Originally Posted by
Favorite Fabrics
Here's our situation: the stash consists of over a dozen of large boxes of "textiles" that have been donated over the course of I don't know how many years. In the boxes are everything from new fabric (cotton, blends, T-shirt knits, double-knits) to fabric that was on the shelf so long that it has really obvious fade marks to curtain panels, old tablecloths, and lots of sheets, from faded-but-serviceable to nearly worn through.
And a number of different thoughts were expressed at the meeting, such as:
"Why should we buy ANYTHING to work with, when we have so much stash already."
"Don't insist on just cotton. Those double knits we have would make great backs, if only we had some smaller quilts, because they're just not quite wide enough."
"Those double knits - it's just too hard to get the needle through them."
"All those fabrics were donated, and we really should use them as they were intended."
"We've become a dumping ground, every time somebody wants to clean house!"
"Well, if you think our quilts are ugly now, you should have seen what we were working with 40 years ago! We were cutting apart clothing to use..."
There is a wide range of ages in this quilting group, and some have lived through the depression and some haven't. (I suppose that changes one's perspective.)
The quilts are all going overseas. We're not actually quilting them, just tying through with perle cotton (or similar). I don't believe all the fabrics would wash succesfully, but the point was mentioned that if the quilts are just to serve as a wall or a rug, they might not ever get washed anyway.
I don't think we're even at the point where we're discussing taste or aesthetics or colors, really. The quilts are just 8" squares sewn together. We're talking REALLY BASIC quilts here.
A couple of the ladies cut the 8" squares (very accurately, I must say) and sewers get handed a bag of 108 pre-selected squares to put together however we please. Some in the group don't cut, or sew, they just help layer & tie.
same problem, i think, that every group like this has. i know our guild does too. we have a small group of members in charge of our community quilts. i think the fact that they are few but in charge really helps. too many cooks can spoil the broth.
they go through donations and decide what gets used and what gets sent off to charity shops, like goodwill, that take bulk fabric. (things like threadbare sheets and fabrics that are inappropriate, like sheer or too worn). they also communicate to the guild some general guidelines.
they have used knits when there is someone willing to sew them. our goal, as i am sure yours is, is to put together warm quilts and get them to the ones who need them. however, we don't ever want to think that trashy or poor quality is good enough.