Op Shop, Oddments, Friends' Stashes

Using Old Fabrics and Seconds 

A great deal of my sewing in recent years has been with vintage fabric and oddments, sourced from a variety of places.

Each piece of fabric is a unique thing to me, much like an art work. I like to mull over individual pieces, deciding how best to use them, in the way a sculptor might get to know a piece of stone or driftwood, to decide what it is going to be.

Sometimes I am limited merely by the quantity of the remnant. Many of my pieces are too small to make a dress or skirt, for instance. This is one reason why I make so many scarves and bags!

The type of fabric needs to be suitable for the intended finished item. Denim won't make a flowing scarf; easily fraying georgette is unsuitable for a sturdy bag. I do like to push the boundaries with this, though, and try out unusual uses for fabrics.

One problem with buying remnants and off-cuts is that there can be hidden issues with a piece of fabric, from stains to holes to faults in the print or weave.

The same issue can sometimes happen when buying new fabric, so you should always check carefully before cutting out.

Stains

I opened out a piece bought from an op shop today, only to find something left behind by an insect. I scratched it off (and washed my fingernails!) then sprayed the stain, and others I found, with a prewash spray and worked at the stain, ready to go in the wash.

Prewashing/preshrinking is never a bad idea when buying fabric, so it isn't too much a hassle to wash the fabric before using it. It just makes me antsy because once I have picked up the fabric, I want to use it.

Anyway, marks can usually be washed out. Watch out for marks along fold lines, however, especially on old fabric. These will not usually go away, no matter how much you wash. Other marks, such as fade spots from being stored too long, will also not go away.

Holes and Tears

Sometimes fabrics have little holes in them, Older fabrics, stored a long time, can get moth holes, too. Tears near the edge are common. Stretch fabrics can have holes that are almost hidden - do a thorough search, gently pulling at the fabric and examining near the selvedge to check for holes.

Workarounds

A piece of stretchy knit fabric I bought at a Vinnies op shop (St Vincent de Paul, for the uninitiated - a wonderful charity that helps anyone in need) was quite sizeable - about 2.5 to 3 metres. On close examination of the fabric, however, I found it had a number of holes.

Undeterred by this (especially since I had probably paid all of $2 for the whole thing), I decided I could still make a waterfall jacket if I was careful. I pored over the piece, marking the locations of the holes with coloured pins. I then worked the pattern pieces around these holes, and not only managed to cut out a jacket, but I had enough to make a sleeveless tunic as well: my version of a twin-set.

A piece given to me by a friend had been in storage for some time and had developed storage spots. A dressmaker recently told me these are caused by dust, but that may just be her opinion. Whatever caused them, it didn't wash out. The spots were only fine and did not distract from the very pretty print, but the fold marks did, so I had to position the pattern pieces carefully around those. The most spot-marked areas I used for lining a bag. There was nothing intrinsically wrong with the fabric, merely spots affecting the aesthetics.

Faults can be used to effect, too. I once had an end of roll piece of fleecy, which had an Aztec print, but faded out to white towards the end of the roll. I used the print part to make the yoke and front pocket on a windcheater, and the blank section from the end of the roll for the body of the garment. The sleeves were cut from the section where the print was starting to fade to blank. It made a unique and really attractive child's top.

Fabric marking chalk is another tool to use to mark out areas to be avoided on a fabric. Basically, never pass up a piece if you like the look of it. There is always a way around imperfections.