It is impossible to write this post without mentioning the Canterbury earthquake - the loss and trauma of the event has rocked the country. Still up here where I live, it could be another world - life carries on as usual and yet for so many life will never be the same again. My thoughts are with all effected.
I have to admit I was somewhat preoccupied by the events of this week and other personal disappointments which meant sewing wise it was not a particularly productive week. I managed to crank out two pillows and you would think I was making a wedding dress of silk chiffon with all the headache it caused me. Over pillows. Yes, pillows. (the piping, getting the measurements right, the single lapped zippers etc)
Pillow inners from the Sally Army, fabric from the Red Cross and zippers from St Vincent de Paul. That makes the whole thing not just thrifted, but worthily thrifted.
A little embroidery stitching..
I have never shown these pillows on the blog, but they are also wholesome charity shop creations. I used an old blanket and various bric a brac picked up on my op shop travels - a framed embroidered picture, now framed with piping, a piece of fillet crochet, some old buttons, some scraps of upholstery fabric.
Accumluating these 'treasures' takes a lot of rummaging. For every successful trip to the op shop, I would leave 5 times empty handed. It also takes a bit of faith - can this 65 cm red jacket zipper really be used somehow, somewhere - after all, I don't want to turn my own home into a vestibule for the detritus that lines most charity shops.
And yes, the things I end up with are absolute bargains. Each pillow cost $4 to make (US $3) and there will be enough fabric leftover to make a couple of shopping bags which I'll probably stash away as gifts to give my son's teachers at preschool. Last year I gave them each a box of chocolates and a card that read, "here's 2 kgs for Christmas."
My obsession with thrifting bargains is in part genetic but also I must confess I love the thrill of the chase - the opportunity to realise something quite new and unexpected from such unpromising beginnings. It's a lot of fun, even when you do end up unpicking and resewing over a stupid zipper.
Those are not mere pillows. That incredibly complicated object with mathmatically nightmarish pleating, and piping on a circle masquerading as a home dec project is very impressive. If these were pillows I had made, I would be putting the teddy bear in front of my bolster end, as it would be too messy for public viewing. The fabric combinations are lovely. I admire your op shop dedication. I give up at the 4th empty handed visit and do not seem to find the treasures. No dedication I am afraid.
ReplyDeleteThe work you've managed to get done is really lovely. I must say the Canterbury earthquake has dominated my thoughts too. I spent a lot of time in Christchurch when I was about 18 and stayed in a backpackers opposite the Cathedral.
ReplyDeleteThose are gorgeous pillows. You would pay a fortune for them in a department store. Home dec is very expensive.
ReplyDeleteEven though home dec sewing can be tedious at times, don't you just love the results, especially at such a bargain? All the pillows are lovely!
ReplyDeleteThose pillows are gorgeous and all the more for someone's precious project or fabric that has been given a new life. I know what you mean about 5th time lucky at the junk shop. Sometimes I think they should be paying me for finding anything worth saving out of the rubbish heap and for taking something away. Your card this year with the gift bags for the chocolate-free Christmas could read 'carry it in the bag, not on your hips.'
ReplyDeleteWhat fantastic pillows - each with their own character, and I bet they make you smile each time you look at them. OK maybe not the one with the zip, but time will take care of that!
ReplyDeleteI love all your cushions:-)
ReplyDeleteWonderful pillows! Very nicely made and furnished. The designs are great and really remarkable.
ReplyDeletePillows are just one of those things that have to be made, aren't they. And all too often around here because of our mould-inducing weather. In my last round of cushions, I was pleased to learn that cushions don't have to be made with lapped zippers...invisible zippers will do the trick.
ReplyDeleteGood on you though, for putting aside thoughts of your personal wardrobe in order to feather your nest.
This kind of thing -is- genetic. I could always get extra credit with my mother not just for getting her a present, but telling her how cheap it or its ingredients were at which thrift shop... This kind of thing leaves scars :-).
ReplyDeleteThe button pillow is genius!
ReplyDeleteOk, that comment you left on lower my presser foot's blog...I can't imagine...I have tears in my eyes!
ReplyDeleteA bolster pillow with bias cut piping--gorgeous! and I *love* the button pillow!
And you call ME smug for all my preserving! Ha! Bolster pillow complete with bias piping salvedged from thrifted materials has to be somewhere near the top of the smug ratings!
ReplyDeleteIt's my duty to tease you because I am your sister.
Impressive piping on those pillows! And I liked reading about your op shop obsession, you are truly making silk purses here out of the proverbial sow's ears...
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment on my shorts. I did get what the abutting line was, but I should have added in my review, as well as mentioning abutting, joining and sewing lines in the instructions, to make it even more confusing the pattern piece was marked with but one line, a "piping" line....! which was of course not mentioned in the instructions at all! I kid you not....
Thrifting is about the chase for me too. There are those things that you pass up because you've spent too much already and end up kicking yourself for - mine would be singer ruffling and pleating feet, complete with instructions. Those some of it we just don't need. My mother passed me a box of 1980's quilting fabrics that were on their was to the sallies. I'm proud to say, I only kept some pieces large enough to make the girls a dress with and had to let the rest go on their way. Having to deal with finding even more storage, would just do my head in at the moment.
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