Green's the Word

With teaching workshops all done, and my time to myself again, I've been doing Cute Stuff. Now and then I just want to do something that doesn't matter at all, involving stitching or handsewing.

While waiting for a friend to show up for tea, I set up a couple of Ds., who insist they qualify as Cute Stuff and noticed that the tea napkins were ones I'd hand stitched years ago, and the woven potholder was the first thing I made on my tiny loom.

Then the book Sewing Green by Betz White came swimming into my ken, and the next thing I'd ordered up my own copy, and set to work.

See the book here, amid a sea of denim -- great freecycle score, much more of that, for making bags of all nations. And here's the first result: an apron, which I embroidered a bit, made from an old shirt which didn't suit me but was in very good condition.

One of those things you hang in the wardrobe and keep thinking you'll wear one day. This was more or less along the lines of one of Betz' great recycling ideas, but I did change to suit myself.

This is the back of the shirt, the waistband being what was the yoke, and the ties were cut from the sleeves. The pocket I cut off the shirt and appliqued onto the apron. I'd stitched the motif before I attached it, though, but that was still quite tricky, since I preserved the whole pocket, back too,so I had to sort of stitch inside a little bag, trying not to stitch back and front together.

Right after this photo, I put it on for its maiden voyage in the kitchen,and made a nice stirfry, onion, garlic, red and green diced peppers, leftover mashed potatoes, couple of eggs, cumin, turmeric, kosher salt.

Here it's open. And here it's flipped to finish cooking.

After I put it on the plate I thought briefly about another pic,but decided you'd had enough stirfry for the moment. I have to keep on making soups and other things if I'm to use the last of the farmshare before the next one starts. And the denim I'm processing to get what I need to make bags, preserving pockets where I can. These might be shopping bags, or sewing project bags, who knows. I don't have a machine, prefer hand sewing, even for denim. It can be done, if you think it out ahead. So that's me!