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Art of upcycling is not only how to create textile art pieces. It is also how to creatively upcycle textiles.

This week I was choosing fabrics for a number of different techniques and saw many shortish thin strips in the pile. I sorted them into color families and saw that I had enough strips to create a strip quilted patchwork quilt from scraps.

It was a tremendous task to pack them so that the unpacking would be practical. I packed according to subject and marked the boxes accordingly so it is not that daunting. Now to get started setting up the studio.

We have just moved and my studio is still packed away. I have itchy fingers, I want to feel my fabrics and run my fingers through my piles of buttons. I miss having all that color around me. I msut get back into the studio and sit and sew on my machine.

When teaching I make a point of only using upcycled and second hand fabrics. I teach deconstruction and reconstruction and use up every bit down to the threads so that there is no textile waste.

Endless fabric scraps in many different sizes. I decided to make a 4 seasons series of one inch magic fabric pieces. So I sorted them into one inch pieces according to the 4 seasons. These fabrics can be framed and used as art pieces as is, or can be used as fabrics to create other products, bags, pouches, fabric bracelets or necklaces and can even be used to create pockets, collars and cuffs on shirts and jackets.

I am being influenced by my students. One of the children last year walked around the room and collected loose threads from everyone's scraps. He ended up with a huge pile and we made beads from them. The same thing happened to me today. You know that pile of threads that gets entangled in your scraps? Well today instead of throwing them away I collected them and this is only a small part of what I found. My progression of neverending fabric scraps

To create another piece, just for the sake of creating? I have a few ways of dealing with this. The first is to take a break. I don't go near my studio, I read a book, go for a walk, watch a movie. Those are some of my options. But when in doubt, I just dance. Just to dance. I have my playlists, plug the earphones in and rumba and lambada around the house for about an hour. I am a different person after that.

I have been thinking about writing this post for a while now. I can look at a product and after a few minutes I manage to analyze how it was

I have spent the last 2 weeks going through boxes and mounds or rather hills of fabric that I have collected over the years. Why do I...

We run sewing workshops where we teach sewing from scratch from children up to adults. All of the materials used in the sewing studio are upcycled and remnants from other projects. Nothing gets thrown away, even the smallest of pieces are used so the result is Zero Waste.

I always run a class or 2 like this every year.The students never know when its going to happen. Those that have been with me longer, ...

People often ask me what I do with all those fabric scraps that I save and how do I store them. When I sort fabrics I first do so...

Every week should have a day of rest. Our designated one is Saturday, I don't always strictly keep to it but I do find that there is an...

When the mood takes me I group fabrics together with notions. Cottons, fabric lace, strips of lace, zippers, cuffs, buttons, fabric yoyos and coordinating threads. It is time consuming to build color portfolios. Building the color mix is therapuetical but takes a lot of time so once I have done that I group them together in plastic bags in color sections in the seasonal boxes. Rust fabrics today

A huge amount of sorting and packing. The packing wasn't really the problem I have a huge amount of used t shirts and t shirt pieces...

These are the shelves that I have designated for my huge button and yoyo supply. I have about 4 times the amount that can fit onto these...

Over the years I have come to the conclusion that focus is the key. I find that it is a constant battle to do that. As an artist who is...

When making crumb quilted square feet I end up having a lot of fabric remnants in a variety of sizes. In the past I either used to throw...

This post is going to be about creating or rather recreating with very small pieces of fabric. I use the smallest pieces to create fabric...