Soft and Worn.

Handmade Items: where are they now?

As a textile enthusiast one of my favorite things is seeing how use transforms objects. It’s not something we share as readily- it’s almost too intimate. Maybe that’s why I linger over glimpses of mended hand-knits, over-dyed dishtowels, and saggy, yanked-on beanies. It is certainly a part of why I use reclaimed fabric in my work. Now, not all of my handmade objects have seen years of use. Even though I hold practicality in the front of my mind while making anything, some objects just don’t tick all of the boxes. In our house that means they get taken apart and repurposed. As I scrolled through my camera rolls looking at everything I made (and documented) in the last five years I had to laugh at just how much no longer exists. Whole sweaters have been unraveled and re-knit. Carefully finished garments have been ruthlessly cut into for use in quilts. Quilts themselves have been pulled from use and turned into batting, with us but no longer visible. The objects that stay bear the brunt of our living. They are stained and faded and often thrown in the wash when they really need to be tossed in the mending basket. These old reliables were once crisp and new- if you’ve followed me for a while you might recognize them! Now they’re broken in and beloved.

WOVEN

Indigo Kitchen Cloths // Top: June 2018, Bottom: December 2022 // 4 years 6 months

When Tavi saw the old pictures of this she said: “Oh! You wove that on the bed in the old apartment when it was too hot and we only had AC in the bedroom.” Haha YES. The yarn for this cloth came into my life as a secondhand cotton sweater that I unraveled and over-dyed with indigo in the vat I secretly kept in the basement of our building. I wove it together with hemp yarn scraps on a small table(bed)top loom from a friend. I cut the resulting fabric into three pieces and hemmed them into square-ish kitchen towels. They are super absorbent and get used regularly for all sorts of clean up duties. They go in the washer and dryer with the rest of our utility textiles and probably get washed twice a month.

After four and a half years the indigo has faded. The cloths have shrunk a bit in length. There are stains and the fabric is even softer and pill-y like an old towel. I’m really proud of how my weaving held up! This is the second or third textile I’ve woven and I very much winged it. I even used a piece of salvaged metal from an empty lot as a shuttle in true DIY fashion. These cloths are such staples in our kitchen that I rarely give them much thought but sitting with them just now has reminded me of how empowering it felt to turn that old sweater into beautiful cloth.