Originally Posted by
prairie_girl
With the price of fabric and everything else rising it is getting harder and harder to afford fabric for quilts. Although there are lots of beautiful fabrics out there, I would rather put food on the table for my kids.
I am wondering if anyone makes quilts using old clothes and if you have pictures of these quilts to show. Is there anything in particular you look for when purchasing used clothing for quilting? What do you use for batting?
I don't have a 'stash' so working from that is not feasible.
When quilting first started, fabric was very costly (for most women). So they would get a yardage for a new dress about once a year. They would cut up the old dress for husbands shirts, boys shirts and girls dresses. Then the old shirts (from the boys and the husband), and the old little girl dresses would get made into quilts, covers for chairs, covers for inside door ways (didn't always have doors due to no central heating). Things where made, remade and made into other things until stuff was thread bare and then it was used as cleaning rags or stuffing. So you do have a stash, it's just in a different closet. I always recycle my fabrics. So happy sewing.