Creating something meaningful from remnants

Dear Julia: My recently married daughter had approximately 6 inches remaining from her store-bought wedding gown after alterations for the hem. It was the same with her junior and senior prom dresses. I asked for the scraps from those so that her escorts could use them to find a matching tie.

Could these small remnants be enough to make a pocket square? Or perhaps a sachet, garter belt or ring pillow, maybe incorporating some of the lace trim? They are mostly polyester and satin.

I find sewing on any fabric other than cotton difficult. I’m not on the internet and find most local seamstresses too busy with bigger or more urgent projects.

I know these accessories can be found ready-made, but I hate to toss the leftovers. I would prefer to see them made into usable mementos.

Please advise. I am not a member of any guild, and appreciate your time and help. Sincerely Mrs. Steadman Hi Mrs. Steadman: I 100 percent agree with you. I hate to toss leftover fabric scraps, and I also find that handmade items are much more meaningful than something store-bought, especially when it’s made with leftovers from a special occasion, like prom or a wedding. And how clever of you to pass along the scraps from your daughter’s prom dress to her date!

So, yes, these fabric remnants can be used to make a usable memento. I found this pattern for a basic ring-bearer pillow on the DIY Network’s website (diynetwork.com) — search for “how to make a ring bearer pillow.”

Like you mentioned, sewing with a more flowy fabric like satin can be difficult. But there are things you can do to make the fabric more manageable.

The easiest thing to do would be to add stabilizer or interfacing to “stiffen” the fabric. This will make the fabric easier to work with while sewing. For your circumstances, I would recommend using a stabilizer, because this is generally meant to be temporary. You can attach the stabilizer to your satin remnants before sewing, and then remove it when you are finished. There are a few different types of stabilizers to choose from, including tear-away, cut-away, wash-away and heat-away. I’ve used a wash-away stabilizer in the past to stiffen lace while working with it. It didn’t wash away as easily as I would have liked, so before adhering the stabilizer to your remnant, be sure to test it on a small section of the fabric to make sure the glue and/or heat won’t damage the fabric and that the stabilizer will easily dissolve in water.

Good luck, and please share your project with us when you’ve finished.

Dear Readers: Dot K., of River Ridge, La., has this advice to share with Brenda about sewing a straight line. Dot writes:

“I taught teenage girls to sew for many years. I used loose-leaf paper, with no thread in the needle (be sure the machine is NOT threaded — that can be a mess!). They would follow a line to the edge of the page, pivot a quarter turn, stitch to the next line, pivot a quarter turn again and stitch on down that line.

“This gave them control of where they were going. I found this to be the best way to give them confidence. They all turned out well-made first projects.”

Thanks for sharing this great tip, Dot!