The past couple of days have been rather dismal on the stitching front so rather than show you my lack of progress on my barn I thought I'd show you what I DID do (and never let it be said that there is any lack of stimulation here at Chez Magpie!!).
This pile of fabrics began life as men's shirts (mostly - the leaf patterned one was a ladies blouse). I've discovered that finding various shades of fabrics that are fodder for landscape quilts is an expensive proposition if you look in fabric shops. All of these were scored at thrift shops for very little in the way of cost and all I needed to do was spend an hour or so cutting them apart. A couple of these have marvelous texture too (the gold one is very fine corduroy). I don't worry overly much about fabric content because these are well washed before I use them and it's doubtful that any of my barns will ever be washed later on.
Now....if someone could come and help me
figure out WHERE I'm going to store all
these in an already bulging sewing room
I'd sure appreciate it!
Another anonymous quote..."Sometimes when you're in a dark place, you think you've been buried, but you've actually been planted"
Totally in agreement with the thriftie as a source of fabrics. That's where I score linen for stitching, and great knitting and weaving yarn, including linen,silk and cashmere, in sweaters waiting to be unraveled. Far too expensive to buy new. Also it's kinder to the planet to use them again. It takes some labor, but it's worth doing. Good for you!
ReplyDeleteRoll them up, tie together and make a chair?
ReplyDeleteNow THERE's a great idea!!!!! Now...where do I have room to put a chair....
DeleteOh my goodness, those Piecemakers' quilts are amazing. I bought a calender about 20 years ago to make a similar quilt to these displayed.....but alas I did not.I am sure you will find a hidey hole to stuff those fabrics somewhere, Mary Anne. Love the colour of that corduroy. LOVE the photo of your barn in the header. You know what....you are a terribly clever lady!
ReplyDeleteSuper idea! As for storage - can't help you there, except to say that I prefer to store things in clear containers so you can see what's inside for the most part without opening it up.
ReplyDeleteI love all of the Piecemaker patterns. About a year a go I wanted to buy a couple of patterns but they charge shipping and handling on EACH item with no price break for buying more. That may be different now, but it turned me off to giving one of their patterns a try. Geez, I have a tote of old clothes that I think would make great pieces of fabric. Most are not cotton though. I DO have a nice collection of clothes with embroider on them and I am sure they will be used someday.
ReplyDeletexx, Carol
What a great idea to use old shirts, etc. for your projects. I just bought some fabric to make a robe for my daughter and was telling her about the "good old days" when you could get good fabric for under a dollar a yard and a real 'splurge' was paying 2.00 a yard haha!
ReplyDeleteI adore owls -- thank you so much for sharing the link -- what a fun project!! :)
ReplyDeleteHa..ha...You make me laugh! The age old question - I have ALL this fabric - where can I store it!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat mumblings this week. Thanks. It's sunny here and I am looking forward to the weekend without rain!!
its amazing what you can find in thrift shops!!
ReplyDeleteOh, a woman after my heart! I LOVE finding treasures to be repurposed and thrift stores always provide bounty without heavy costs - excited to see your finds and happy knowing you will work some creative magic with them.
ReplyDeleteWe are in the same boat using clothing. I've got a bunch of Mother/Dad's clothing for making memory quilts for family and caregivers. I've made about 5 and still have a lot of clothes left. One of my 4 very small bedrooms is a sewing room and another a quilting room. In the quilting room, I made a wall of shelves from 2x6s I had on hand and Mr. G made crates from pallets to stack them on. I roll the clothing, so I can see and retrieve easily. I'd share a picture, but at the moment it looks so junky you wouldn't be able to see how it works. Call me old fashion, but using clothing as a fabric source is a great idea. If it comes from a yard sale or second hand store, they go through the sanitizing cycle in washing machine.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant source of fabrics from discarded clothing. I have cut up some of my own clothes just to use the fabrics in projects. We crafters are resourceful! <3
ReplyDeleteAt the risk of appearing dimwitted, I confess... I never gave one thought to where you got all your wonderful fabrics. But now that you've enlightened me, I have to say I think you are genius! I am sometimes torn over making rags or saving the fabric from old clothing, but I have nothing nearly as beautiful as you create in mind when I contemplate what I might make from an old shirt, or cut off buttons, or the lace removed from an old pillow case. You always give me something to think about, Mary Anne!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not dimwitted Becki - sometimes it's just something that hasn't occurred to you. When I began crazy quilting over twenty years ago I simply couldn't afford new fabrics - or at least not as many as I wanted to work with. Thrift store shopping became a 'thing' and I rapidly discovered that a silk blouse was a couple of bucks at the thrift shop and yielded quite a bit of fabric with the added bonus of often having pretty sweet buttons too. Great way to build a stash. Now I find myself doing the same thing as I search out fabrics to use for my barns.
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