Skip to main content

Rescue Me

Reinvention ~ Sewing with Rescued Materials by Maya Donenfeld appealed to me because using vintage and recycled materials has been my creative goal for the last several years. After watching a documentary about the enormous problem fast fashion causes with textile manufacturing and waste I thought about how I could change my ways as a quilter. Since then I've tried to mainly buy vintage or recycled fabric, and use up 99% of my scraps rather than discard them.

I was happy with this book from the moment it arrived, as it's spiral-bound so it lays flat, and offers 28 different sewing projects using a variety of recycled materials. The projects are also interesting and different from what I've seen in other books on this topic. The projects are elegantly simple, and most seem fairly easy to make. If you're new to sewing or printing on fabric, there are chapters on both with good instructions in the beginning of the book.

Of special interest to me is a section on burlap, of which I have about a yard on hand that I've yet to make into something. I'm also delighted to see some sewing projects made out of jersey, linen and wool. I also liked one idea of taking old t-shirts and a bed sheet and making them into a comfortable-looking throw blanket.

I might challenge myself to make at least one of the projects from this book as a birthday gift for my favorite person (she's all about saving the environment, and I still have five months before her birthday arrives.) I'd also like to incorporate the author's ideas into my own future designs and projects. Highly recommended.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Journal Find

This is a page from my 2010 poetry journal. My handwriting isn't the best, so I'll transcribe it: If my heart survives to tell all the secrets kept inside it will be an abalone shell in which the beauty did reside. But I think I will always be lost to the tides that rage in me . . . humbling and polishing . . . I don't write many self-portrait poems, but this one isn't too embarrassing. A bit overly dramatic, but the girl I was eleven years ago went through some tough times. I'm in a much more peaceful place today.
Post a Comment
Read more

Stuff

After finding this Caron one pound skein of lovely peach yarn in my thrifted lot I raided my stash for two cakes of Mandala in Pegasus, which matches it perfectly. For practice and hand therapy I'm going to make another Worth Street Afghan with this free pattern , but this time I'll use the yarn that was recommended for it plus the one pound skein. I'm not quite ready to do the vintage/recycled linen quilt I had planned (still a bit too nervous about the idea), so I'm going to use some color therapy and make a quilt from these thrifted green fat quarters. I considered doing another Yellow Brick road patchwork pattern, but I might go with a split rail fence like this one.
Post a Comment
Read more

Another World

Since I'm watching more Japanese dramas these days I'm able to find more hidden gems, like the drama Silent . This is a subtle, emotional romance series, and authentically portrays what it's like to deal with a major disability while trying to get on with life and fall in love. Here's the story: in high school Sou Sakura (Meguro Ren) and Tsumugi Aoba (Haruna Kawaguchi) are a young couple. They have the same quirky sense of humor, love music, and really enjoy being with each other. The fact that they're the most attractive couple in school is obvious, but the innocent and fun nature of their relationship is what makes it so perfect. They just like talking with each other. Then, quite suddenly, Sou dumps Tsumugi (by text, no less, making him a giant ass) and vanishes. Years later Tsumugi is now in a relationship with another guy, with whom she's happy, and is looking for a place where they can live together. By accident she runs into Sou, and discovers ...
Post a Comment
Read more