The arrival of the new sewing machine and the easy access to it because of it having it’s own cabinet has encouraged me to do a bit more sewing. A project that I have been considering for a while it what I’m going to refer to as ‘Frankenfabric’ – not patchwork, but a different way of using random scraps. So, over Christmas I finally got round to having a play.
First, I laid out a piece of robust cotton furnishing fabric that has been in my stash since I was about 16. Onto this I laid out random piece of fabric left over from cutting out patterns in the past (I think all the bits were cotton or viscose). I made no attempt to match colours or be artistic, I wanted it to be truly random:
A random assemblage
Next, I covered the whole thing with a piece of old net curtain and pinned everything together with lots and lots of pins:
All held in place
And then I did lots of random stitching with my new sewing machine, gradually removing the pins as everything became secure:
Starting sewing
And I finally ended up with a robust piece of multi-layered fabric:
I was interested to see what it was like to work with, so I dug out an old zip and made a little pencil case, lined with a scrap of fabric left over from making one of my aprons:
But I didn’t stop there. Once finished, you can see that I put a few pens in it… some of those that have accumulated round the house. If you read the comments following Patricia’s post about accumulating pens, you may have noticed that Sue mentioned that she has the opposite problem and can never find a pen around the house. So, I parceled it up, pens and all, and sent it to Sue.
Scrap fabric, scrap zip and scrap pens… altogether a very ScrapHappy January. Next I plan to use yarn ends between the layers and see what that looks like.
-oOo-
I’ve been inspired to write this (and future) ScrapHappy posts by Kate, who provides links to other (mostly sewing)Â ScrapHappy bloggers at Tall Tales from Chiconia on the fifteenth of every month… do check them out.
The Snail of Happiness 
Laurie Graves
/ January 15, 2019Nice!
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Nice Piece of Work
/ January 15, 2019what fun! Doreen once showed me how to do something very similar but without the net on top, your’s is a great addition 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 15, 2019The net makes it all rather subdued.I may have some more open net that I might have a play with to get the brightness to show through.
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Nice Piece of Work
/ January 15, 2019That would be good. Subdued is NOT what we want!!!
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wybrow1966
/ January 15, 2019A great way to use up those scraps and neatly done too!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 15, 2019The fabric was a bit thick for the pencil case, so that was a bit of a fiddle, but I’m quite pleased with the end result and quite inspired to have a go atsome other projects along the same lines.
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katechiconi
/ January 15, 2019Excellent scrappiness! They use a very similar process using black tulle to make beautiful scrappy ‘confetti’ patchwork with tiny crumbs of fabric. The black dulls the colours a little but is less visible than white. But you’ve been much more true to the scrappy principle 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 15, 2019I think it was you who originally sowed the seeds in my mind for this project. I’m going to attempt a bigger scrappy bag since the “fabric” is so robust and I have plenty of net curtain/small scraps/base fabric in my scrappy collection.
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katechiconi
/ January 15, 2019I did one where there was no netting over the top at all. It has actually stood up well to daily use as a mat for my coffee mug and the small amount of fraying that’s happened is quite pretty, really. If you make a bag, you might consider using some batting between the scraps and the backing, as that’ll give it more body and make it harder wearing.
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nanacathy2
/ January 15, 2019What a clever idea. A real scrap happy project, leftover everything.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 15, 2019I know… I’m feeling rather pleased with myself
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Ann Pole
/ January 15, 2019Clever.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 15, 2019It’s quite fun to do and now I know it works I shall make a bigger piece next time.
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Patricia Collins
/ January 15, 2019Inspiring. Lovely surprise for Sue.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 15, 2019And inspired by you!
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Wild Daffodil
/ January 15, 2019Fabulous scrap happy project. I have tried something similar with some organza covering the scraps – I’ve yet to put it in a blog post though – thanks for the nudge.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 15, 2019Oh, do share.
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Going Batty in Wales
/ January 15, 2019The pencil case is lovely and I feel really priviledged that it was made for me! Keep scrapping Mrs S!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 15, 2019I’m so glad you liked it.
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mlmcspadden
/ January 15, 2019Great work! I often put my strips/strings together in Frankenfabric but never thought to do something like this. Gotta remember it.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ January 15, 2019It’s not like anything else I’ve ever done, but I’ll certainly make some more.
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KerryCan
/ January 17, 2019That’s about as scrappy as one can get!
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