Sewing Supplies and Fabrics for the Thrifty and Green
If you love thrift stores and garage sales, this is the column for you. There’s gold in them thar hills—sewing gold! Change your perspective a little and look at the world as one big fabric store and you’ll find all kinds of treasures to add to your stash. – Have a closet full of old bridesmaid or prom dresses? Use them to make a quilt or a patchwork pillow. Give the bride a memento from her wedding by printing her wedding details on a piece of printable fabric. Then, use fabrics, trims, and even petticoat tulle from the bridesmaid dresses (or even the bride’s dress if you have scraps from alterations) to artfully dress a pillow she can keep always. Give your daughter a memento of her high-school dances with a quilt made with fabric from her dresses. Create an appliqué of a dress to put in each square using the fabric from her gowns. – Handkerchiefs, gloves, scarves, bandanas, lace & linens. When I was a child, we had to have a new embroidered handkerchief and a pair of white gloves every Easter. Sew these mementos into projects to create an artistic memoir. Trims can often be pricey when new, so take them off of old garments or lingerie and re-use them. Make a dress from a vintage pillow case or from a bandana. – Used Clothing...
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Helpful Knitting Tips
Knitting is a way to use needles to weave yarn together to make an object. Knitting is a great practical skill to have to make clothing or household items. It is also a very relaxing pastime. Knitting your own pieces can be very rewarding. It’s fun to see your efforts come to fruition with a completed piece. If you are interested in starting to knit, you first need to get some basic supplies and then need to learn to create basic stitches. You will need two knitting needles and some yarn in a color of your choosing. Knitting needles should be of medium size to start as it may be awkward to learn using small or oversized needles. Size 8 needles are good size to start with. Use a basic yarn for your first project. Although it’s likely you will be tempted by all the very pretty and fancy yarns available, you need to start with a basic yarn so you can easily see your stitches. It will make learning much easier. You will also need a pattern to create whatever you’d like. It is advisable to start off with an easy project to learn the basics before moving on to something more complicated like knitting a sweater. My first knitting project was a dishcloth. To learn, you may want to read on the Internet or get some books with illustrations. Many community centers also offer classes...
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