• About…

Satin & Sand

~ Reflections on Beauty

Satin & Sand

Tag Archives: Upcycling

Beautiful Quilt With Dad’s Shirt Fabric…

16 Wednesday Oct 2024

Posted by Satin & Sand in beautiful, Design, Father, Photography, Poetry, Sewing, Upcycling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Crafts, Dad, Poetry, Quilt, quilting, quilts, Sewing, Upcycling

© Joan Currie – Our quilt in progress…

Grandad’s Quilt for You by Joan Currie

With needles keen, we stitch a quilt,
From Grandad’s shirts, worn soft with years,
The very ones you helped me choose,
Each shade of blue he held so dear.

The solid hues, the stripes, the checks,
Each fabric as familiar as he,
For birthday, Christmas, wrapped with care,
You’d place the gift upon his knee.

And oh, how he would smile so bright,
Holding aloft his cherished blue,
For all to see the color’s light,
That whispered of his love for you.

We measured then, with careful hand,
And cut the cloth in even squares,
Each stitch was placed with loving thread,
To weave together tender cares.

The backing soft, the lining pure,
Hand-quilted, tufted with delight.
This quilt now seems to you so sure,
A cloak that wraps you in the night.

You say it feels like his embrace,
His arms around you as you sleep,
And in the warmth, you find his grace,
In every seam his love runs deep.

My youngest daughter and I made the quilt shown above from my late Dad’s shirts. It was a wonderful project to do together and I am so glad that she suggested it! I know my Dad continues to be with her (and all of us) in spirit!

Five Beautiful Tips on how to Upcycle Clothing…

29 Sunday Jan 2023

Posted by Satin & Sand in Crafts, Design, Fashion, Sewing, Tips, Upcycling

≈ Comments Off on Five Beautiful Tips on how to Upcycle Clothing…

Tags

beautiful, Five tips, Sewing, Upcycling

© Joan Currie – From blouse to bag. Simplicity pattern #2685, style D.

Upcycle definition: reuse discarded objects or material in such as way as to create a product of a higher quality or value than the original.

Last summer, I made a last minute purchase of a blouse to wear at a family celebration. Although I liked the fabric, it never really fit me properly despite my best tailoring efforts to salvage it. Yesterday, when I needed a black bag to go with an outfit, I thought it was time to put the blouse to a better use. I am happy with the result and thought I would share some upcycling and sewing tips:

  1. Source the fabric for your project from your clothes or family and friends’ donation boxes, garage sales, and thrift stores. Look for the largest sizes to yield the most fabric yardage.
  2. Be resourceful and don’t limit yourself to just clothing: wraps, and even sheets. drapes, and tablecloths can work well.
  3. Find a simple sewing pattern that will be easy to modify. I had found Simplicity pattern #2685 on Etsy. It required more fabric than what I could harvest from the blouse, so I decided to use a different, but complementary, fabric from my quilt stash for the lining. The lining fabric I selected wasn’t quite wide enough, but by decreasing the size of the lining pleats by a little, I got it to fit.
  4. Be creative by adding embellishments such as buttons and piping on the outside placard to make the bag truly your own. In this case, the fabric was so busy, I decided to eliminate the decorative placard all together.
  5. Don’t be afraid to mix and match pattern pieces from the various styles within the pattern package to meet your needs. I usually lengthen the straps, add an interior pocket for my phone, and attach a carabiner for my car and house keys.

There you have it. Happy Upcycling! xo

Simplicity pattern #2685 D.

Archives

Copyright © 2010 – 2023 Joan Currie/Satin & Sand. All rights reserved. Do not use or reproduce without permission. Thank you!

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Satin & Sand
    • Join 352 other subscribers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Satin & Sand
    • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...