Ghosts of garments past

If you're a hoarder – whether out of a natural knack to 'make do and mend' or (like me) you are just indecisive and hate to throw things away because 'you never know' when you might need them – then you'll likely have a box somewhere of fabric remnants that you don't know what to do with. The hope is that these fabric scraps will one day make a perfect contrast yoke, a pocket lining, a covered button, or maybe some bias binding.

But when it becomes apparent that the fabric you are hoarding probably won't be used again for dressmaking, one good option is to make something relatively simple, such as a zip pouch. I don't do much non-clothing sewing so when my Mum asked me to make a few zip pouches for a friend of hers I thought it was a good opportunity to sew something that didn't involve fitting. :)

What I really like about these pouches is that when I look at them they tell me stories: I see the ghosts of my previous dressmaking projects!

Let's see what they have to say:

When I look at this pouch I see sewing highs and sewing lows. This grey quilted outer fabric was bought in Berger last May for the Sew it Up challenge. It has previously appeared in my République du Chiffon Viviane dress which is my biggest sewing fail to date - love the pattern but I made a bad fabric choice and it's pretty ill-fitting. The fabric then made its second appearance in one of my biggest sewing successes to date - my Papercut Patterns Clover dress which I wear all the time! The lining was bought on GoldHawk Road and I used it for a Anna/Lilou hybrid dress, which I really like in theory but don't wear that often.





And when I look at this pouch I see one of my favourite most-worn skirts - Tilly and the Buttons' Clémence. The flowery fabric came from an old pinny salvaged from Belgian charity shop Petits Riens. The skirt has been significantly shortened since I blogged about it - hence all the extra fabric offshoots!




Do you hoard scraps of fabric? Do you have a favourite non-dressmaking sewing project?