I’ve heard of several quilters recently who have been recycling men’s shirts into quilts. 

*These might be shirts from a family member and thus evoke memories.

*They could be shirts you’ve acquired at a second hand store and thought would make a colorful quilt.

*You might have some colorful shirts with Hawaiian prints that would be very striking in a quilt.

*They may be shirts you were going to get rid of and then had an “Ah! Ha!” moment when you decided they’d make good fabric for a quilt.

Lauren Smith and Derek Fagerstrom at Design*Sponge created an interesting quilt from some of Derek’s shirts and a duvet cover.  Take a look at: diy wednesday: vintage shirt patchwork “quilt.”  They also give you complete instructions for making your own vintage shirt quilt. 

For variation, you could use women’s blouses, old dresses, skirts, and other colorful fabrics.  Their quilt reminds me of popular ones I made when I operated my at-home quiltmaking business.  Those created with large squares went together quickly and could be priced more reasonably than time consuming designs.

(I used 7-inch or 5-inch squares instead of the 11-inch ones Derek  and Lauren did.) 

How have you become creative with older fabrics or by recycling fabrics?

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

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Memory Quilts from Old Shirts

They reminded me of a wedding shower gift from my husband’s aunt!  She had given me a set of placemats and napkins…white background with blue flowers and green leaves.  No swirls, but the tablecloth design at Revival Fabrics immediately reminded me of this gift, which I’d kept in pristine condition all these years. 

Jim and I were married in 1960.  So as I looked at this tablecloth that reminded me of Aunt Margaret’s shower gift, I wondered if I should feel my age…or rejoice that I’m still healthy and active.

              My daughter and I do find it fun to collect vintage table linens, along with vintage fabrics.  As I look at those at Revival Fabrics, I’m carried back to my teen and young married years.  Some also remind me of wedding gifts my mom received and used when we had guests.

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Am I a “Vintage” Quilter?

Laurie Maier, a collector of vintage fabrics, found that Fabrics Are Her Bag.  After purchasing one at a craft fair and discovering it wasn’t well made, Laurie decided to make one herself.   She began making them for family and friends.  Before long, her business, Blue Indigo, was launched.  (Don’t you love the name?)

This story by Carole LaMond, in the Lincoln (MA) Journal, provides very interesting insight into Laurie’s business and where a love of fabric can take you.

                                        Tote bags and purses are another aspect of quilting and fabric art that lends itself to originality and creativity.  My daughter made tote bags from old jeans for her daughter, herself, and me that draw comments (complimentary ones!) whenever we use them.  She was given one by a qulting friend as a Christmas gift that has an exotic Oriental theme with gold and browns and metallic adornments.

What have you made in the way of tote bags that you’d like to share?

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If You’re a Fabric Fanatic, You Can Make Quilted Tote Bags

 I discovered fascinating wall art with the artist using some of her grandmother’s vintage fabrics at How about orange…..  The framed hangings of vintage fabric flower petals are bold and colorful and created without stitching. 

Graphic designer, Jessica Jones also provides a tutorial for the hangings and book marks, actually relatively simple to create, yet stunning.  Her fabrics also took me back to the years when I sat beside my grandmother and stitched quilts.  (Does that make me vintage?!!)

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Fascinating Vintage Fabric Wall Art…a Variation of Quilting

Cyndi also writes a b5media blog about multi media art, Layers Upon Layers (www.layersuponlayers.com)  She says she’s not a traditional quilter, although she’s done traditional quilting. 

MEA:  Cyndi, would you tell us something about you, your art, and your blog?

CYNDI:  I’m a mixed media artist who mostly makes jewelry, but I also play around with all different forms of collage, from purely digital, to traditional, to experimental art quilts.  I make quite a few mixed media quilts, combining paper and fabric.  In fact, I’ve got a little tutorial on the blog about it:  http://www.layersuponlayers.com/paper-quilting/

MEA:  How/why did you start collecting old fabrics?

CYNDI: I started my fabric collecting with old pieces of lace and clothing that had interesting beadwork or buttons. I did a lot of altered clothing for myself as I was growing up, using some of these finds, and was also lucky enough to have inherited many of my grandmother’s fine couture pieces.  She was quite a fashion-plate, not a milk-and-cookies grandma.

I kept many articles of my own clothing that meant something to me, and one day woke up to find they had become vintage!  I started to disassemble clothing that I had made or embellished and reworking it into other art forms.  From there, the need developed to collect pieces I might want to use in my collage and quilt work. 

I have always been drawn to fabrics that are older.  Since many of them are extremely delicate, good solid stabilized pieces like collages are the perfect way to show them off.

MEA:  Where do you find old fabrics [for those who would like to start collecting]?

CYNDI:  Mostly at antique malls.  I live near an old mill area, where textiles were once the major industry.  Even though I usually go to antique shops rather than junk shops, I find that the fabrics are pretty reasonable around here in New England.  I also have purchased some fabrics on eBay when I needed a specific piece, but this is pretty unusual.  It will be easier on a collector who is fortunate enough to like the products of the local industry, and it will be much cheaper.

MEA:  Do you have any projects planned with these fabrics?

CYNDI:  Constantly!  There are always pieces in the works or in the sketchbook: http://www.why-not-art.com/collages-quilts.html

Thanks, Cyndi, for sharing your experiences about old fabrics.  You’ve inspired me and I’m sure other readers will glean ideas from you.

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Cyndi Lavin, Mixed Media Artist & Fabric Collector

I found my vintage fabrics stored among old quilt blocks in my childhood home, fabric scraps from sewing projects of my childhood (I may not consider myself vintage but perhaps my grandchildren and their friends do!), and some fabrics my daughter and I have discovered at thrift shops.

Also, we’ve found old feed sacks at yard sales.  These I remember from childhood.  My aunt and grandmother used them in their sewing and quilting.  In the 1930s and 1940, some cattle and poultry feed distributors put the feed into cloth bags with designs printed on them.  The farm ladies used these for their sewing.

It’s interesting, as well, to learn the origins and stories of old fabrics.  Also, many quilt fabric stores now carry reproductions of these antique fabrics.

The book, Cotton Candy Quilts: Using Feedsacks, Vintage & Reproduction Fabrics, gives more information about this topic.

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Collecting Old Fabrics for Quilts and Mixed Media Art