I love to use found, reclaimed, vintage and thrifted fabric in my quilts. I love that these fabrics find another new home with me, and where ever my quilts end up. Some of the fabric become very dear to me. For my 2017 Year of The Stash manifesto, I included the fact that finding and using these materials should be a priority.
I like to look back and reminisce about them when looking at my quilts. I thought my readers might, too. For this first (perhaps only) installment, I wanted to look back on a very old quilt I made. I no longer have this quilt as it was a wedding anniversary gift, but I dug out some old photos to show.
Here are the quilt front and back after I photographed them many years ago before gifting.
Below, the highlighted areas (in yellow) show vintage fabric I used to create this quilt.
Most of the vintage fabric I used for this quilt came from mine or my mother's stash. I pieced this quilt a long time ago in Vermont and also used new fabric I had purchased there. This is an old style of squares and stripes improve piecing that I don't use too often any more.
Here the yellow highlight was a vintage square. The red highlight is a piece of fabric that was part of a display at the wedding of dear friends. For this anniversary quilt I wanted to incorporate it.
Using vintage and reclaimed fabric and participating in YOTS, for me, are both ways to be mindful of what I'm sewing and why I'm sewing.
Here's my month Stash Update:
Fabric Added from the Since Last Update: 0
Fabric Added Year to Date: Approximately 13.25
Fabric Used Since Since Last Update: Approximately 2.5 yd
Fabric Used Year to Date: Approximately 6.5 yd
I'm feeling pretty good about my sewing this year so far. I wish I was doing more, of course, but I feel happy about what I am getting done. I have a lot of BOMs and Projects going that are helping me shop and bust my stash. I really like seeing that fabric becoming blocks and quilts instead of just sitting on the shelves.
Share your Year of the Stash progress in the comments!