"If you hear a voice within you say, 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." --Vincent van Gogh

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Salvaged Selvage

A friend of mine saves her scraps for me, and that includes selvage. As I've accumulated it, I've wondered what I would do with it. When I trim the selvage off a fabric I'm using, it's pretty easy to just toss it in the trash ... but when I am staring at a whole bag full of selvage? Then it just seems wasteful. So I started stitching the selvage together and came up with this nifty little zippered pouch. I added (after this photo was taken) a larger lobster claw type clip to the zipper and now I can fit my cell phone in the pouch and clip it to my belt loop and I am good to go! I love it. I kept one for myself and the rest will find their way into my etsy shop (eventually, when I've managed to edit all the photos I took!)
I also made up several with my hand painted dryer sheets. The main body of the pouch is exactly the right size for one dryer sheet. A lucky convenience! These were the colors I happened to have already painted. If the weather ever warms up, I'll get outside and paint some more.

And finally the little bits of selvage that were too short to make into a pouch have found a new home as a coffee sleeve. I love the colors and the graphic nature of the dots. The only problem is that I've used up that entire bag of selvage! So I will just have to wait for my quilty friends to give me some more.
Thank you for stopping by!
~Michelle


6 comments:

Jeanne Turner McBrayer said...

Everything you make is so joyful. I always love seeing what you have been working on!

Anonymous said...

WOW, those selvedge products turned out so cute I just might not pass my strips on to you any more............JUST KIDDING
-C

NEEDLEWINGS said...

I will start saving you some selvages for you Michelle! Your bags are wonderful!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful Michelle, I love your creativity and the way you come up with ideas to recycle materials. It all looks so wondeful and I can see you've been very busy. Been busy myself mostly trying to get Christmas quilts done, have yet to blog most of them. Take care have a good Christmas :)

Unknown said...

HI Michelle !! Im so glad I founfd you on the net - I read your paper towel pendant article - and could never find it again- where is it? .. love your stuff - very inspiring !!! am now following your blog- ( I NEVER follow so thats a compliment!)

Anonymous said...

HI Michelle !! Im so glad I founfd you on the net - I read your paper towel pendant article - and could never find it again- where is it? .. love your stuff - very inspiring !!! am now following your blog- ( I NEVER follow so thats a compliment!)