Repurposing

Do you ever repurpose clothes and other fiber related items in ways that bring new life and new uses to old things? I've been intrigued with quilts made from vintage sheets and clothes remade into something new and fashionable. Even have a small collection of vintage sheets I've gathered with the intention of making a modern quilt one of these days.

When Stitch magazine issued a call for entries for their winter edition, I decided to give the sustainable, upcycled category for fashion and home a try. Each issue has a few different categories featuring a variety of sewing projects. Everything from clothing and home decor to quilts can be found within their pages.

Since the call for entries was for a winter issue, I decided to play with recycling old sweaters and woolen jackets into a home decor project.

Using the sleeves from a variety of sweaters and a couple of jackets, I created a series of 6 vase wraps. I think they give a warm cozy feeling to the vases. I used winter whites and grays for a soft subtle palette and filled them with twigs that had tiny berries still clinging to the branches.

These two use sleek ribbed sweaters.

Here I used a baggy tweed sweater and a delicate lacy one.

The final two used woolen jackets for a slightly more tailored look.

This has been a year of submissions for me as I try my hand at getting published and I've been fortunate to find success with two Interweave publications; Stitch and Modern Patchwork as well as GenerationQ Magazine. If you've ever considered submitting a quilt or other sewing project . . . do it!!!

  

Here's a link to the submissions page for Interweave. And here's a link for GenerationQ.
Now go submit something. You'll never know until you try. Maybe I'll be reading about your project in the next issue.  : )

I'm linking up with Cindy at Live a Colorful Life for a Really Random Thursday post. Hop on over to see what other random things have been happening in the quilting world.