|
How to Quilt>Scrap Quilts
Shopping at the Thrift Store for Fabric
Bonnie Hunter is a quilter who specializes in scrap quilts using fabric from thrift shops or donations from friends' closets. Recently she visited with us for our Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation, and the specific topic was how to choose the garments at a thrift shop that will make great fabric for a quilt. Here is a sampling of her answers: Penny: How do you know whether a particular garment would make a good fabric for a quilt? Bonnie: I look for garments the same way I look for fabric. The first thing I do is read the label. If I’m at Goodwill and find a shirt, I look on the label. It’s usually at the back of the collar or sometimes along the side seam. It lists the fiber content. If it says 100% cotton, then that’s the first thing I’ll look for. I’ll also look for a cotton-ramie blend. Those are two natural fibers that work well together. I’ll also look for a cotton-linen blend. It has a feeling like homespun. If it’s 100% cotton or those two blends, I will use them in a quilt. The next thing I check is how the fabric feels in my hand. It’s just like when you’re feeling fabric in a quilt store. We’ve all been to places where we’ve picked up a piece of fabric that was not so expensive and just didn’t like the feel of it. It felt waxy or stiff, or maybe the print was off. You could tell it was not what you wanted to put in your quilt. I look for the same kinds of things when I look for articles of clothing to cut up for fabric. It has to meet the feel test. Penny: You don’t use polyester. Bonnie: No, I don’t. Sometimes I’ll find something with a beautiful print, stripe or plaid on it. Women’s shirts are terrible. They usually end up saying something like 3% spandex. That’s a no and goes back in the pile. Men’s shirts, so far, have not incorporated spandex. It’s a fashion thing. I gravitate toward the men’s shirts because you can get a lot more fabric in an XXX men’s long-sleeve shirt than you can in a women’s XS, and there’s no spandex. Penny: How do you estimate how much fabric you’ll be able to get from a particular garment? Bonnie: The size of the garment will give you an idea. I also like the men’s shirts because they have fewer tucks and darts to deal with. Women’s shirts and blouses will often have the fabric on the bias so it’s more body-hugging and fits our curves better. Plus there are darts for the bust or along the waistline in the back to taper the shirt on women. You can get anywhere from a yard and a half to two yards of fabric from a man’s long-sleeve shirt. It depends on the size of the shirt. It’s a lot more fabric than you think. When you open up all the seams and lay the pieces out, there is a lot of fabric in that shirt. Penny: I never would have guessed that. Bonnie: The back of the shirt alone is usually bigger than a quarter yard. Then you have two fronts and two long sleeves plus the other parts. Penny: How can you tell what the fabric content is if there is no label, or do you pass on those? Bonnie: I feel it. Sometimes I will pass. If it’s something I absolutely love, I might try it. You can tell once you get it home. Press the iron to it. Some people call it the burn test, but you don’t need to go that far. If you have your iron on the cotton setting and try to iron a piece of polyester fabric, you get a fragrance like mothballs melting. It’s not pleasant. Penny: It shrivels up, too. Bonnie: A match isn’t always handy to try to do that. Sometimes I make a little snip and try to tear it. A polyester blend does not want to tear. It gets little runners in it and curls on the edges where the tear is. Then I just chalk up the $3 I spent on that used shirt as a mistake and do something else with it. I really do like to stick with natural fibers. Penny: Are there any fabrics or garments that you totally stay away from for your quilts? Obviously you avoid polyester. Bonnie: The polyester and spandex fibers are the main ones. I avoid things with a lot of darts, like I was talking about with the women’s clothing. I avoid things that are cut on the bias. It makes it harder, even if you were able to cut up the shirt. If you’re going to cut strips from that, then you have to cut those strips on the diagonal just to put things back on the straight grain. In thinking about how much effort you have to put into taking this thing apart to get a little bit of usable fabric, is it really worth your time? That’s the thing. Penny: Do you ever use pants? Bonnie: I have used pants. In fact, pajama bottoms are wonderful. There are some really fun ones, like the ones that have the label from Old Navy. I have found ones with Krispy Kreme donuts on them. There are fun pictures and novelty prints you can get in pajama pants. I have made denim quilts from jeans. I set aside a whole pile of khaki pants. I want to make a fun utility quilt with those. Those are heavy-duty quilts that are made to be used and loved. They’re not a beautiful quilt you’d want to put in a quilt show. There are reasons for making quilts. I love to make cute quilts that are used. Penny: Even corduroy might work for something like that, wouldn’t it? Bonnie: Corduroy is really fun. If you’ve ever seen the Quilts of Gee’s Bend or any of the African-American quilts from the Smithsonian, it is fabulous, innovative and amazing what these women made out of what little they had. They used a lot of corduroy and work clothing. It’s an inspiration.
Click here to learn more about the Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation with Bonnie Hunter. Happy Quilting!
Penny Halgren www.How-to-Quilt.com
©2009, Penny Halgren This article courtesy of http://www.How-To-Quilt.com. You may freely reprint this article on your website or in your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author name and URL remain intact.
|
|
