Making Quilts from Old Clothing

Most of the fabric that I make quilts with comes from old clothes that were going to be thrown away. I do buy new fabric when I am doing sewing for other people. All of the clothing that I can not wear or friends and family members do not want, I take the clothes and use them for making quilts and other projects.

I found this blog, http://quiltville.blogspot.com/ . The lady who has this blog makes her quilts out of old clothes. She has made some really neat quilts. She also wrote a quilt book called Scraps & Shirttails. You can preview her book here -
http://quiltville.com/scrapsandshirttailspreview.shtml .

I love to sewing and making quilts! I save all of the 100% cotton clothes for quilt making and all the flannel shirts and blue jeans I save to use in raggedy quilts and tied quilts.

Here are some pictures of one of my projects that is in the making now. It is all made from cotton clothing and the white center was made from an old sheet.
This is a quilt I am making with my mom, my sister, and my granny.





This is a Raggedy Quilt that I made with Mom, Sister, and Granny.

Raggedy quilts are made with a blue jean top and the back of the quilt can be made with homespun, flannel, or cotton. The quilt that I made in the picture is backed with cotton. A Raggedy Quilt is not quilted, I guess it is more of a blanket than a quilt. A Raggedy Quilt is sewn so all of the seams show in the top of the quilt. When a Raggedy quilt is all sewn together, all of the seams are clipped, then the quilt is washed ,dried, and the top of the quilt has the appearance of a pair of raggedy, frayed blue jeans.
The quilt in the picture is over six years old and has been used a lot.

-Front of Raggedy Quilt-
-Back of Raggedy Quilt-

To make a quilt top, all that is needed is a pattern, some material, a needle, and thread, you don't even need a sewing machine to make a quilt. Thin pieces of cardboard like cereal boxes, spaghetti boxes, back of old note-books work best for making a pattern.

Quilts made with small pieces, like the Double Wedding Ring quilt I have shown above, are wonderful to take along wherever I go, especially when I go somewhere where I have to wait, like when I go to the doctor, the dentist, etc..... I can get a lot of sewing done while I am sitting and waiting, actually, it seems like I can get a quilt done much faster sewing by hand than I can while sitting at the sewing machine. When I am sewing a quilt by hand, I can work on it anytime, anywhere.

I keep all of the pieces to each quilt in their own container so I don't get them mixed up with other projects I am working on. I keep my projects in tins, baskets, purses, etc....

Belle

Please visit my store - http://www.homesteaderbelle.blogspot.com/

Vintage Doiles, Wilton Garter, and Book

I have some things around the house that I am wanting sell, so I have decided to post them right here on my blog.

The picture above is a new in package Wilton Garter. It is very pretty! I would like to sell this for $3.50 + $1.50 shipping costs.

This is one of those Doiles that with starch it will stand up with a nice ruffly edge. This is a nice vintage piece. This doile is about seven inches in diameter. It is for sale at the price of $ + $1.50 shipping costs.

This is a lovely country blue color doile. It is about 10 inches in diameter. It is a pineapple design. I will sell this for $+ $1.50 shipping costs.

Cottage Living
Designing Comfortable Country Retreats
by Ellen M. Plante
This book is in excellent condition with dust-jacket. Almost every page has a large color photo of cottage homes. You could get some good decorating tips and ideas from this book. I want to sell this book for $8.00 + shipping costs that I will calculate with your zip code.

If you are interested in purchasing any of these items, send me an email. My email address is hometeaderbelle@yahoo.com . I accept Pay-Pal, checks, or money orders. If you want an item, but you can't pay for the prices that I have listed, make an offer. I do combine shipping. I will ship to countries outside the USA, but I will have to charge more on the shipping cost.

I will be listing more items here on my blog soon. Come back and visit my blog again!

Thank you for looking!

Belle

Quick-Change Cloth Pad Give Away!

I am having a giveaway for a Quick-Change cloth menstrual pad. You can read the rules of the giveaway and sign up there to win it at my store, From the Past. Be sure to leave you email or someway of cotacting you in your entry.

Thank you for reading my blog.
Belle
http://homesteaderbelle.blogspot.com/2008/12/blog-post.html