Packrats of the World Unite!

Yes, I admit it. I must come clean to clear my conscience. I am a *gasp* packrat, an accumulator of all things transformable. However, I like the synonym for packrat better: gatherer. Somehow that sounds more lofty.

I come from a long line of pack rats. As long as I can remember, my Mom has always had a huge stash of what she calls "raw materials." My Dad, too - only he called his

stuff "good stuff." Everything was fair game to become "raw materials" or "good stuff."

I have loved fabric ever since I was little. It just looked so pretty and felt so nice. My first introduction to recycling beautiful fabric was when I was in junior high school - okay, now I'm telling my age. In the 60's (the LATE 60s, thank you very much). Yep - before recycling was all the rage. My Dad had a GORGEOUS brown wool nubby tweed two-piece suit he didn't want to wear anymore. Well, I just couldn't let that great wool go to wool-tweed-suit heaven, so I cut it up and remade myself a pair of slacks to wear with my favorite dark brown sweater.

So, what is the moral of the story? Things made of fabric are not what they seem. A silk shirt is really a purse lining. A shrunk wool sweater is really a little bitty girl's coat. A linen dress is really a tote..... Get my drift? Now you don't have to feel guilty about saving a cast-off somethings anymore. They have now become "raw materials" that have been *gathered* so as to be ready to be transformed into whatever your mind can imagine. Have fun, my fellow packrat, and gather to your heart's content!

This used to be a T-shirt. Now it is a wrist cuff wallet for runners, walkers and bikers.

This was a wool sweater at one time. I shrunk it down with REALLY hot water and then cut it into circles. They looked kind of plain, so I needle felted the little garden design onto them.

This used to be a ladies cotton blouse - you know, the plain kind of long sleeved shirt. As a kids church teacher, when I needed art smocks to protect my little students' Sunday best frocks, I figured out that I could cut off the collars, whack off the cuffs and put the shirts on backwards. Voila! A kid's art smock. This is the perfected version.

Once upon a time this was a 100% cotton pillowcase. Now it is a sustainable market bag that holds LOTS of groceries - or garage sale finds - or maybe thrift shop treasures that we are *gathering.*

And this is my current favorite. Believe it or not, this used to be a wild and wacky tie-dyed T-shirt. Now it is yarn that is pretty to look at in its current form of a yarn cake. Hmm.... I may never even take it off my shelf, it is so yummy.

A New Blouse

I was at the thrift shop the other day and bought this VERY cute summer blouse - it fits me perfectly and has the best little details.  It also has a peplum, which I just LOVE.  Well, I started to wear it and something about it just didn't seem quite right.  I walked around the house in it for awhile, but there was just something about it that bugged me.  I finally figured it out: it was the collar.  It was just too big and floppy to suit me.  

Oh no!  Now what to do?  The blouse was so perfect otherwise! And, I paid $3.99 for it at the thrift shop, a premium price.  Well, it hit me - I could ditch the collar altogether, which I proceeded to do.  Now the blouse is absolutely just right.

         

Here is the blouse with the collar cut off. I used this vintage seam binding to finish off the cut edges.  I have to say, it does pay to be a packrat!

Isn't this the most beautiful ribbon?  It's really easy to use.  Just remember it has no stretch at all, so you will have to ease it a little bit around the corners.

The next thing I did was add the binding starting from the right bottom front, all the way around and ending at the left bottom front.   I sewed the binding on the INSIDE of the blouse.  

Then I pressed the binding towards the edge of the fabric.  After that I wrapped it around to the front and sewed it down.  If you have trouble with the buttons making your lines wavy, try using a zipper foot for the button edge.  

Here's the same blouse without the collar.  Much more to my liking!

Here's a close-up detail where you can see the bound edges.  Now I can't wait to wear my new blouse!