Lately, I’ve been feeling… well… sad. Unsettled. Unhappy. Overwhelmed. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.
There are reasons for that, of course. Worries about my mother and the girls, lots of work and some of that with really harsh deadlines. The biggest one of those I imposed on myself by the way. So nice of me to promise to be done editing that novel before the author went on vacation, but it really was too much work in too little time. I’m going to stop myself from doing that again.
But anyway. Last Tuesday I felt it had to stop. So I asked T. to force me to go down for a swim (we used to go almost daily and I love it, but somehow it was two weeks since the last time). And then I decided to leave all other chores hanging and organize my fabric stash. I do have a stash now, you see.
My shopping that one Saturday was really successful. The thrift shop that was supposed to be almost all books also had a clothing department. I found two dresses and a blouse and when I asked if they had fabric, sheets or tablecloths, the lady behind the counter pointed me to the bins underneath the tables.
Oh my. There was a lot of rubbish in those bins, but also some real treasures to be found. At first, I tried to keep myself from going overboard, but then the kind lady said: “You can take it all free. Nobody wants it. Just take it off our hands.”
Well, that’s all the motivation I needed. So I kept digging and filled up a box with all kinds of fabric.
When I showed the ladies what I was going to take and asked what to pay for the clothing, the first lady said: “I told her she could take that fabric for free.”
But there was this Dutch woman who said (with that sour expression lots of Dutch women seem to have these days): “Well, a small donation wouldn’t hurt one bit.”
Um, no. Of course not. It was for a good cause and everything But it wouldn’t have hurt her to ask nicely. Oh well, I mostly feel sorry for people like that.
Anyway. I paid 12,50 guilders (about 7,50 dollars) for a whole bag of fabric. The same amount of money for the dresses and the blouse, and then 35 guilders for a giant box of books. Consider my donations made.
I washed all the fabric when I came home, and then it sat in a laundry basket for two days.
Until last Tuesday, when I decided organizing my fabric would make me happy.
Let me show you what I’ve got.
First of all, this. I think it’s a jelly roll. There are 50 strips of this blue fabric and most of them are different (only four or five duplicates). Someone cut a little square out of every one of them, but I think I could easily make a quilt out of these. I’m really amazed that I somehow was able to unearth all 50 strips from that bin.
Then there’s this lot. Three bandanas in vibrant colors, a Christmas kitchen towel and a few smaller scraps of fabric. I love the brown flowered one, but it’s really tiny. But I think I can use it somewhere as a pocket or something like that.
Next are these bigger pieces. Most of it is cotton, I think. There’s also some denim. Will be fun for bags, and maybe even skirts. I love the yellow fabric with the chickens, but I’m not sure what to do with it. A cute vintage apron maybe? Or large shopping bags? Or maybe I’ll defy all fashion rules and make a cute dress. So many options…
You can hardly see the black fabric in the picture above, but it’s rather nice. It has embroidered stripes and there’s enough to make a sleeveless blouse.
These are synthetic. The left one is enough for a dress, the one next to that is just a little bit and kind of weird feeling, but perfect for a bag or a zip pouch, the plaids could be blouses and the beige will make a nice lining for bags (if I can get the stains out).
Forgot to include this one in the other pictures. Not really sure what to do with it, this is a very big print. A table cloth maybe, or some pillows. I do like the color.
Last but not least: this piece of faux leather. I love that color.
I had hoped to find a cheap but beautiful little wooden cupboard to house my fabric and yarn, but alas. No luck in that part of my shopping. So, for now, I’m just using this plastic bin. I do love seeing it all organized like this (the three on the far left are the two pieces of fabric I bought a while ago and the sheet I found in the house when we bought it).
And yes. I did make me happy to fold and organize and dream of all the things I can make with these.