BLOG 481

Blog 481

 

My scrap blocks continue to pile up and there are still a lot of scraps to go!!! I seem to have wire trays and bags full and they are in danger of spilling out over the floor. All these have been accumulated over about 20 years, probably from the time that I started to work only in Batiks and Bali’s. It was then that I first acknowledged that working with colour made me very happy and that was the way I wanted to feel about my work. I occasionally buy patterned fabrics in this range but I have mainly stuck to un-patterned ones, particularly ones that move through several colours.

 

              Scraps

 

 

              More scraps

 

 

You would think that I had enough to occupy my time, but when I was sewing this week, I looked at my litter container and I thought to myself,’ how small is small?’ Normally I throw these tiny bits away without a backward glance but I wondered what I could do with them, if anything? I Googled the idea and decided to try one of the many projects on making your own fabric from scraps. Google offers an ever-open door to the best visual way of learning and it is all there at our finger-tips. I am always in awe of this technology! I tried one of the methods which didn’t take long, just a bit of concentrated application. Only after doing this could I decide if it was for me or not.

              Shavings

 

METHOD

I decided to make 2 small squares for a trial run. I cut two 5” squares of a backing fabric and two of a soluble medium (Gutterman’s Solvy). I put a backing square with a soluble square and sewed around 3 sides with ¼” seam allowance to create a pocket. (You could just use 2 layers of Solvy to make the pocket but I wanted to use a fabric backing for my trial run.)

               Squares

 

            Pocket

 

 

I stuffed some of the fabric shavings into each pocket, using the blunt end of a seam ripper to make sure that the shavings went to the corners and were evenly spread out. I sewed along the open edge to stop the shavings from escaping.

               Filled pocket

 

I then put the pocket under the machine with a free motion foot and sewed through the layers; any stitch design seemed to work. (You could imagine trying to do this without a cover; it would be a nightmare!)

             Machining

 

              Free motion 1

 

              Free motion 2

 

 

The sewn squares were then placed in a Pyrex bowl and hot water was poured over them. This melted the soluble away to leave the shavings stitched to the fabric square. I repeated this a couple of times to wash away all the Solvy and then left them to dry.  

 

              Pyrex bowl

 

             Hot water

 

           Dried square 1

 

              Dried square 2

 

 
And there you have it. Do I like the method? Yes, it’s fiddly but not complicated.

Do I like the resulting squares? Not really. It seems to me to be using up these tiny bits of fabric just for the sake of it and perhaps life is just too short?! I think I am happy to let these bits go into the bin, just like I used to do a week ago! QED