reinvention by maya donenfeld
May 8th, 2012
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED
Reinvention: Sewing with Rescued Materials is a beautiful new book by Maya Donenfeld . You are probably familiar with Maya’s blog, MayaMade, where she writes about parenting and making with the seasons. Years ago, Maya sent the craft blog world into a sewing frenzy when she came out with the burlap bucket pattern and for good reason: it is simple, beautiful, useful, and recycled. So too is every project in her new book.
Each chapter in the book is dedicated to a specific material: linen, burlap, jersey, wool, denim, tyvek, and vintage. The projects are, yes, made from recycled materials, but they don’t scream, “I’m recycled!” like say, a pop top vest would. They all subscribe to the same natural aesthetic, even the most seemingly unnatural of materials, tyvek. When my copy of the book came I was immediately draw to this chapter, because I’ve always loved tyvek, oddly enough, and I was excited to see someone else out there did too!
I chose to make the color block zippered pouch, but after painting a bit of tyvek I was less than thrilled. I used a silver metallic acrylic paint that ended up looking a sad gray and the blue was nice, but it brought out the texture of the tyvek more than I wanted. It is actually a nice effect, sort of like a faux leather, but it wasn’t what I was after.
Maya suggests painting the tyvek or simply drawing on it with a permanent marker, which of course makes sense as tyvek is as much like paper as it is like fabric. I picked up my ultra fine point Sharpie and went to town. The leather-like effect I got with the painted tyvek made me want to use some actual leather. A few snips from a vintage, buttery leather jacket and I had the makings for a fine recycled zip pouch.
I didn’t use the exact dimensions she specifies for the pouch, but the patterns in this book are meant more as guidelines. Maya even says, “…ultimately the size, shape, and color of each rescued piece informs the final outcome. If you listen carefully, the fabric will tell you what it wants to be.” This tyvek envelope told me to draw a geometric pattern on it, then sew it to some leather and attach an aqua zipper. Sewing the tyvek was easy, just like sewing paper, so use an old needle in your machine. It was my first time sewing with leather and that was simple too. My machine didn’t know what was going on when I tried to sew the tyvek to the leather, and I had to help it along quite a bit.
Maya also suggests leaving a bit of the original printing exposed, “..so that its reinvention efforts are not forgotten.” I think this quote sums up the book nicely. You get to make all these wonderful pouches and hampers and poofs from old materials, but hidden in these newly sewn things are little reminders of what they once were.
The lovely people at Wiley Craft have offered a copy of Reinvention to one of my readers. Please leave a comment telling me about your favorite recycled material to be entered in the drawing. The giveaway will close Wednesday May 9th at noon central. I’m sorry but this giveaway is only open to US residents. Please follow along with the rest of the tour to see more of this lovely book!
I actually do have a little store of tyvek, but have never known what I was going to do with it, color block pouch it is!
I love to use any material that I come across, whether it’s an old sweater or cardboard, and turn them into new things.
Thanks for the chance!
Oh, I would so love to win a copy! I teach craft classes at our local library to tweens and try to “up-cycle” as many materials as I can. My favorite material is probably denim, but I love using paper of any kind as well!
I love felting moth eaten sweaters from the thrift shop and making things…. but tyvek never occurred to me, I like it!
My house is getting fuller and fuller with all those things I consider recyclable, sometimes I do make something, but a bit of extra inspiration would do it! I love Maya’s creativity and follow her blog closely (as I follow yours!).
My favorite things to repurpose are mesh produce bags and hosery cardboard.
wow, thank you and Maya for introducing me to tyvek! until no my favorite material to recycle has been wool.
I have been following the book tour. I would love to win a copy of the book.
I like recycling old fabrics like denim or cotton from clothes or bedding/linens. I love the zippered pouch you made!!!
I would love to win a copy of this book, I’m so inspired by all I’ve seen so far! My favorite recycled material is probably old clothes, especially corduroy.
Ooh this looks so cool! I’ve used burlap and I’m drawn to the Tyvek too. I like anything with an industrial feel.
I’ve got a roll of tyvek that my construction working husband brought me home from the garbage pile at a construction site, and I need to make some things with it. I was a little daunted by its whiteness, and it actually never occurred to me to try painting it. duh. I am not to clever sometimes. I make a lot of things out of felted wool sweaters and old t-shirts, and thanks to Maya’s inspiration I rescued a stack of coffee sacks a while back and have been making buckets from her pattern and then branched out into other things with burlap , and it has been great fun. I’d really like to win a copy of this book, so fingers crossed!
Maya’s book looks awesome. Your pouch is awesome too. I’ve been recycling t-shirts to make “yarn” to make rugs.
My favorite recycled material is probably jersey knit and magazines
my favorites are bike inner tubes into jewelry a friend of mine makes and i love to use old clothing of mine or my husbands for my son.
thanks for the giveaway.
Sheets!I use top sheets to make so many things.
Cardboard and twine….so many uses for old cardboard and twine.
I think using plastic animal feed bags (turned into carry bags) for wet towels and suits works well for me… they keep the wet in and the car trunk stays dry!
Mine is sheets – linen and flannel. There are so many uses for them – throw pillows, washcloths, rugs, etc.
My favorite material to repurpose is a pair of khaki pants. Softer than denim but often as durable, without the holes in the knees.
I love to use any old scrap of leather or fabric; I work at an alterations shop, so there’s plenty to pick over after the work week is up.
That looks like such a beautiful book – I love the idea of repurposing materials, but also the layout and photography looks gorgeous.
Nice pouch! I personally love repurposing old t-shirts to make yarn that I then crochet into rugs! I made one for my Mom and she loved it. It took about 15 adult XL shirts to make a 3 foot (diameter) rug. That’s a lot of shirts!!
I would say sweaters are most fun to recycle!
this book looks so lovely and your zippered pouch is super cool. i like sewing with vintage sheets and my husband’s old clothes…always hounding him to see if he still wears those khakis.
I’ve sewed a few leather soled baby booties using some thrift store leather purses. It is something crazy to sew fabric to leather. Love the look of this book!