Saturday 22 February 2014

Shirt deconstruction

As any of you who have been reading the blog a while will know, I like to use recycled shirts in my sewing.
I use them both for lining and quilting and you can see some of them here, here, here, and here.

I am lucky enough to have a good supply from my husband and brothers as well as various other kind donators to the cause,
 and they have been stacking up recently in an unruly heap in the corner of my sewing space.
So this weekend I sat and did some deconstruction.
I cut off the collars, cuffs and yoke and then cut down the side seams and shoulder seams so that I am left with a square from the back, two front panels and two sleeves.
These can them be folded and stacked...


 
 
The possibilities are endless and I love that they are recycled.
 
Every so often I wonder if it would be possible to put recycle bins (like those for bottles) in some of the city firms where hundreds of shirts must be thrown away by employees on a regular basis.
 

 
I have a plan for the cut off scraps as well as other bits of fabric waste which I am planning to share when I get around to it.
 

 
And these little beauties will be going in the button box.
They are from the cuffs and collars because I leave the shirt fronts with button on until I know whether they are destined to be a cushion back,
in which case the buttons are perfect for the fastening.
 


There are seven sails now and I will hopefully be doing some more this week.
 
The shirts have made me wonder if I could do some sort of 'sails on the ocean' along the same lines as the 'leaves in the breeze' I did with shirts some time ago.
I've got plenty of blue shirts!

I've got so many ideas in my head at the moment and not enough time to do them all.



 
 
I did make time for a bit of this today though.
Not all of them, just a few.
Leeks, toms, sweet peas and broad beans.
 
Have a good weekend.
x
 

Monday 10 February 2014

Three Sails so far...


 
I am having fun with these little things at the moment.
They are scrappy triangles made using the tutorial by Ashley
over at Film in the Fridge which can be found here.
 
I absolutely love her Nautical Quilt so I thought that I would have a go.
They come together pretty quickly and are a brilliant way to use up scraps. 
 
 

 
 
Also found these yummy bits of fabric while shopping at the weekend.
They are by a designer called Beth Studley and they are new to me.
I really like the patterns and am pondering what to make with them.
 
 

 
And finally, Wild Flower pin cushion number 3,
I just can't stop making them! 
 


 This one has a linen/cotton base and to be honest
 was a bit trickier to assemble than the cotton ones.
 


 
It goes well with the cyclamen
 which is lucky as they are about all that's out at the moment,
apart from the snow drops of course.

Thursday 6 February 2014

Sunshine on a rainy week

I took this photo at the beginning of the week in a sunny gap between the clouds.
 

 
 
It's a little coaster made from scraps.
 
A sunny picture to brighten up what has been a very wet week.
 
 

Saturday 1 February 2014

Ta Dah.. my purple Washi!

Ok so it didn't take long.
That's just part of what I love about this pattern.
 

 
Blogged previously here when I made my first one in blue.
This time I used the same linen-cotton mix but in a lovely purple.
 
This picture doesn't do the colour justice so...
 

 
 
That's better.
The pattern is by Rae from made-by-rae.com and I bought mine as a PDF.
That meant it came through really quickly and the printing and taping together wasn't too bad at all.
 
 

 
 
The shirring on the back makes it ultra comfortable as well as giving the front a good shape.
I have no doubts there will be more in my wardrobe by the end of the year!
 
And if you want to see a whole load for ideas just go to the flickr pool here.
 
 

 
I used a little strip of handmade bias binding to edge the neck facing
and I know no one else can see it but it makes me happy.

Brightening up my day..


 
 
I planted this amaryllis back in November I think, and if I was organized I would have kept the name to share but I'm not!
 
 

 
Even when the sun isn't out, it is brightening up the living room and it never fails to amaze me how quickly they grow from one little bulb.
 
 

 
This is my current WIP
and the thing I cut out from that purple linen/cotton that I showed you last time.
 
Nearly finished and ready to share so I will go and get on with it!