After we left our children at school the other day, my friend Jeanette asked if I could come around to her car because she had some sewing stuff in the boot (trunk) for me.
It was 30 metres of grey corduroy! Some of it has been cut, but most of it is still on this huge (and heavy!) roll. She had started recovering her living room sofa but got frustrated along the way and decided to just buy a new sofa and be done with it. I don’t blame her — that’s a very hard job.
It’s lovely fabric, very good quality but too thin for clothing — so what in the world can I do with it? Our living room is mostly jade green, so grey corduroy won’t work for us. I’d really like to use the fabric for some kind of charity/donation project.
I thought about making reusable grocery/shopping bags for the next school fair and decorating them with brightly coloured twin-needle machine embroidery — but that’s my only idea so far. Even Nigel the Quilting Dog is drawing a blank on this problem! 😉
And my biggest dilemma of the day — do I have to count this fabric in my stash report? Yes, I suppose to be really “legal”, I should count it. And then when I sew it up, I’ll get to count it as a big finish.
I have been sewing a lot this weekend but haven’t finished anything yet. I’ve been using two of my favourite vintage Singer machines — that’s Nancy, the 185K, on the left, and Gloria, the 404G, on the right (and the corduroy in the middle!). 😉
Here are my figures for the week:
Bought this week: 0
Received as a gift: 33 yards (30 metres)
Bought year-to-date: 16 yards
Used this week: 0
Used year-to-date: 24.5 yards
Used (net): -24.5 yards
To see how others are getting along with their stashbusting this week, please visit Judy’s blog.
Happy Quilting!
Reusable grocery bags are always a great idea. I don’t know what else to do with it… because when I have remnants, I make grocery bags out of my heavier fabrics!
Can you make pet beds, filled with left over pieces of fabric and batting, for your animal shelter?
Can it be used for quilt backs?
Throw pillows for the next school fair?
Really simple curtains with with fabric trim to brighten them, would be cute in a boy’s room.
You could even use it as wallpaper.
the totes are a great idea. If you live near a nursing home bags could be made to fit on a walker also.
I don’t include gifted fabric especially if it is for charity stuff as adding to my stash. then also I don’t count it when it goes out. I keep the fabric seperate and when I cut it up into kits I only count any fabric of my own as going out if I add something to the donated fabrics.
Don’t count it until you use it! I think that should be an official rule on fabric given to you!!! The grocery bags sound like a great idea.
First thing I thought was your shopping bags you make. They will be really study.
if it is very lightweight, you could use it as backing for quilts, maybe for kids? or even use it IN the quilt, alternating it with blocks of quilting fabrics,, just an idea
Beth in Dallas
Seems like several of us had our numbers go up this week due to gifts.
The bags sound like a great idea. If it is a light weight fabric, maybe you could make dresses for charity, like Africa, where they need clothes but not something too heavy weight.
You could also use it as batting for quilts that do not need to be really warm. Backings for quilts is also a great way to use it as well as the reuseable bag. You can make charity school bags too.
All great ideas everyone had. I like the bags, walker bags, and quilt backing. Especially if you tie a quilt instead of quilt it. I know Mary (heartstrings group) has tied lots of quilts alond Jay, they would have ideas of how well it works.
If someone gives me fabric, I don’t count it. I only count things I spent money on.
Another option could be to make lap quilts for wheelchair bound folks. Older people sometimes like the differences in textures.
Liz
I was gifted several yards of corduroy several years ago – it had come from a lady who made card table tablecloths, apparently it’s good as the deck of cards don’t slip around. Anyway, with the pieces I was given, I made “wheat bags” … heat packs. I actually used rice in the ones I made. I just made them long and thin – several elderly friends had asked me to make them and they were a real hit! I’m still using one today that I made probably about 6 years ago.
Hope this helps!
Happy Sewing!
Thank you for all the brilliant creative ideas! And I certainly have enough fabric to try out every one of your suggestions! My husband also suggested using the corduroy for quilt backs (he’s learning to think like a quilter now!), so I have cut about 1/4 yard to put through the washer and dryer today to test for durability. When I get some things made up, I’ll post about it again and show you what I’ve done. Take care. 🙂