Monday, January 27, 2014

DIY : Fun with scraps.





A brand new -closet to decor- DIY project for old faded garments  to start the year...!

Five old - really old garments, one fine day in a stroke of inspiration... (Remember this ?) go under the scissors. And the resultant is a shabby and unevenly sewn yet  fun coverlet for the master bed!


I have a thing for not throwing away stuff.  So a few old kurtas and  table cloths which were  completely exhausted  but loved all the same  -for one reason or the other,  get reinvented  over one weekend.  Since I am no expert with the sewing machine,  it helped that the project did not require one to be perfect.






The Recyclables:
Old kurtas table cloths and an old curtain..





The garments were chosen based on a broad color scheme I wanted to follow for the bed-spread. They were then dismembered into same sized squares and put together  strip by strip until we finally have a Indian block print meets  Chinese and Japanese vegetable dyed batik meets pin-tuck story..!

Here is the shabby chic boho inspired results.. You like?!







Although not pictured here, the sheet has been backed with a plain navy blue casement fabric from an old curtain .





While cutting the squares and assembling the scraps  here are the few things I tried to keep in mind:

~  Cut equal sized squares form all over the garment, sleeves and interface included.
~ Join scraps of similar colored/ patterned fabric from the trims to extract the maximum use out of  the garments.
~ retain the full motif of large prints without wasting fabric to the extent possible.
~ Try not to repeat the same fabric twice in a row .
~ go over each row twice with the machine or better still interlock if you can ( I do not have the interlocking feature on my machine )
~ try to be neat. ( even with all the striving to be neat, the result is uneven in this case, but focus while working helped!)





I had a great time putting this one together.  You like ? !! Do share simple ideas of your own  to recycle and reuse old things...

11 comments:

  1. Wow! this looks absolutely stunning. So glad you did this... :-)
    We both seem to have trouble throwing old things away!!

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  2. I love this creation. Looks beautiful.

    Arathi.
    http://novicedecorator.blogspot.com/

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  3. Thanks Aarathi!

    Aarohi : All I can say is where you manage wonders, I falter! but the inspiration for this project was from you largely !

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  4. this is truly beautiful and inspiring..!

    I always thought but never EVER dared..! But now i can re think.
    :)

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  5. What a brilliant idea Chandan... Should keep this in mind when I am cleaning out next time.

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  6. Absolute Genius !!! love it Chandan.....

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  7. Thanks Anu, Amrita, Shazina and the East coast Desi !

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  8. Lovely, the blue orange combo is gorgeous!

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