Thursday, November 20, 2008

The Bag of Ugly Fabric

"The Bag gets around."
That what it says on the side of this crumpled brown paper grocery sack.

It all started last November at the Sunshine State Quilters Association symposium. There had been quite a bit of fabric donated for both door prizes and for a sewing competition that would result in a charity project.
After viewing this pile, it was suggested that we have an Ugly Fabric challenge. Several of the ugliest pieces of fabric (as chosen by the guild president) were put into a bag.

All the names of the people attending were put into a drawing, and the one selected would have to take the bag home, make something, and come to the next meeting to show how that ugly fabric was used. Then another name would be drawn, and that person would get the bag.
Of course, more ugly fabric would be added!

The first person who got the bag was allowed to give it to one other person, but it could not be passed further. So it ended up in the hands of A. CoffeeQueen, a known reader of this very blog.
She ended up being quite inspired and made several articles, setting a very high bar for the next bag-holder!

The second poor soul recieved this bag in March, and had to show up in November with her item. Here it is...I have cropped her from the picture to repect her privacy! Or possibly her sanity.

I think she should be very proud of her accomplishment! This is a beautiful carry-all! The patchwork style is called Pioneer Braid.
But then it was time for passing the bag on, and wouldn't you know, my name was drawn! I just might be the only person happy to get this collection of weirdness. And I do mean weird!
This is a small idea of what was in the bag....you can't even see the material with flames on it.
I think most of it is perfectly fine!
That piece draped on the bag is really interesting, though. It's a highly polished chintz, and on the selvedge it claims to be both pre-shrunk and to have 2% shrinkage!
I'm not sure how long I have for this project...some yet-to-be-announced date in the Spring....so I'd better get on it soon.
As I'm working, I'll let get some more pictures of this stuff.
My biggest problem will be adding fabric for the next person.
Because I don't have any ugly fabric...none at all!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is one UGLY bag o' fabric!

I wonder, though, if it's in danger of succumbing to the "More the Merrier" rule, wherein the more fabrics you have the better they look together, no matter how ugly they are individually. (Except for that chintz, of course.)

A greater challenge for the next person (should you choose to issue it) might be to put only three or four different fabrics in the bag when you pass it on. That said, I might be able to come up with a piece or two to contribute for next time around, since you have no ugly fabric of your own.

The Mysterous Ms. E

Sherry V said...

Ah, yes, I'd forgotten all about the bag of ugly fabric. Sounds like those ladies have set the bar rather high and you'll need to be extra creative. I'd be happy to gift you with some of my uglies! LOL