Fabric Disbursement -- Finis!

This marks the last installment of new fabrics looking for homes.
I shall continue to update those claimed, as they are gone.
Let's get right to it:


This is another piece of upholstery fabric. It is very heavy crushed velvet. I made a pantsuit out of this material when I was in high School -- only it was in turquoise. Hey: it was the '70's! This piece measures 3.5 yd X 56in.

This great lovely is going to a sweet lady in New England who recently updated her church's on-line bookkeeping system -- bringing The Friends into the 21st Century. Ironically, she is using this fabric to make a costume for a Renaissance Festival! I just love creative people!





This lot features a herringbone acrylic tweed-type fabric. Very substantial. Perhaps it could be a vest?? It measures 1.375 yd. X 54in. With it is a Royal Blue poly crepe knit that measures 1.375 yd. X 64in.









Next up is a silver-gray polyester double knit that is 1.5 yd. X 56in. It is featured with a white poly ribbed double knit that is also 1.5 yd X 56 in.















Finally: a silkie jacquard that is labeled, "Hamill Textiles 1986" it measures 1 yd X 45 in. With it are some weirdly-shaped remnants of peach cotton interlock. I remember the shirt I made out of this. I literally wore it out, I loved it so much! Great color, super comfy, and refused to stain! The main piece measures 1.875 yd long, and half of it is 23 in wide, the other half is 14 in wide. There are also 2 large scraps with it -- one could be short sleeves, the other could be ribbing or pocket or facing.


That's all for the time being. Now: let's get stitching!!!

Disbursement -- Day 4

Gone. All gone. Every fabric in this post has found a new home with a lovely Sunday School teacher of 9-yr-olds, who not only teaches her charges about kindness, love, and appreciation for their many blessings -- she bakes for them, too!! She recently rose to the challenge of creating worms in dirt cookies. (gummy worms stuck in a no-bake fudge cookie). an accomplished sewist who has recently gotten interested in late 20th Century fashions, she will give these a good home.







I shall be out of town this weekend, and so, there won't be any additions until Monday night. That gives you all 3 days to ponder which lots of fabric(s) you want.
Here are today's offerings:


Here are 2 pink polyester crepes, that each measure 1 yd X 44in. The Tea Rose is a lightweight crepe, suitable for lining, or a blouse. The pale pink is a tad heavier.






On the left is a Royal Blue polyester satin-weave. It is 2.5 yd X 60 in. With it is a lovely Rayon Challis. Wonderful fabric, just not my colour. It measures 3.125 yd X 58in.











Here is a nylon tricot suitable for nightwear, but then, could you get to sleep with this much bright colour staring you in the face??? I decided that I couldn't, so if someone wants it -- please help someone else and earn it. Look closely -- there are bright green frogs hiding amongst the flowers in 4 yd X 45in.








Lastly, (for the non) is a brown and yellow geometric poly print that is marked "Klopman Mills - 1970". It measures 3 yd X 45 in. I am offering it with a vintage polyester double-knit twill in Ivory that measures 7.5 yd X 45 in. This piece has some stains on it, but when I rubbed the worst one with mild soap and water, it came right out. I am confident that a good agitation in your washer will get all the stains out. You can't kill this stuff. Apparently.

Fabric Disbursement -- Day 3

2 fabric lots are gone, 8 originals remain, and here are 5 more for your consideration:





This first lot features a piece of insulated nylon (thin batting is bonded to thick nylon tricot). A bright orange-red, it measures 3.3 yd X 45in and begs to be Little Red Riding Hood's cloak. With it is a piece of red leopard print pinwale corduroy. Why is this in my collection?? It is 1.5 yd X 44in. It could be a child's overalls.






This lot has a green/black, silk/wool boucle knit that my husband brought back from Thailand in 1990. I made my "Chanel" jacket out of most of it. That's an interesting story . . . you probably don't want to hear it . . . it measures 1.125 yd X 62 in. The other piece is a black/silver print on gray cotton/silk gabardine. Bought in Dubai, it was a skirt for Varina (I think) and left a remnant that is .667 yd X 60in.

These are destined to new clothes.






You want knits? I've got some knits. (I once worked for Jantzen -- great employee discount!) The Ice Cream stripe (green, blue and pink on yellow) is a 68 in tubular knit that is 2.25 yd long. Next to it is a pink/gray cotton/Lycra piece that is .75 yd X 58 in. Lastly, there is a soft, cotton/poly pale yellow rib knit. It is 1.125 yd X 64 in.
Gone. gone to a sewist who has recently discovered knits






Here we have upholstery fabrics. This is odd, because I don't upholster, and don't care to learn. These were given to me by a kind, but relentless neighbor who didn't take "no" for an answer. The gold one with cream and coral fleur des lys on the left was cut to cover a bulletin board once, and that piece is 1 yd X 54 in. Remaining are pieces that measure 1.125 yd X 30 in and .5 yd X 84 in. The one on the right is a heavy silver acetate with turquoise flowers and charcoal stems. This monster measures 8 or 9 (I lost my place and didn't want to start over) yd X 48 in.






Finally: the children's lot. This features another Daisy Kingdom blue and white cotton print, Bouquet de Fleur #26417, and measures 1 yd X 44in. Next is a pink flocked cotton (you don't see that fabric every day [anymore]) that measures 4.125 yd X 45 in. Finally, we have a peach and white cotton eyelet that measures .667 X 42 in.
What will you do to earn these????

Fabric Disbursement -- Day 2

The rules for earning these fabrics are detailed in my post of 20 April. Come on, people! Get yourselves some free fabric while making your part of the world a little better. Win, win, win!




Let's get right to this:


This lot features a panel of 9 Nursery Rhyme scenes. Someone gave it to me years ago thinking I would make a Quiet Book. Not quite. The Teddy Bear print is a cotton/poly muslin that measures 3.75 X 45. The polka dot plise isn't meant to coordinate, but it matches the colors in the bear print nicely. It is 1 yd X 45.




This group is all linen. The piece on the left is a loosely woven, thick-ish linen in a natural color with oatmeal slubs. It measures a weird 1 yd X 58. The print is beige linen with palm trees embroidered allover. It is .875 yd. X 58. The coordinating plain linen is 1.125 yd. X 58.


This has a new home.








This group has soft, thin fabrics with a lot of drape. The blue is a poly that measures 2 yd. X 26. The stripe is a poly/rayon shirting that measures 2.875 yd X 60. The one that appears to be pink (bad lighting?) is actually white. It is Quiana Nylon, and measures 2.125 yd X 65. I have clearly had this one a while!


These are gone.







This group was put together because I like the way the colors looked next each other! The dark purple is a stretch velour that measures 2.3 yd. X 40. The Thai silk print (my hubby brought it back from Thailand in 1988) is a tube (maybe my mother cut off a dress. ?) that is 20in X 42. The lilac is a gabardine that must have been used for bias binding, because there is a 2in bias strip cut out of the middle, resulting in 2 triangles which, if sewn together, would measure .75 yd X 56 in.





This fabulous pair consists of a pink and ivory cotton ticking (heavier that broadcloth, lighter than poplin) that measures 2.875 yd X 60. The print is a polished cotton that measures 2 yd X 45in. The photo does not convey how beautifully these two coordinate. (Purchased years and miles apart -- the ticking at the Ft. Bragg PX and the cotton at Fabricland in Tacoma, WA -- neither of which still sell fabric) The pink stripe and flowers match exactly. I can almost see a little girl's dress of the ticking and pinafore of the print. Anyone out there sew for a little girl?? Anyone? Anyone at all??
These will be something beautiful soon.

The Great Fabric Disbursement

The past 2 weekends (yes, 2!) I have cleaned out, organized and scrutinized my prodigious fabric stash. And then I culled the herd.
I have been saving "quilt scraps" from projects for as long as I have sewn. [No admissions on my age, or that of my scraps, but they are all pre-Watergate era] Back then, I didn't know anything about quilting, so I saved everything. Now that I know a little more, I only quilt with natural fibers, mostly cotton, and no blends. So, I threw out every tiny piece of fabric that was not 100% single-fiber, or, whose fiber content was unknown. I filled 3 42-gallon trash bags.
I then separated out every large remnant that is usable, but which I didn't necessarily want. The stack is over 4-ft high. At this point I wish to stress to my husband (who will read this on Facebook), that NONE of my fabric rejects were pieces that I purchased, and changed my mind about. They are instead, mostly pieces that I was given by kind friends, won in raffles, and remnants of pieces that I sewed up (and wore), but had some leftovers.
I should like to divest myself of these treasures.
This is where you, dear readers, come in: Some of the lots are pictured below, with measurements and brief details. If you desire to have any of them for your very own, here is how you 'buy' them:

For every lot of fabric(s) that you want, you must donate 1 hour of your time to any one of the following worthy causes:

Habitat for Humanity
The Humane Society
your local children's hospital
your local women's shelter
Veteran's Administration Hospital or Home
the Public Library
the Church, Synagogue or Mosque of your choice

E-Mail me at: sarahbelle7@gmail.com with your choice of fabric lot(s), what you have done to earn it, and your physical address, and it is yours. That's all there is to it.
Each day, until I run out, I shall post more pictures of offerings, and update the existing list. Here are today's offerings:
Remember Supplex?? These were purchased in 1990. This is a woven Nylon that resists water, and wicks well. It is great for men's swim shorts, or windbreakers. The print is 1.5 yds X 62W, and the purple is 1.125yd X 56W.










This lot has 3 cut pieces , 56 X 45, dbl border, and 1 allover design that measures 31 X 43. They are gauze, purchased at a Sari shop in Houston's Harwin St. I think I intended them for curtains (which is why they are cut) but they didn't suit. Added is a triangle of stretch velour that matches the gauze perfectly. Coincidence. The triangle measures 1.5 yd long X 56 at widest point. I don't know why I have this.

This lot found a home with a lovely young sewist who helped the youth of a neighborhood church (not even her own home church!) organize and manage an art sale to raise funds for their philanthropic endeavors. Way to go!!!



This is a re-embroidered cotton batik that I bought at the Souks in Dubai in 2004. It is an uncut piece of 2yd X 45, plus a cut piece of nearly a yd. The picture doesn't do the red/gold/bronze embroidery justice.



This one is gone.







These 2 pieces used to be sheets, and are still hemmed. I did NOT buy the plaid sheet. Probably, it came from my mother, who never saw a linen sale she didn't love. At one point someone cut it up for something. It now measures: one piece of 2.3 yd X 84, and a piece of 1 yd X 42. Also in this lot are 5 panels (used to be curtains) of cotton/poly batiste that measure
2.25 yd X 21, each.






These 2 pieces are Daisy Kingdom cotton prints. The peach one is "Little Lamb # 20428" It has a double border, and measures 1.625 X 42.
The pink one is "Kitty Angel #15411" It measures 2 yd X 42. Someone is sure to love these.



All of these fabrics are from a smoke-free home of cat-lovers. Do not be surprised if your fabric has great tufts of white hair from my beloved, late Kitty Dave, or a fine sprinkling of little black hairs from my sweet Maximus. They like to be nearby when I sew.

Tomorrow I shall post more pictures, and an update of your fine efforts on behalf of your community.

Rare product endorsement

I have been trying lately to organize my prodigious stash of fabric. {More about that in a later post.} I am interrupting my organizing endeavors to offer a rare endorsement of a specific product, and tell you how it returned my sweet Maximus to my good graces.

This past summer my hubby and I traveled to the Pacific Northwest (our spiritual home, if not our physical one). En route back home we stopped at Pendleton, OR to tour the Pendleton Woolen mills (totally worth a detour if you are anywhere near it). A great tour was followed by an even greater shopping opportunity at the outlet store. I bought so many lengths of wool, we had to take two trips to take the bags out to the truck.

A month or so ago, on my first fledgling attempt to organize the sewing room, I discovered that Maximus had marked a folded piece of fine, soft wool gabardine. Maximus!!! What is going on here? He has been neutered, has no competition for the litter box, wasn't ill -- I have no explanation for it. I took the fabric to 3 different cleaners in 2 different towns - to no avail. No one would attempt to clean it. I set it aside while I did some research and contemplated.

It looked as though this lovely fabric was destined to be shrunk and misshapen and spotted in the hot water and vinegar/buttermilk/soda/soap/lemon juice concoctions that were offered to me as possible remedies. Before reducing my 5 yd., 60 wide length of fabric to a 4yd., 56 wide piece of rumply gray stuff; I tried one more thing: I thoroughly doused the putrid-smelling areas with Febreeze Pet Odor Eliminator. I hoped that it might reduce enough of the smell that I could get the last of it out with cold water and mild soap. Wrong. It took out ALL of the smell!!! All of it!!!

My lovely fabric is saved, and Max is once again my favorite kitty.
As if I could resist that cute face!