Rediscovered treasure sparks textile-recycling yen

One man’s trash, another woman’s treasure is a theme that runs through my life. Never was that more true than when I bought a cozy little house in Hampden in 1989.

When I moved into the house, I discovered in the crawl space under the eaves that functions as my attic a white matelasse bedspread in a lovely rose design with scalloped edges. (Matelasse is a fabric woven with a raised or embossed design on its surface.) The bedspread’s age was open to speculation, but I suspect it was manufactured in the 1950s. It was torn in a few places and had been used as a painting dropcloth – fortunately, the paint was white and it wasn’t too badly daubed up. I washed it thinking I could do something with it – another theme that runs through my life – but I put it away and forgot about it for a few years.

The bedspread surfaced again last winter, yellowed with time, and happily its reappearance coincided with my renewed interest in recycling old textiles to useful purposes.

Generally speaking, I cut up old tablecloths or bedspreads cautiously for fear of destroying a sole example of some rarely practiced needle art. Usually I don’t proceed until I have checked a few books and picked a few brains for information to make sure I’m not about to commit some atrocity on an innocent and endangered handmade textile.

The matelasse bedspread was clearly machine-made and damaged beyond repair, so I wielded my scissors without guilt. After cutting around the damaged places, I ended up with enough pieces to make several sets of pillow shams. I let the size of the undamaged parts of the bedspread dictate the size of the shams. Later, because of the odd size of the shams, I had to make pillows to fit the shams.

I added quilt batting and muslin backing fabric to the matelasse pieces and hand-quilted around the rose motifs through the three layers. That done, I sewed the shams, by machine, backs cut from white sheeting fabric. The shams, covering big fluffy pillows, make a wonderful addition to the living-room sofa.

The project involved time, patience and serendipity, but it gave me a great deal of creative satisfaction. And every time I see similar shams advertised for sale for a great deal of money in glossy magazines, I feel very smug and pleased with myself.

The main thing to remember when recycling an old fabric or textile is to make sure it will stand up to the use intended. It is also a good idea to make sure the piece is still washable, that the colors won’t run and that it has good parts that haven’t succumbed completely to damage from rot, insects or rodents.

Even small pieces of old textiles can be made into special things, such as tree ornaments, pincushions, doll dresses, place mats or eyeglass cases.

Be sure to think and plan before you cut. It’s wise to figure out beforehand how large you need your pieces to be. That can be done by drawing patterns on graph paper, especially if they have geometric shapes like rectangles, squares or triangles. Don’t forget to add 1/2 inch for seam allowances.

Another time, I discovered at a yard sale several yards of handmade eyelet lace 5 inches wide, the eyelets stitched with the finest of buttonhole stitches. The fabric was stained here and there, but that bit of shabbiness just added to the charm.

I sewed by hand a rod channel along the unfinished edge, inserted a tension rod and voila, I had myself a lovely little valance for a kitchen window where I wanted to soften the nudity of the window frame but didn’t want to interfere with the amount of light coming through.

Snippets

SAD 22 Adult Education is offering a four-week class in hand felting from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursdays beginning March 6 at Reeds Brook Middle School. Cost for the class is $20 for SAD 22 residents, $25 for nonresidents. A $5 materials fee also will be charged. For information, call 862-6422.

David’s Wife’s Unusual Quilts shop on the Cold Brook Road in Hermon is sponsoring a creative wall-hanging contest. The theme is “Maine-ly Inspirations” – anything that has to do with Maine. Entry forms are now available at the shop. The deadline for submissions is June 1. Judging will be done by shop patrons and staff. To learn more, call 848-7222.

Ardeana Hamlin can be reached at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.