Thread: Gifted fabric - need advice and opinions

I love all the Suggestions others have posted above me... How about a throw for inside your Car to use at the Beach or Heaven forbid you have to kneel on the Ground to change a tire... Great use of Fabric patchwork style for a Picnic Cloth for on the Ground or a Table... Tote Bags/or Backpack style bags of all sizes... I made small personal Totes out of upholstery sample piece fabrics... these were donated to a Women's shelter to use for their personal Grooming Supplies like hair brush, bar of Soap, toothbrush and paste and Deodorant, and Shampoo and hand lotion.. etc.. ended up about 12 inches by 16 inches with added gusset ...+ a Handle... Even some cute easy Stuffed animals that could be stuffed lightly and Donated ... if its made with Love from the Heart who could complain.... I can't afford the $$ a yard for fancy designer Quilt Fabrics either... I just saw on another site the Fabric for a Table Runner kit that would cost over $60... sorry that's out of my Budget..

Originally Posted by Mamaw322

I was recently gifted two large bags of fabric by a very nice lady in my neighborhood. When I got the fabrics home and was sorting through them, I discovered that 50 percent of them were polyester blends, the rest are cotton sheets, curtains, etc. I was able to pull out some cotton solids and prints. My first inclination was to get rid of the fabrics, but it is so hard to do! Has anyone used cotton sheets or blends to make quilts? I am thinking I might use some to make charity quilts. Opinion?

I have a lot of poly/blends, as I used to do a lot of garment sewing. Now I am in the process of cutting 4 1/2 " squares of the blends to fill the center of a faux cathedral window done in my late husbands' old denim jeans. The denim has been washed a gazillion times so I know it won't shrink and neither will the blends. It is a way of using up a bunch of scraps to get it it out of my stash and have something useful in the end run. I also finished a memory quilt in August that was made out of my husbands' dress shirts. There was only one shirt that was 100% cotton. The material from each shirt was nearly a yard. I used 8 shirts and have enugh materials left over for pillows or shams for the bed to match the quilt.

I was gifted velour and velvet- 2 HUGE garbage bags of it, in many different colors. I made bags, crazy quilts, used it for appliques. My granddaughters loved what all I made them. Even some dresses and velvet aprons to go over cotton dresses. So use it in whatever manner that is good for you to use.