I love the hunt for fabric treasure in a thrift store. 🏴‍☠️🦜 Rifling through a bin of men's ties or searching the sweater racks for that perfect green fuzzy sweater is like a scavenger hunt party game for me.🔍🧥

Not only am I thrilled to bring home a perfect addition to my stash for only a couple dollars, but often, the fabric used in older clothing items have interesting patterns and unique colour combinations that just aren't available in fabric stores. Specifically with vintage fabrics, the gradations of colour and unusual designs are hard to resist. 

When I look back at some of my favourite fabrics...the ones I use sparingly and as efficiently as I can to make them last over a few landscape quilts...I can honestly say that many of them come from the thrift store. I like to make smaller, framed landscapes, and many of these landscapes are inspired by a beautiful men's tie that is calling out to be used as water or a mountain range (or in the case below, both!)

There are few things to consider when using older garments as a source for fabric in landscapes. First, you want to ensure the fabric is in good condition and not already deteriorating from sunlight, laundering, moths or perspiration. If it already looks worn or faded, then it might be best to leave it 😒🚫 

Second, I generally wash everything I bring home with a mild detergent, dry it and then press it with a hot iron (exception to pressing is the fuzzy sweaters). I rough-handle the fabrics with steam and heat to weed out any weak ones 💪 and purposely try to shrink everything that I am going to be using. I often don't know the exact fibre content of the fabric, and the last thing I want is to have sewn a piece of fabric on to my landscape that shrinks up or disintegrates during some final pressing. 😱

Lastly, if I know I am going to be melting the edges to the fabric (as I often do), I very carefully burn a test piece, with water nearby. Fabric burning can be unpredictable, and you want to approach these older fabrics with caution. Flammability regulations have changed over the years, and you never know how the fabric or chemical finishes on the surface will react to fire. 

Thrift stores can be a wonderful source of interesting landscape fabric. The trick to finding gems is to be selective about what you are buying, and take a few extra steps before sewing it into your work to ensure it will stand the test of time. 💎🧵😀