the trouble with vintage fabrics...

is that I can never bring my self to make things with it!
On my visits to other blogs I see people blithely creating lovely bags, clothes and bits and pieces from vintage fabric with seemingly no misgivings at all.
Which leads me to wonder why it is that I have such an issue with using any of mine. Apart from using tiny pieces as trims or embellishments that is.It's not as though I only have a piece or two . Actually I have quite a bit - and I somehow seem to keep acquiring more.
I decided that I needed a small project to ease myself into the right mindset for actually cutting up and (horror) using some of my vintage fabric hoard. I needed a roll for my crochet hooks and as I was about to press the "buy now"  button on Etsy, realised that I could make one myself. I drew up a  pattern and then out came the piles of fabric. After a bit of agonising over what was to be sacrificed, here it is ready to sew.

The black and white stripe and the pale pink piece are from a vintage obi I bought on this Melbourne trip,the French antique ticking is from the little shop down the street, and the thick,heavy linen is also French and vintage. Maggie ( my lovely M-I-L) gave it to me - something she had purchased and then never used. Both the obi and the ticking are faded and have some age marks but I really like the worn soft look of them. I still have to decide on the trim to tie it all up with- either deep red or cornflower blue grosgrain ribbon from my hoard of vintage trim. Maybe I'll even use a vintage button!
So, for me a big step towards enjoying using my treasured fabrics and bits.....I did all of the sewing today while Charlie slept and I have only to finish the hand sewing. I'll put pics up tomorrow to show you the results. Next up something bigger- a bag!

Comments

[gkgirl]

can't wait to see the results...
looks very promising so far!
:)

[Alex]

Especially that linen looks like a fabric that would go on a looooooong vacation in those certain regions of my shelves I normally only dream about but never touch...
Congrats on the cutting, that was brave!

[melissa]

congrats on cutting into your treasured pieces- I know what you mean about the difficulty of cutting into them, but I'm starting to feel quite comfortable doing it because I feel as though I'm sort of 'showing it more love' if that makes any sense. Like by using the fabrics, I'm putting them out there in the world for more people to see and enjoy, rather than keeping them secret...

[Anastasia]

Im the same! I keep buying it but never really use it to make stuff - I keep saying ..'Oneday'.. still love all my vintage fabric pieces though.

[Beata]

I know exactly where you're coming from - I have a very separate pile in my rather extensive collection of fabric (I'm what you may call fabric-obssessed..) which is solely dedicated to my vintage fabric - the pile keeps getting bigger and bigger because I seem to be only adding to it and not using any of it..I do have somewhat of a rule about using vintage fabrics which makes me feel better about using some of these one-of-a-kind special pieces of fabric: I try and use them in home decor items such quilts, blankets, cushions which I know will most probably have a longer life then say, a piece of clothing...Your blog is a new discovery and I'm enjoying reading it!