What to do with that pile of recycling....

When my mother passed away, I gave most of her clothing to my aunt who is involved with the church.  There were a few pieces I kept that reminded me of her, those have been residing in a bin I like to call "recycling".  These are garments made in fabrics that I would like to use, but are not wearable as is.  Frankly, I had ear marked them for one gorgeous silk crazy quilt....  This was one of those garments.

I've pulled it out over and over again tried it on and really disliked how it looked on me.

The waist pulls up, the skirt is too long, the sleeves are too puffy, and it had shoulder pads so not good for me.  In 2011, I found another cut of the same fabric, and threw caution to the wind and laundered the entire lot.  I'm pretty sure that mom had always dry cleaned it, and I try and keep that to a minimum.

All of these experiments are an opportunity for learning.  Since, I could see that with repeated washing this print was going to continue to fade, I would be making something that took that into consideration.

Then I looked at the other cut and noticed that this was a panel print, and the saturation level from one print to the next was inconsistent.  So just another detail to keep in mind when buying prints, not all panels are equal even in the same roll.  (look at the brown outline which is more pronounced on the right panel).

So here's the first piece, since I'm in a lingerie kind of mind.

I may have to re hem it because it's looking a little lumpy.... I will iron it and see if that improves it, if not, it will be rehemmed.   This gave me an opportunity to use that multi step zig zag, to apply the elastic.

Just to get an idea of what it looked like as a dress (doesn't it look like it's been in a bin?)

No more sleeves

Here they are...

She even patched them....it feels like she's here!

My first idea is to keep the top as is finishing off the armhole and hem, and use it as a top for pj's.  I might have enough fabric to do a pair of undies or pj shorts.  The fabric feels wonderful against the skin.  I love these kind of projects as they afford us the ability to look at garments like forensic scientists, and a visit from mom to boot.  Now where are my bra making supplies?