This is the situation. I will go and buy fabric with the idea of using it for [insert project here]. It will languish in my sewing room until I decide when I am going to start that particular project. Meantime, the fabric remains untouched. Later on, when an opportunity arises to use said material on a different project, I decide I cannot use it on the off chance that one day I will begin the original project. Hence, I will go and get more stuff and the fabric stays where it is, unused.
Not anymore.
Lately, I have been attacking my stash and using it regardless of what I thought the bloody thing was supposed to be used for. The results? Excellent. My kit is growing, and my pile of fabric shriking. Yay me!
A good example is the new winter rapier set that I am making. I have a really nice grey wool that I have decided to use for a pair of trunkhose. I take it out, and I realize that I don't have a piece of plain white linen large enough to use for lining. Nevertheless, I do have a piece of pumpkin colored, lightweight linen that I had purchased at Pennsic for $5.00 per yard, with the intention of making a Roman tunic.
I agonize, since lying in the corner of the room is a bolt of heavier weight white linen that I had also purchased for $5.00 per yard. It is a heavier weight and not as suitable as the orange for my purposes. The wool is already very heavy and I don't want that trunkhose to weigh a ton.
Then I do the math, and realize that the orange one cost me the same as the white one, and it is the perfect weight. I also decide that the heck with the Roman tunic. This fabric is perfect for lining my pants. Moreover, I dig out a felted goose-turd green wool that had been languishing in a drawer, in the off chance that I wanted to make hosen.
The hell with the chauses too; this wool will make a kickass doublet. Especially if I line it with the pumpkin linen and trim it with silk of the same color.
Finally, I pull out a very nice piece of purple wool that I inherited from
stanci when she moved out of the area. It will make a terrific cassock. I haven't yet dug into the stash for the lining of the cassock, but I think that I have done enough damage in one weekend.I am getting better.
Really.
And now, for your viewing pleasure, a picture of the cuffs I just finished embroidering for
ballistabob
