Welcome once again to ScrapHappy Day!
It’s the day my friend Gun in Sweden and I host ScrapHappy, a day for showing something made from scraps.
I had to leave the shop name in!
Anyone who remembers this coat and the bag I made to match will not be surprised that there were luscious scraps to be used up.
The fabrics were so pretty and the pieces so substantial that I simply couldn’t bear to throw them out, although I couldn’t immediately think what to do with them. They’re also backed with grey wool batting, so not suitable for lighter purposes. They’ve sat in a bag until I had a brainwave. The coat itself is very warm, too warm for our northern climate, but something less substantial would work well.
I have an olive drab fleece gilet/ bodywarmer/ hooded waistcoat. It’s a good one, a 30 year old vintage Airwalk I bought in my early 30s, which comes out year after year on the chillier days of our mild winters. I don’t like the colour much, but it’s so useful. You see where I’m going with this, don’t you? I have just enough scrap left from the coat to cover the body part in a stained-glassy sort of way, with the joins covered with black bias tape.
This is where I’m at so far. The pieces are stitched down directly onto the fleece with strong quilting thread and the larger ones are also quilted down to make them stable. I’ve pinned down the bias tape, which I’ll hemstitch carefully on either side to cover the raw edges. It’s extremely fiddly, but also extremely satisfying, and by the time winter arrives late May/June, I should have it done. I’m still debating what to do with the hood. I never use it, and I’m contemplating cutting it off and forming a sort of rolled collar. Or not. I’ll see how it goes.
ScrapHappy is open to anyone using up scraps of anything – no new materials. It can be a quilt block, pincushion, bag or hat, socks or a sculpture. Anything made of genuine scraps is eligible (including food). If your scrap collection is out of control and you’d like to turn them into something beautiful or useful instead of leaving them to collect dust in the cupboard, why not join us on the 15th of each month? Either email me at the address on my Contact Me page, or leave a comment below. You can also contact Gun via her blog to join. We welcome new members. You don’t have to worry about making a long term commitment or even join in every month, just let either of us know a day or so in advance if you’re new and you’ll have something to show, so we can add your link. Regular contributors will receive an email reminder three days before the event.
Here are the links for everyone who joins ScrapHappy from time to time (they may not post every time, but their blogs are still worth looking at). Fellow ScrapHappy posters, please update your lists to match the one below, as things have changed recently.
Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Nóilin, Viv, Karrin, Amo, Alissa,
Lynn, Tierney and Hannah
See below for the list of participants. These include names that either offered from last time or have joined from last month’s call to action. If you want to join us, or think you should be there too, by prior request or previous participation, let me know asap! Conversely, if you are on this list, but can no longer participate please let me know asap. Block allocation starts soon.
talltalesfromchiconia 