Fabric literally surrounds us but, on a daily basis, most of us give it very little thought: unless you are a fabric hoarder of course!
It all started out fairly innocuously. I began sewing with a real passion as a teenager and for years made my own clothes. This continued throughout uni and I even made my own wedding dress.
Throwing any clothes away has always been a challenge: one of my biggest ‘binning’ regrets is the brown velvet coat from Whistles that I foolishly got rid of and the older I get the more reluctant I am to throw away fabrics, particularly those that are made from natural fibres such as wools and linens.
It’s interesting how fabric permeates our lives but most of the time we give it little or no thought or to the amount of resource required to produce it. For me fabric also provides a context to the story of my life – whether it is cutting out the pieces for my wedding dress on the kitchen floor (don’t ask!), replicating a jacket worn by one of my favourite pop stars, the dressing up chest that we would raid as children or the old blankets and bedspreads that my grandma had. They are all anchors to moments in my life and are full of memories. I still have old, crocheted blankets that belonged to my husband’s grandma. I have old linens from a great-aunt and I still have my wedding dress, although I have yet to think of a way to repurpose that. I keep curtains that no longer fit the windows of house we now live in. I have a half embroidered (not by me) tea cosy someone never finished.
I can’t explain the joy of wandering round a fabric shop and being able to see and, more importantly, touch all the fabrics. Lock down has made this impossible and buying fabric online is not the same.
I have made curtains, done an upholstery course and then re-upholstered furniture and find myself going back to making clothes again, but my passion has become applique. I love the creative process and the fact that it feeds my need for fabric: I now have an excuse to have piles of different textiles options!
I find myself reluctant to bin even the smallest remnant of fabric and my applique is increasingly resembling micro-surgery as I incorporate even smaller bits of fabric
Now I have cupboards full of fabrics and my friends know never to throw anything away without checking with me first and even actively hunt items out for me! I doubt I will ever get round to using it all and recently I did part with some to someone in the village who is making items to sell for charity. So, whilst I can feel slightly smug that I have managed to part with some it does, of course, mean I have room to acquire more!
Becky Morgan –
The Tulip House Nov 2020
https://thebritishcrafthouse.co.uk/shop/the-tulip-house/