Wool in the Summer?

Hi everyone:

Since it's cooler in the basement than in the upper part of our house, I decided to tidy up some of my "almost ripe" fabrics. Wondering what I'm talking about? My "almost ripe" fabrics are woollen sweaters, suits and skirts that I have in large bins waiting to be "harvested" (cut apart so the fabric can be used in quilt projects). 

A partially harvested suit jacket

I have several bins of these and they take up a fair amount of room in the back room in our basement. I pulled out the bins and found that some of the suits had been cut up into large chunks, but they really weren't ready for any type of project. What to do with them? I thought that the quickest and easiest solution would be to cut them into squares and rectangles for quilt piecing. I got out my AccuQuilt GO! and some dies and started cutting.

Squares already cut

I had to iron a few pieces before they were ready for cutting, but things went quickly after that was done. I soon had a pile of squares and rectangles and thought that I might want some other shapes too. 

Rectangles done too!

Why shouldn't I have some wool appliqué shapes ready to go? Out came the circles and ovals dies. I used both the Big Shot Pro and my AccuQuilt GO! as I have dies from both AccuQuilt and Sizzix. I could've cut them all on the Big Shot Pro, but this involves using shims for the GO! dies and it was just easier to cut the circles on the AccuQuilt GO! and the ovals on the Big Shot Pro. 

Circles added to the cut group

By noon I had several piles of geometric shapes and a large bag of bits and pieces of wool. Now I have to decide if it is worth saving these small bits of seams and interfaced pieces or if they should be trashed. 

The remains of the day

Any suggestions? I'd love to hear what uses you may have for this type of material.

Wool Appliqué

While I love to appliqué with cotton fabrics, lately wool has been catching my eye. Such luscious colours and soft texture - what's not to like? Well, wool is a little more pricey, that's true, but considering you're only using small amounts of it it's actually affordable - at least that's the logic I'm using! I also like to do some hand embroidery on my projects, so wool would be perfect for this application.


Since I'm not used to working with wool, I was searching the internet for some wool appliqué tips and ran across this information. If you're considering adding wool to your stash, you might be interested in viewing and reading these before you start. Or you might be like me and buy your wool first and then try to find a project in which to use it! 


This wool appliqué tutorial is from the Cottons n' Wool blog by Anne.


This second article is from Kay Mackenzie's All About Appliqué blog and is an interview with Kaye Moore. 


I hope you enjoy these and give wool a try.