Crafts

I had a great day yesterday.  I put my laptop aside and decided to haul out my now deceased granny's sewing machine.  I have to admit that I have a modern sewing machine, but I love using her 1800's Singer.  I am self taught, so my advice is probably not brilliant and there are going to be some seamstresses out there that will shudder at my advice.  At the end of the day, though, it all came together in the easiest possible way and I have to share my sewing adventure with you.

I am a self professed "jeans girl" and I have many pairs that have either dated or dont fit me anymore. With this in mind and the idea that once you have worn your wedding dress and do not want to donate it to charity or a second hand store, try the next most traumatic thing, cut it up.  Wow, that must sound terrible, but with upcycling (turning something old into something new) you can create a gorgeous patchwork quilt for your baby, which lets face it, is your next journey.

One pair of jeans were then cut, by myself, into 5 inch squares.  The pockets were put to the side, just in case, I found a use for them later on.  Placing two squares, right side facing each other, I sewed as close to the edge as possible. I then opened them up and proceeded to sew another square to the open square as before.  I did 4 squares in a row, twice and then hemmed the two sets of four together in the same way as I had done before with two individual squares.  Turning them right side up, they made a gorgeous denim patchwork.  Once I had completed enough rows of 4 squares, always connecting them to the previous squares, I turned the patchwork inside out and simply hemmed the outer edges together, leaving the top section open, to insert the cushion.  I then took a pair of old white pants and cut out a heart and hemmed the edges inward.

Turning the patchwork inside out again, so that the right side was showing, I then hand stitched the heart to the denim patchwork cushion.  I could not stop there and pulled some lime green wool from the cupboard and tacked it all the way around the heart.  Button holes were cut into the one open side and stitched.  Lime Green buttons were then stitched to the opposite side and the cushion was placed into the patchwork cover.  I closed the buttons and a gorgeous cushion is now on my daughters bed.

As soon as I have taken some photographs, I will post them.

Try it with your old wedding dress and cut squares from the fabric. Sew them together in groups of two and then four and so on until you have the width you require for the quilt.  Continue to make rows and then stitch them together.  If you are making a quilt, use an old sheet and stitch the patchwork to the sheet.  If you have various fabrics on your dress or fabrics from your decor, cut shapes out of them and either place shapes into the individual squares or onto the quilt as a whole.  This will make a gorgeous baby blanket made with love and very special fabric, your wedding dress.

Hope you try it and I know that you will love it.

Faye