There is nothing that sends my heart racing like finding some really interesting/beautiful/old piece of fabric… I find them practically irresistible. It would be easy to blame my hoarding tendency but the truth is that I love old things and I love fabric and when the two universes collide, well… it’s hard to turn and was away.
On my travels last week I stumbled upon this delightful hexagon blocks, all basted and sewn together by hand with tiny stitches so regular and precise I’m quite ashamed thinking about my paper piecing in the making.
The fabric is so wonderful too I might have squeeled with joy.
I always think these pieces speak to me and call my name, I assure you they want to be rescued and cared for and admired and then we get to the old dilemma of what to do with them of what to do with them. They’re dirty, there’s no denying that so should I wash them and remove the ‘old patina’ which is what I love and use them for some sewing project or other.. should I just preserve them as they are and maybe frame them?
I am really struggling to decide the right course of action. It feels a little silly to simply keeping them in a box, but am I ruining them if I use them?
The backing paper used in one of the pieces appears to be a handwritten something… a letter perhaps. I love how the ink that must have been black is now a faded dark brown… and the calligraphy… so elegant. It’s a shame they don’t teach calligraphy at school anymore… you should see the way No 3 writes… chicken feet printing…
What if I can recompose the letter a little? wouldn’t it be fun? I could frame that, no?
Preservation or conservation? Upcycling? Washing? not washing?
Aaaargghhhh.
while you're ahead... 
Save the papers and piece together, wash and reuse the material – an appropriate tribute to the history and the ethos of the material.
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