My family uses christmas/holiday prints for fabric present wrapping bags. This works a lot better for in-house gifts so you can reuse the same ones every year, but if you really are just sick of the fabric then giving it away seems like a good option. (Also a bonus for wrapping weirdly-shaped objects, since you just toss it in a bag & tie the top with a ribbon instead of trying to hunt up a box first or manage weird shapes of wrapping paper.)
Interestingly, it also means my child can play at wrapping presents endlessly without using up any supplies.
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Lynx
(In a world where you can be anything, be kind.)
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Yay for lurking and productivity! And yay for thrifty reusableness! My MIL volunteers at a secondhand store where she keeps an eye out for tablecloths for me. I love the vintage ones with embroidery, and have loads of pattern ideas in my mind for them. However I also hate to cut into such intricately stitched items. So … nothing gets done with them except added to stash or draped on the table.
I thought of a use for my 5 yds of polka dot fabric – quilt backing! I have so many scraps that this would be a great stashbuster project. I spent several hours on Thursday sorting my scraps into piles and, in the process, found some larger pieces of fabric that I had forgotten about. They are all smaller than a yard, so no good for clothing anymore, but definitely worth hanging onto. As I pulled them out, I remembered a charity that I donated to last February – a woman collects new handmade baby blankets and donates them to the poorest hospitals in her city in honor of her stillborn granddaughter. I’m almost done with the first blankie – just need to finish the binding. I’ll post pics after I’ve made a couple. And then I’ll go back to the original plan of making a scrap quilt and using that doggone polka dot fabric!!
So many inspiring ideas! The fabric rope and the boxy pouches look wonderful!
I know what you mean, it’s hard to cut someone’s beautiful work if it’s still in good condition. Even though you can give things a fabulous second life, especially things that are seldom used anymore like doilies. I did manage to chop up a cross stitch the other day, but only because it was unfinished and unfinishable (ran out of fabric, pattern and threads long gone).
That’s a great idea! The baby blankets sound like a beautiful way to make good use of your stash - looking forward to seeing them.
I bought this yarn in 1864 (ok, 2011) with the intention of making a shawl but did not have a pattern. (The fooool!) So I basically married it. It is labeled a Rayon, color is called Aquatide, there is 1,234 yards it (aprox 16.5 oz) and is fairly thin but I’m not sure exactly what to call it as far as category. (I’m not all that confidently skilled in such things.) I have poured over Ravelry, Pinterest, pattern books and all and I’m still not sure what the yarn wants to be. Does anyone see this yarn and think, “Oh! That would be perfect for X pattern!” or have any other suggestions? I’m starting to feel like maybe it wasn’t meant for me and I am supposed to find its forever home elsewhere. (But the vows I took when I married it… lol ) I’ve thought of switching it to a lightweight sweater/top pattern, a dress for a youngin’ maybe… ? Nothing is speaking to me and after 9 actual years I’m really close to letting it go out into the world to seek its fortune.
AIMR
(Linda -2024 Choose Projects that You Want to Do :us:)
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uhm…that is some really old yarn…and are you a ghost?
Ha ha kidding aside for an obvious typo…it would be a beautiful shawl…even the simplest of patterns would make it beautiful…you have plenty of yarn for it…I don’t really wear shawls per se, but I do like them wrapped around my neck…a rectangular wrap would be pretty…
Do you knit or crochet? It looks like the yarn would be easier to crochet
Thank you both so much for these ideas! I haven’t worked in Rayon before so I think part of my hesitation is being brave enough to choose “the right” pattern. That and it is supposed to be for myself so… it never gets done.
Y’all are really getting going with ideas, plans, and actual projects! WOOHOO!
I made a half-dozen gift bags using 18 sheets of printed cardstock, some pretty xmas cards we received this year that weren’t suitable to be made into gift tags like I did with most of the others, but I liked too much to just get rid of, and stash ribbons. WOO! One of the best parts is that this svg file uses scoring to make the bags collapsible for easier storage.
