Introducing 'Sewing Leftovers'
Sunday, April 08, 2018
It's fast approaching my little blog's fourth birthday! Thank you to those of you who've stuck with it from the start (cringe) and those of you who've joined me along the way. Breathing a little new life into the old blog and my approach to sewing, I'm introducing a new series on The Magnificent Thread called 'Sewing Leftovers', in which I look at putting creative use to remaining fabric from my sewing projects to make another garment or accessory. I hope you'll be interested in reading all about it and that some of you might even consider joining me in #sewingleftovers too!
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1. To build a more cohesive wardrobe:
This largely follows on from this post, where I put my leftover fabric to use to make a coordinated outfit with a more considered colour palette. I'm inspired by how well it worked and hopeful that producing multiple garments from the same fabrics/colours/textures will build a stronger and more cohesive wardrobe to suit my personal style, as well as making it easier to address the gaps.
2. To become more aware:
I typically overbuy fabric, so this is a way that I can try and make good use of bad habits! I'm hoping that the challenge will increase my awareness and understanding of how much fabric I need for different projects (and best case scenario: one day there'll no longer be a need for #sewingleftovers)!
3. To be less wasteful:
The aim is to use up my stash, paying particular attention to those leftover 'bits' that seem not quite enough for a full project, but too big to throw away. I want to challenge suggested lay plans and fabric requirements to really get the most out of my fabrics!
4. To be more cost effective:
What it says on the tin really! Getting 2 (or more!) garments out of one fabric purchase rather than unnecessarily buying new is the aim.
5. A personal challenge:
I want to re-energise my sewing outside of the 'big' projects and encourage myself to think creatively to make the best of what I've already got. Can I find new patterns that use small amounts of fabric? Can I combine leftovers to make something totally new? Can I make better use of my existing pattern collection along the way?
What to expect from Sewing Leftovers:
- Posts about garments made from leftovers (when I have them), showing how the fabric was used and how the new garment fits in with my current wardrobe.
- Sewing Leftovers inspiration posts
- Sewing Leftovers pattern suggestions for makes that require small amounts of fabric
- Round ups of Sewing Leftovers makes from the sewing community
Can I join in?
YES! Absolutely!
If anyone would like to join me in sewing up their own leftovers, whether it's for the reasons listed above, or reasons of your own, please do! There are no prizes, time constraints or pressures: this is purely a 'for fun', personal challenge. It would be amazing to see the sewing community getting together to really make the most of ever last inch of their precious fabric purchases.
If you'd like to join in on social media, you can use the hashtag #sewingleftovers
Tag me in your posts if you're happy for me to share your #sewingleftovers makes in round ups and to help inspire other makers in using their own leftovers (I'm @shaunimagnifique on Instagram).
Coming up first from me will be a pair of New Look 6459 trousers, squeezed out of the orange corduroy leftover from this skirt.
Will you be Sewing Leftovers?
16 comments
This is such a good idea for a hashtag - I'm definitely going to be following it for inspiration! I had a big tidy of my sewing room recently and bagged up all of those leftover bits that are too big to throw away but probably aren't a whole garment. So far knickers and bias tape are about the only ideas I have for them. Hopefully I'll pick up some more creative ideas.
ReplyDeleteHi Leigh, thanks so much and thank you for sharing on Instagram! I'm never motivated to do a knicker sewing session, so I'm hoping the hashtag will become a bit of a share space of exciting new garment sewing ideas! Creative scrap busting all the way :)
DeleteGreat idea Shauni, I will definitely be joining in, in fact I've already been working with my leftovers over Easter, so it would be lovely to have a hashtag to follow for inspiration. One thing I do when working with jersey/stretch fabric that's suitable is cut out a pair of Acacia pants (free Megan Nielsen pattern) out and store them away until I've got 3 or 4 pairs and then have a batch sewing session. I've just got a T&TB Frankie T-shirt out of what was left of the fabric from the Joni dress. Love to Sew podcast had some great ideas for using scraps on their latest episode about sustainability.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sam! I know lots of people are doing this in some way or another already, but hopefully the hashtag will bring some exciting ideas together (mine are actually fairly limited so hoping it can be a sharing space for community ideas)! I really wish I was more motivated to do knicker sewing - I do have the elastic, so maybe the batch sew is the way to go! And the Love to Sew episode was actually the thing that finally made me brave enough to share this :) Looking forward to seeing your leftovers! xx
DeleteGreat idea! I love using up leftovers.
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteThis is a great idea! I will definitely be taking part. I have so many scraps that would work for a simple summer dress, and summer is rapidly approaching. Also my stash boxes are currently overflowing and I have no more storage space. Thanks for hosting this!
ReplyDeleteThanks Claire! Glad to hear you're on board :) Can't wait to see your scrappy summer dress - sounds like it could be totally amazing (both as a garment and for your stash box haha) xx
DeleteWhat a fantastic idea! I'm always looking for new ways to use up remants and leftovers. Thanks for setting this up.
ReplyDeleteThanks Emma! I like to think of it as a nice gentle challenge, but just enough motivation I need to get sewing those scraps. Hope you'll be up for joining in at some point! x
DeleteAwesome idea!!! (great minds think alike? ;) although I will probably use mainly little scraps, which I hoard as well). I’m looking forward to some great inspiration and will definitely start thinking about how to put larger pieces to use! Hmm, may start with a colourblocked merino top, since it looks like we are skipping autumn and going straight to winter...
ReplyDeleteThanks Kristina! And yes absolutely - I know lots of people are doing exciting things with their leftovers already. Hoping the hashtag creates a nice space for people to share fun ideas :) I find anything outside of garment sewing quite hard to motivate myself to do, so I'm hoping it will make me think more creatively about how to use the more substantial scraps! Good luck with the colour blocked top :) x
DeleteYay! Love this idea for a new blog feature, Shauni! I'll definitely take part as I'm already a fan of stashbusting left over jersey from dresses into t-shirts. Just need to learn how to make pants from the tiny scraps next!
ReplyDeleteYay thanks Jo! So glad to hear you're on board :) To be very honest, I needed to just launch this to give myself the motivation to get creative with my leftovers. Look forward to seeing what you make! x
DeleteJust came here from Helen's blog. What a great idea!! I started doing that last year because for some reason I was hating the idea of having big scraps of fabric in my stash. t's been fun to think outside of the box!
ReplyDeleteI'll tag my old ones on IG as an inspiration as I join in!
Pauline(IG: sewuthinkucan)
Ah thank you for dropping by! I'm trying really hard to push myself to use my scraps more creatively (so I'll actually want to use/wear them). Please tag your makes - can't wait to see them :)
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