Did you ever paw through your stash and find a piece of fabric that was so ugly, you could not remember where you bought it, when you bought it, or who gave it to (or inflicted it on) you? Maybe it is the natural consequence of having a decades-old stash. After all, when I started quilting, Jim Croce and the Carpenters were churning out hit singles.
Truly, I have come to believe in Bonnie Hunter's maxim: "If it's still ugly, you haven't cut it small enough." and a lot of really putrid colors have made it into recent quilt tops. There is liver colored fabricin the last few tops I've made, hiding in plain sight, surrounded by snappier and happier colors.
But yesterday, I came upon a real doozy. I said to myself, "how do I dispense with this?" I am too frugal to throw it away, and didn't have an immediate need for it in a backing. I remembered that a crochet project downstairs involved a jumbo skein of baby yarn, and I was tired of pulling the knot of the AC Moore plastic bag in which it resided. I needed to keep the skein covered and free from cat hair, which seems to always flow in my direction from the quiltorium cats, no matter what room they are in.
So I quickly made a little drawstring bag from the whole fat quarter.
Now, I love my tiger lilies in the summer, but they are orange, not rusty brown like in this fabric. I don't know who came up with this colorway, and I hope I have used up the last untouched piece of it.
Do you have any other strategies for dealing with ugly old fabric. Yes, I use it up in pieced backings, what else do you do with it? Leave a comment and let me know!
Truly, I have come to believe in Bonnie Hunter's maxim: "If it's still ugly, you haven't cut it small enough." and a lot of really putrid colors have made it into recent quilt tops. There is liver colored fabricin the last few tops I've made, hiding in plain sight, surrounded by snappier and happier colors.
But yesterday, I came upon a real doozy. I said to myself, "how do I dispense with this?" I am too frugal to throw it away, and didn't have an immediate need for it in a backing. I remembered that a crochet project downstairs involved a jumbo skein of baby yarn, and I was tired of pulling the knot of the AC Moore plastic bag in which it resided. I needed to keep the skein covered and free from cat hair, which seems to always flow in my direction from the quiltorium cats, no matter what room they are in.
So I quickly made a little drawstring bag from the whole fat quarter.
Do you have any other strategies for dealing with ugly old fabric. Yes, I use it up in pieced backings, what else do you do with it? Leave a comment and let me know!
My stash isn't old enough to have generated anything REALLY ugly, but occasionally I get some strange stuff when I buy a lot of fabric on eBay. If it's not cotton, I make dog bedding covers out of it. The rest goes into a bag labeled "WTF Fabrics" which amuses my husband :) So far, after a few months of stewing in the bag, a use appears for it. So I guess I count on serendipity to take care of it for me!
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