Wednesday 30 January 2013

Finding a use for tiny scraps.

Hello, how are you all on this blustery Wednesday night, the trees are bending sideways here, I'm quite expecting one of them to fall and flatten my wonky garage. Which reminds me, I need to get in there and have a sort out when it gets a bit warmer. Always jobs to do.
This is a follow on post from the raggy rug. When I cut the fabric into strips I ended up with a whole pile of itty bitty pieces, too small to do anything with. I didn't want to throw them away, and found a use for them. I snipped them into tiny pieces and ended up with a bag of crumbs. I also found some bits of foam and added that to the mix. I could have added this to the compost heap, that wouldn't have been a waste, but no, I have an idea to make something usefull.
I've got a couple of curtain linings which I removed from the curtains because they were quite old. I made a big cushion and stuffed it with the crumbs. It measures 27inches by 26 inches.
Then I made a cover for it from a curtain that someone gave me. It's a cotton fabric so it's washable. Heidi decided I needed some help with the cotton, she thought it was great fun to pull it from the machine.
The finished cushion. I found a long white zip in my stash, so it will be easy to remove for washing. The filling is a bit heavy and needs shaking up every so often. Not bad at all for saying it cost nothing. Now I wonder which cat will bags it for a bed.
Briony asked if I stretched the mesh when I made the rug, I think she means on a frame. No I didn't Briony. It had quite a lot of give in it, so there was a bit of pulling it about as I was working on it, on the dining room table. When I hold it up the weight stretches it a bit, but it always springs back again as the mesh is flexible.
I've got to dash, I've got to call John on the Skype. He has a new webcam so maybe I will be able to see him now. Before I go, I've just remembered, I've had a long email from a new reader in Malaysia. Just to say I will reply asap, probably tomorrow.
Bye for now, Toodle pip.

16 comments:

  1. Ooo nice cushion ... what a great idea.

    Vicky x

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is amazing Ilona. Lovely to talk on Skype tonight. I hope I am pronouncing your name properly.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That`s a good idea. I keep wool scraps to use as "fur" for making sticky collage animal pictures with young children.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great use of tiny bits, keeps it all out of the landfills ! Love making something pretty and useful !

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Ilona,

    l'm really enjoying your blog! You are a lady of great talent and wit!

    I just wanted to say that I save all my tiny scraps for stuffing too and found they are really useful for filling draft excluders. I think as they make a dense heavy filling they probably do a better job at keeping the cold out than some of the 'bought for purpose' poly fibre fillings. I can't bear to throw scraps away, they are so many uses for them :)

    Best Wishes,
    Doxie

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ooooh Heidi has a new cushion....yeah!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great repurposing! I've been making a ton of draft dodgers (I think Brits call them "snakes") for my many, many windows and sliders here. I used a bag of polyfill that i had on hand and then tore open a stuffed squirrel plush toy set to go to the Thrift shop, and i cut up the "fur" as well. Moving on, I turned to my overabundance of flannel dusting rags, cutting those into strips, along with wool remenants. Works very well and saves me the cost of buying polyfill stuffing.

    ReplyDelete
  8. One of the cats will claim that for sure.....mine would!
    Jane x

    ReplyDelete
  9. Clever use of what would otherwise be rubbish!
    Judy xx

    ReplyDelete
  10. Once the birds come back here in the Spring, I usually put out my tiny quilting scraps for the birds to use in lining their nests. Nice pillow and rug Ilona. You are having a very crafty 2013!
    Joan from Michigan

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hello Ilona from House Fairy
    Gosh! that must of taken a wile to cut up those tiny scraps.Great idea.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great way to use the scraps and a lovely cushion at the end. Is that a William Morris design, looks like it.
    Thanks for replying to the question of the netting.
    Briony
    x

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wonderful for saving on not having to buy a pillow form as they can be quite costly. At least here they are. And the finished pillow is very pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  14. The fabric for that cushion cover is really lovely! What an unusual pattern!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ha Ha you make me laugh the way you can make a cushion from scraps, so clever. Lucky you skyping a man, wish I had one to Skype, I am so jealous, is he handsome. You are a popular lady, Ilona, you have friends all over the place, it must be your lovely personality. I look forward to reading your blog every day. Keep up the good work. Paula

    ReplyDelete

Some comments will be accepted. I decide which are published.

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.