Thursday, May 20, 2010

Shirt stash and tea dye sucess

As most of my regular followers know, my ex-mother-in-law passed away last November.
I was allowed to remove her cotton shirts from the closet. Such a sad task. I hope she was watching to know I did it with respect.

This stack has 23 shirts. I washed them all today. I am not up to disassembling them yet.

You know some of these are really old as they have sewn in shoulder pads! In a little cotton shirt! And a couple are a cotton/poly blend but I will still use them. I need to pick one of Bonnie Hunter's designs (http://www.quiltville.com) for these beauties.

One of my best internet friends http://www.elaineadairpieces.blogspot.com
blogged about tea dyeing fabric so I gave it a try. I loved the print on these two fabrics but the white background made them not play nice with my other Dear Jane fabrics. The difference is subtle but worth the effort. They now reside in my Dear Jane block collection. I have 60 blocks made and so far I show no sign of being tired of making them. So yes, they must be addicting.
I tried coffee and tea for staining the fabrics. Tea worked best I think.

3 comments:

Kim said...

Oh these will be lovely to work with.
I hope you make something to pass along to the younger generation.

Thank goodness these did not go to goodwill and you can give them new life and respect the old life they had.

I have used my Mom's old clothing in a few quilts but I'm afraid to use it all up.......but some of it is in my granddaughters quilts :0).

Happy sewing

debbie m said...

One day those shirts will talk to you from the corner and tell you exactly what they would like to be.
I love you "black and white" dear jane blocks! And your tea dyed fabrics. I tried coffee once and it looked muddy to me.
I've missed reading your blog for a while, how's that squirel? Please keep us informed.

Sheila said...

My 88 year old grandmother just passed away. I looked in her closet for some clothing to use for a keepsake....it was such a disappointment since she didn't have much.....I guess she basically wore the same things and just washed them every few days....she just wanted to be comfortable. :)
I did find a lovely old table linen that is no longer nice and white and was concerned how to use it in something quilted....I may tea stain it and use it with some special fabrics I already have. Your blog has inspired me!