I recently had to buy a new one of these. If you sew, you recognize this as a seam ripper. We all use them to rip out mistakes, but I’ve lately been using one a lot – to deconstruct some garments.
I came into possession of some old sewing paraphernalia and vintage clothing in our family. I sorted and washed and cut apart and added the bits to my stash. Most deconstruction is done with scissors and a rotary cutter, but button removal is most easily done with a seam ripper. There were lots of buttons. There was some delicate lace edging to remove with a seam ripper, too.
The seamstress wasn’t a quilter, but she had some unfinished projects. The yellow at the top of this photo is a little girl’s dress – almost finished – only the lace to add down the front. Maybe buttonholes were needed. Maybe the little girl decided she didn’t like yellow, maybe she outgrew the size of the pattern.
There was yardage of the navy fabric on the right in the photo above. From the shapes of the fabric that wasn’t used, I knew an apron had been made from that fabric.
In the bundles, there was fabric that was wool, rayon, cotton, silk; of course I am anxious to dip some of these in the dye pot. In the interest of research and because I like to do such things, I wanted a record of what fabrics were made of which fiber.
Also on my “want-to-explore” list is making books with fabric. I’ve done some of that, but for this one, I started with a paper booklet and stitched the fabric swatches on the paper, leaving room to add written notes.
There were also some patterns and what looks to be a template cut from a 1956 newspaper. Some of these treasures will end up in art projects of mine. For now, bits of all of them are in this project, the booklet.
I left room to add swatches of the fabrics once they are dipped in the indigo bath, and as I continue to dig through the treasure chest, more embellishments can fill some spaces.
