Utilitarian needlework for the house: sewing from rags

Today, for many skilled workers, the question of saving is particularly acute. It's no secret that the tools and materials they use for creativity have a fairly high cost. Especially when it comes to quality fabrics, yarn, beads, as well as reliable and durable scissors, knitting needles, hooks, pliers and other fixtures.

In addition, often to make really interesting and attractive products you have to buy a course, a guide or go to a master class.

In this aspect, utilitarian needlework becomes a real salvation for active and creative natures, who can not spend a day without creating masterpieces.

Types and applications of utilitarian needlework

The term itself means the manufacture of interior items or clothes from recycled materials. The materials can be:

• Unnecessary clothes, rugs, curtains, curtains.
• Remains from previous projects (scraps of cloth, small skeins of yarn).
• Various cords, twine and coarse household threads. That is, such materials are not intended for creativity, but they find an interesting application.
• Items that have served their own or were broken and can no longer perform functions (wooden slats, newspapers, broken utensils, empty bottles and jars).

Using utilitarian needlework, you can create quite practical things yourself or something purely decorative. Often the skilled workers who have mastered the techniques of such needlework make useful objects not only for their own needs, but also for gifts.

Utilization with benefit

Despite the fact that utilitarian needlework involves the manufacture of handicrafts from recyclable materials, people, distant creativity, may not even notice it. For example, baskets woven from newspapers are very popular. Considering one of them, it can easily be confused with the product from the vine. Often the news of the origin of the material becomes an incredible news for the uninitiated.

The reason is that the tubes, folded from newspaper sheets, are intertwined in the same way as the vine. Then the finished product is painted and varnished. The resulting surface becomes very hard and strong. Often such baskets serve even longer than their analogues from wood, since they do not unravel.

Do not rush to throw away the scraps

When it comes to utilitarian needlework, the patchwork technique first comes to mind. It is an ancient art of sewing small pieces of cloth in order to obtain a solid canvas with a clear geometric ornament.

Traditionally, utilitarian needlework from shreds is used for sewing rugs, bedspreads, pillowcases and bags. However, to date, the scope of this technique is seriously expanded, you can see quite different items made with it:

• All sorts of cases and "torbochki."
• Kitchen potholders and stands under the hot.
• Skirts, dresses, coats, hats and other clothes.
• Decorative paintings and panels.

Beauty and quality

Used for creating practical things, utilitarian needlework involves the use of different types of linings and fillers. Thanks to them, the stitches become dense and keep the temperature (if the filler is sintepon), and the covers last much longer. To assess the quality of the product in the patchwork style, the carefully made lining is no less important than the front part. This is extremely important for bags, beauticians, cases for tools or phones, since the lining fabric will be constantly visible.

When working on objects of interior decor or bedding, the craftsman may not pay such attention to the reverse side.

Home utilitarian needlework with their own hands

Most masters prefer to study patchwork when drawing smooth sheets. There are several universal schemes that help create beautiful geometric patterns from a fabric of different colors. The figure below shows such patterns.

Utilitarian needlework with their own hands (with schemes or by template) is usually successfully mastered by beginners. The versatility of these patterns is that they are suitable for making canvases of various sizes and configurations (not only rectangular, but also triangular, and hexagonal). This is extremely important for those who use utilitarian needlework. Rugs from shreds can be made up of several such patterns. However, when combining, the principle of symmetry is usually observed.

One of the difficult moments for the craftsmen is the decoration of the edge of the products. The following diagram illustrates perfectly how a perfectly right angle is formed.

Beautician from shreds

Utilitarian needlework is perfect for making various cases, bags and beauticians.

The figure below shows the algorithm for sewing cosmetic bags with a zipper. It is quite simple in cutting and making, just just carefully check all the dimensions, and then carefully perform the seams.

Sequence of work:

1. Draw or print a pattern.
2. Cut out a pattern from paper.
3. Apply to the fabric and cut out the main part. If the master wants to use a material of several colors, she must cut the pattern in the appropriate places. When these parts are laid on the fabric, allowance should be made for seam allowances.
4. To make the cosmetic bag tight and keep the shape, you need to put a dense fabric between the decorative layer and the lining (fleece, jeans, tarpaulin).
5. Cut out the lining of the same shape, but smaller.
6. To the zipper, sew the valves, as shown in the figure.
7. Collect the product, first attaching the fastener to the main part, then gripping its edges.
8. Sew the lining and attach it to the back of the cosmetic bag.

If the master can not accurately fix the lining using the machine, it can be done manually, having previously swept the edges.