REPAIR, RECYCLE, ALTER - YOUR WORN OUT CLOTHING

Most of us are pretty good about donating clothing we no longer wear to thrift shops or rummage sales. But what about those items that cannot be re-sold, items that are damaged, torn or stained. After all thrift shops look for clothing to re-sell that is in good shape, clean, and odourless. 

Clothing that cannot be re-sold may be sent to places that repurpose them into rags or upholstery stuffing. Some will turn cotton into papers. Some gets sent overseas to be re-sold, and a small percentage does go into landfill. 

Before you get rid of your blemished, no longer perfect, in need of repair clothes, have you explored options to revamp, repair or make alterations? To extend the life of that favourite sweater or t-shirt? Here are some ideas to get the creative juices flowing:

• If the hole isn't too big it can be darned. I know, I know, that was something our grandmothers or mothers did. But, really, the tidiest of repair jobs means the item is wearable once again. There are plenty of videos available online.  Of course it may take a bit of practice at first, but it's worth the effort to save a favourite piece of clothing. . And if the clothing has several colours or tones of one colour, the darning stitches just blend right in. Can you spot the repair in this picture? With practice, my repairs will improve even more. It's just below the arm hole so is barely noticeable. Of course, if you don't want to try this yourself, there are plenty of tailors available who will do the repair for a minimal cost. 

• If after mending it shows up too much, adding some embroidery around the hole could do the trick.
• Larger holes or stains can be covered with something another fabric, something that is complementary. Sashiko  or Boro - from Japan - and Kantha - from India - are all about patching up clothes and other textiles with scraps of cloth and with embroidery techniques specific to these regions. It also helps to strengthen fabrics, extending their lives even further. And no one says they patched parts have to match, they can be very colourful and funky, nothing like those old iron-on patches we used to see. This concept of repairing embraces the concept of "wabi sabi" which is about see the beauty in the imperfections and impermanence.
• Old wool sweaters and blankets can be felted in your washer & dryer and cut into place mats or pot holders. Here are a few I've been working on. 

• In days gone by, fabric scraps were recycled into beautiful quilts or cushion covers or other memory keepsakes - is there one hidden in your linen closet that has been passed down through the generations? I do sometimes see quilts made today from collections of old t-shirts or shirts which make wonderful keepsakes, especially when we have difficulty discarding a quantity of items that still have meaning.
  
  
  
  Or perhaps the scraps could be used to cover a mirror frame, like this one, or collaged onto a canvas, to make a piece of art.
  
  
  
  
  

• Consider tie dyeing, bleach dyeing, sun printing, eco dyeing, fabric painting and more. This shirt was solid black, and after bleaching, turned this marvelous shade of brown. I used elastics to create the dark rings during the bleaching process.

Of course us fibre artists now look at old and damaged clothing in a whole new light, wondering if it can be altered or incorporated in some way into one of our projects. We collect fabrics for repurposing. If you also collect such materials, what suggestions do you have for altering or recycling?

SOMETIMES MAKING ART IS AS EASY AS FALLING OFF A LOG, OTHER TIMES GETTING BACK UP IS THE CHALLENGE

I purchased some old piano player paper a few months ago, seeing the potential to use some in in my fibre art. I didn't know just how I would use it, but the opportunity was there and the price was right. I was certain an idea would materialize at some point. I'm not sure how old the roll I bought is, although a copyright date of 1919 was given for the music itself, a waltz - Hand in Hand Again - and there were another 20 or 25 rolls available to buy.

Then in July when I was out with my outdoor sketch & painting group, I happened across a fallen birch tree with some marvelous patterns in the bark. I took photos, knowing I could make a picture in fibre art from this.

The piano player paper then came to mind, with its perforations that look similar to the horizontal line marks in birch bark.

I did a bit of experimenting to add colour to the paper, settling on bleeding tissue paper to add shades of reds and charcoals (it's a specially made tissue that bleeds its colour when wet). The white tissue didn't work as well, so instead I added torns bits of gampi paper, a very fibrous, whitish, translucent Japanese paper. I then mounted the piano player onto heavy brown paper bag to add some stability as the paper is fragile. Plus the brown of the paper bag can be seen through the perforations, just like the darker lines on the bark.

The next step was to add lots of stitching, following all the various marks in the bark. And then it was done. And I'm very happy with what seemed like an effortless piece of fibre art.

During the process a friend mentioned that it also had the makings of a map. She's right, and so I decided I would use the piano player paper once again but make a map this time.

😒 😣
The piece is coming along, but the effect of the holes in the paper has been lost. Perhaps I chose the wrong map, perhaps it's an aerial view, even if fictitious, that I need. I think where I went wrong was not to do more testing and experimenting, like I had done with the earlier one, along with my choice of paint rather than bleeding tissue. I was over confident this piece too would be as easy as falling off a log. I may finish it, but I think it's time to start, or experiment on, to make a new one.

SKETCHING HANDS THROUGH STITCH

Our hands tell our stories. They carry the marks of a lifetime: smooth, rough, gnarled, wrinkled, calloused. They are unique to each of us. 

I was fortunate to create a stitched art piece of my friend Bev's hands. She has beautiful lines and marks on her hands, the imprints and scores of a pianist, and it was these marks she noticed first on the finished artwork.

Each of those marks reflect her musical passion: her years of training, the challenges, the successes and the highlights, the daily practices, the challenges and goals she has set for herself.

The making of this art piece was not without its struggles. I visited her in her studio to photograph her hands while she played the piano, ending up with some 60 or 70 photos. After sorting through these I narrowed it down to just a few. I wanted something that showed the movement of her fingers on the keyboard, and did not want it to look posed. One picture stood out for this.

I then transferred the image from the photograph to fabric and began stitching, but wasn't happy with the results. I chose a different fabric and starting stitching again. But this too wasn't working. It wasn't in harmony with Bev's musical side. I knew that choosing another fabric was not the answer. I had to come at this picture from a different perspective, find something with a different tune. The trouble was, I didn't know yet what that new tune should be. And so I put aside this project to ponder some more, hoping a solution would arrive.

After a few weeks, a different composition came to mind: I printed out the original photograph (8x10), and gelled a sheet of gampi paper (a Japanese paper, translucent with a free-form ethereal pattern) on top, giving the photograph a more airy look. I then stitched through the photograph and gampi paper, using black and white thread to play up the piano keys, and a combination of flesh toned threads to outline Bev's hands and fingers, and to accentuate the details of the knuckles, veins and muscles. 

This look achieved what I was looking for: to reflect her spiritual side, her wisdom, her drive, her explorations in music. The final consideration was the emotional reaction I thought Bev would have to the piece, and judging by her reaction when I presented this art piece to her, the combination of papers and stitches achieved my goal. She has referred to it as a "contemplative and deeply personal rendering". 

There is something about hands...

Hands reflect who we are, our personality, they give clues about our lifestyle, our age, our interests. Some people notice the fingernails first, especially if they are polished with colour. Others notice muscular hands, bony, arthritic, calloused, smooth. We notice the shapes of our fingers, size of our hands. We notice if they are clenched or open, pointing or gesticulating. We notice lifelines, veins and age spots.

I did a study a few years ago on the hands of creative women over the age of 75, my mother's included, and wrote a page about each. And I gave the women a copy - they were delighted, delighted with the veins, wrinkles, and shapes I captured, and preserved, through stitch.