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Scraps

3/1/2016

 
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A number of years ago, I inherited a suitcase full of linens from my Grandmother.
There were damask napkins and linen placemats, monogrammed hankies and cocktail napkins, all beautifully stitched, finished with needle lace, drawn thread embroidery, hem stitching and other techniques I don't know the names of (much less how they were done).
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Unlike my Grandmother's  silver, paintings and jewelry, these exquisite pieces of cloth were uncontested, my sister and I the only grandchildren to even notice them.
Simultaneously gleeful and mournful, we 'rescued' these gorgeous things from whatever fate might have had in store for them had we left them there.
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My plan, at the time, was to use them as ground fabric for embroidery--
such lovely cloth (edges already finished), cried out for imagery.
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Or so I thought.
But after one attempt, I found myself paralyzed.
I'd get something out, turn it this way and that,
imagine drawing with needle and yarn,
then put it away. 
​
At first I thought it was because I wasn't all that interested, 
stitching a short-lived distraction from tapestry with no staying power. 
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It turns out, however, that embroidery doesn't work like that for me.
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 Exquisite fabric demands perfect stitching,
or at least a plan,  and my deliberately messy, spontaneous needlework is more at home on bits and scraps where I am free to change my mind -- about stitches, about yarn, about whatever it is that I have to say.
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 Those lovely pieces of inherited fabric
needed nothing and my ministrations would not improve their inherent perfection.
​ 
An torn sheet or a worn out shirt, on the other hand,
a scrap left over from some sewing project -these are filled with potential.

And I can't make them any worse.


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This is probably why I'm not a quilter. 
Pristine yardage is  lovely already  and cutting it to bits only to sew it together again
​makes my scissors shake. 
Perhaps it is also why I am a weaver and knitter.
With those techniques I can build fabric the exact size I need for whatever I have in mind.
As, indeed, I can build an phrase out of scraps. 
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Sometimes I worry about the linens in the suitcase.
I don't, after all, want them to feel abandoned.
So now and again I heat up my iron and give them a little press with lots of steam,
admire their sheen and think of ways I might put them to work.
Then I roll them neatly (don't want permanent creases in the folds), and put them away.

One of these days perhaps I'll start eating my granola on one of the placemats,
 accidentally slop some tea in one corner then wipe blackberry juice from my mouth with my great grandmother's monogram.
Loosen them up.  Loosen me up. 
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Until then, I'll continue to delve into my scrap basket and see what shows up.
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Leonie Andrews link
3/3/2016 04:51:38 pm

Sarah i know how you feel. I have a fair bit of embroidery from my mother and aunts and it is sheer torture to do anything to them. There is an artist in Australia, Louise Saxton, who does the most exquisite work using deconstructed embroideries. I love her work, but quail at the thought of ever doing the same.
Leonie

Sarah
3/6/2016 08:22:46 am

Wow, Leonie, Louise Saxton's work is amazing. I'm interested in the word "reclaimed needlework" -- somehow that implies it was forgotten or maybe unfinished and makes me wonder if it would be easier to work with/ on unfinished projects than those that already have a purpose of their own to which they are admirably suited -- if only we could use them!

Leonie Andrews link
3/9/2016 12:54:30 pm

I'm not so sure about her 'reclaimed needlework '. I saw a video of her working with a work experience student and she seemed to be cutting up complete needlework pieces. It is reclaimed in the sense that she buys pieces second had from all over and also it looks like she uses pieces of lace which she cuts up as well. I have only seen one of her pieces 'in the flesh' so i can't speak of the construction other than what i gleaned from online sources.

Margaret Stone
3/5/2016 08:00:50 pm

I too have rescued many linen and cotton napkins that belonged to grandparents and great grandparents and they sat for many years in my linen cupboard until one day I decided to use them. They now make an appearance whenever a napkin is needed and make their way to the ironing basket where they sit for weeks until I finally iron them all and return them to the dresser. Its such a treat to use them and I have gotten over the fear of 'what if ' and am sure my Grannies would be glad. Aren't they just gorgeous?

Sarah
3/6/2016 08:27:43 am

Thanks for the encouragement, Margaret. If I just went ahead and used them as napkins and placemats then they might eventually become mine and I could embroider on them (or not) as I pleased. I've done this with my Grandmother's silver teapot, which always sat on her sideboard with the rest of the tea set she got as a wedding present in 1934, gleamingly polished but almost never used. In my house none of the pieces sparkle as they once did, but the teapot gets used every day, which I think it likes. If only I could figure out how to include the warming pot in its little holder and the other accessories...

Lyn link
3/15/2016 02:11:48 pm

Love all of this. I wonder about throwing them all in a big mud pile, dancing a jig on them, and then hanging them to dry? Or perhaps turning them into flags like the ones people bring back from Tibet...prayer flags celebrating all those grannies and their linen filled lives :).

Sarah
3/16/2016 10:20:40 am

Lyn, that is genius! I love it. Hang them out like flags and see what happens. Then they can be free and not shut up in a suitcase. Thank you for this!!!!

Sara
3/30/2016 08:27:48 pm

I too have family linens. A tablecloth embroidered on linen by my mother. Numerous hand towels. Embroidered dish towels (I use those). My favorite are two very large tablecloths of linen damask which are linen yardage in damask ordered in lengths and hemmed by my Irish great grandmother to use in her boarding house for men only (women were too much trouble ). These are worn one with a large hole. How do you wear out thick linen? They are polished with ironing and represent my great grandmothers livelihood. Do I make them smaller to cut out the hole and make them useful? I take them out examine them fold them up and put them away. I love my family linens and I don't think they need to do anything really except allow me to remember card parties and Xmas and Easter dinners.


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