Thank you all so much for your enthusiastic response to my recent remaking conundrum. I have spent the last decade occasionally wondering what I should do with this beautiful sweater made by my dear late friend for her son in the late sixties.
But with your suggestions prompting either ideas or realisations of the deeper emotional constraints around this remaking project, I think I finally have clear plan. Since the execution of this plan will probably take me some time, I thought I better share the idea now rather than leave you all wondering for months.
As a result of thinking through your suggestions I realised:
- No amount of altering was going to make me happy to wear this garment.
- My friend’s actual stitches were precious to me, more than just the motifs or the yarn. Unravelling was not going to be emotionally possible.
- I wanted to display her work in some way not just store it, waiting for a time it might be useful again.
- More than being a sweater, this article was fabric. This opened the possibilities of what it might become.
- The colour had to change, it is hard to look after and doesn’t fit my wardrobe.
So, this beautiful, currently unworn sweater is going to become the biggest tote bag I can make, something I can take to fibre shows and workshops where my friend’s work will be amongst folks who will most appreciate her skill and labour.
I will dye the sweater to match some tartan wool fabric from a skirt I have been saving for almost as long as the sweater. The sweater back will become the bag front, which I will stitch to a backing fabric and reinforce to support the stitches. The bag will be lined and have lots of pockets and zip pouches inside. The sweater arms will become the bag strap, backed with a durable, supportive fabric.
The sweater front which has a little moth damage will become a cushion, to sit next to other cushions of great sentiment and beauty.
I hope that both articles will honour my friend’s work and our friendship.
You can follow my Slow Fashion October 2017 adventures here.
