process. To illustrate what I mean, here's a green scrap with those threads snips from the original stitching still stuck in the folds. I pick them out using the tip of my seam ripper, or use a piece of ...

I like to use scraps from one project to make another so I don't waste them. This bag I pieced from scraps of a quilt I made turned out really pretty, and made a nice presentation piece when I put the quilt inside it and shipped it to the recipient. Even ragged bits of scraps can be turned into something useful. Here's a project bag I made from snips and scraps from another tote project that I fused to a piece of muslin and machine sewed over to fix in place. Stitch practice pieces are also great for using up scraps. I generally use these in place of bubble wrap when I mail things. I often repair garments with scraps, too, as I did with this sample flannel shirt with a big cut out in the back. One of my favorite challenges for myself is to buy a bag of scraps and try to use all of them to make something. Here are the contents of a three-dollar bag I picked up at a quilt show some years ago. Here are all the things I made from it while using up every ...

I save nearly all of my fabric scraps from sewing, quilting and texile art projects so I can reuse them. Often I do as patchwork for crazy quilt projects or stitch practice pieces. This is the bag in my sewing room that holds them. Here's a sample of what's in the bag: the trimmed legs from a pair of thrifted capris I altered into shorts, some fabric trimmed from some backing, a piece of cross stitch fabric leftover from framing the thrifted Santa piece, and a short length of ribbon, also from Christmas. Once my scrap bag is full I empty it into my scraps bin here. If you think having an entire bin of scraps is a bit much, keep in mind that I gave away two other bins of scrap fabric I had saved last year to the local quilting guild. :) Here's my problem: the scraps bin is full now, and I either have to start another bin, or devote more time to using up my scraps. Since I'm still trying not to hoard fabric, I'm going to take one night a week to ...

Once a garment has for whatever reason become unwearable we think of it as trash. Not so in other countries, particularly in the east. For example, Japan has their traditions of boro and sakiori , and recycle so efficiently they could teach the rest of the world how to deal with their clothing waste. Today I want to show you another way of recycling textiles: kantha quilts from India, which is a way of turning old saris and discarded textiles into quilts. Here's a cutter piece from a kantha quilt. Kantha quilts are fairly easy (and cheap) to find on Etsy and eBay; I bought a bag of these scraps for my art quilting. It's a dense piece with simple running stitching which is easy to take apart. So let's see just how many layers it has. According to some articles I read kantha quilting goes back at least 500 years. It was a way to creatively reuse old and unwanted clothing and create beautiful, colorful blankets for the family without having to spend money on...

You might remember the home office chair that I rehabbed two years ago by covering the cushions and armrests with some vintage bamboo fabric. The chair still works, but the coverings are showing their age. This is my fault, as I usually sit on it for at least six to eight hours a day while I'm working my day job. The elastics I used to attach the seat cushion covering have stretched out. I've also worn a hole in one of the armrests. I need to find some sturdier fabric to use to cover the cushions again, so it's time to head to the stash. Stay tuned to see what I pick for the recovery.

Every morning and evening I take a walk with each of our pups, which adds up to about two miles every day. I always walk the same path from our house to our front entrance turn and back because it has a slight incline (good for my legs) and there are usually no people around, which makes my dogs happy. I clean up after my pups, but I also pick up any trash I see. It's something I can do to help keep our neighborhood clean, and it's easy enough. On this particular morning last month I found six different drink containers littering the road, which sadly is not unusual. Some were covered in ants, which I shook off before I put them in my bag. One of the containers I picked up was a heavy duty aluminum cup with the words "Infinitely Recyclable" on it, which I thought was pretty ironic. Too many people who drive along my walking route just drop whatever trash they have instead of properly disposing of it. I washed it out and tried to bend it back into ...

I don't always have a plan in mind when I repair something; I repaired this crazy quilt piece (the first I ever attempted) just because I didn't hate it anymore. I was sure I'd find a project I could use it for in the future. Sure enough, later last month I bought this old dusty wooden hat box from a junk shop with the intention of refurbishing and redecorating it. The repaired crazy quilt piece was just big enough to cut into a top for the lid. I took my time (crazy quilted patchwork doesn't like to be cut up) and used low-loft batting and a piece of thin muslin to turn it into a circular quilt piece. To bind it I used a very flexible length of gold metallic fabric and a lot of pins. I also found a matching ribbon -- one I bought many years ago and was saving for the right project -- to tie around the sides. I still need to embroidery and embellish the crazy quilt piece, which is going to take a few months, and sew a proper lining (I'm ...

One thing I noticed after cleaning out three bins of scraps from my fabric stash is that I am good about saving scraps, but not about using them. Rather than keep my old habits, I decided to do some new things with the scraps I collect after I finish one project rather than toss them in storage. This project bag is made from most of the scraps leftover from summer's art tote. I fused them onto an old cloth napkin, stitched the edges down, and used a big scrap leftover from the lining fabric to make the handles, back side and lining. To keep from spilling coffee in the mornings (I'm not too steady in the hands when I first get up) I thrifted a bunch of these Starbucks reusable coffee cups. They're great, but they get hot, so I'm making sleeves for them. Two old bookmarks and scraps from the art tote made this batch. I do use mug rugs all the time, so it doesn't hurt to make a few more, especially when they match my cup sleeves. :) I'm considering ...

We recently replaced our microwave and dishwasher, both of which in keeping with my tradition of holiday disasters broke down and couldn't be fixed (I had to replace my desktop computer tower as well.) So we loaded them onto the truck and headed for the local waste facility. It always surprises me to see what people throw out. That red thing is either a washer or dryer and, if memory serves, quite expensive new. Seeing the little trophies next to a backward HOPE sign was a bit sad. On the upside, we have a new microwave and dishwasher, and I'm working on fine-tuning the new computer I just installed.

I have a new side project for fall: making something out of four old quilts and one quilt top that I acquired for $5.00 each. Recycling old quilts is fun, and you don't have to cut them up to make something new out of them. This is the smallest of the five; a tied doll quilt with no batting. This baby quilt is the best of the bunch. I've blurred out the name on the quilt label, but I will keep that intact to honor the original maker. This tied cheater cloth throw is identical on both sides, and has no binding. This teddy bear child's quilt is in the worst shape of the group; it's been well-loved. Finally, the quilt top. It's huge with meticulous piecing. As you can see from the back side it was pieced by hand. All the red in it worries me, as does the age of the fabric, so I think this one will be my biggest challenge. To recycle a quilt or top you first have to look at how much you've got to work with. The pink doll quilt is...

I'm about half finished the embroidery on the one pound challenge quilt, and rather than use all circular patterns with this part I decided to mix it up and just do whatever felt right at the moment. I pushed through my creative hesitation and waffling, and now this quilt is making me so happy. I can't even describe how good it feels to sit down and work on it a little every day. Once I get this finished, then I know I'll be ready to complete that recycled linen quilt I put aside last year.

I've made it to the one-month mark since quitting my last bad habit, so I rewarded myself with some hand-dyed vintage fabric and trim bundles from my favorite dexter/artisan. No one really rewards you for giving up something, which is why I made a point to do this. I won't celebrate every month; the next time will be when I hit the one-year mark. It was hard, too, so I'm proud of myself. I don't think I'll relapse, but just in case I'm tempted I've set aside some funds for a shopping spree next April. Let's see if I can make it!