Pioneer Women's Hut

The Pioneer Women's Hut is an unusual museum in many ways. Far from major metropolitan centres or even major tourist sites, it is located outside Tumbarumba, a small town in New South Wales about 480km southwest of Sydney.

However, it is worth the effort to visit the Pioneer Women's Hut because its collection focuses on "the ingenuity of women in finding solutions to the challenges of looking after a family in early rural Australia. I went there in search of material relating to clothing and textile sustainability, particularly the use of needlecraft skills to prolong the life of clothes.

I found items used for mending and darning:

And the most darned sock I've ever seen - why buy (or make) new socks when another darn will suffice:

These cloths have been neatly patched. (The red thread marking the repair might seem unnecessary but this photo is an enlargement - the repairs can be difficult to find.)

This beautiful crocheted cloth is testament to the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the women who made it from over 200 pieces of cotton string unravelled from the tops of sugar and flour bags:

These replacement pockets were cut from old flour bags:

Detachable collars reduced the amount of washing that had to be done:

I love this dressing gown, made from pieces of woollen fabric. I'm thinking of making something similar for myself.

Small scraps of fabric were used for rag rugs, which provided comfort and a burst of colour, although I think they might have been very labour intensive to make:

The Pioneer Women's Hut is open:

• Wednesdays 11.00am - 4.00pm
• Saturdays and Sundays 10.00am - 4.00pm
• Most Public Holidays 10.00am - 4.00pm

Booked groups, clubs and coaches by arrangement 7 days a week.

For further information, contact the Tumbarumba Visitor Information Centre on (02) 6948 3333 or email tourcoordinator@outlook.com

Scrap Bin Project 3

These 2 pieces featured in a Work in Progress Wednesday post and they are now finished.

I really like this pebbly one:

This one is very similar to the one featured in my Scrap Bin Project 2 post. I wouldn't normally repeat an idea but a friend "really, really liked" the previous one, which I'd already promised to someone else - and I still had plenty of aqua fabrics. Fran was delighted to receive this one:

Scrap Bin Project 2

I cut the shapes for this cushion using a Sizzix cutter. I like the wavy effect.

Scrap Bin Project 1

For some years now, I've been saving all the scraps left over from various sewing projects, with the idea of one day using them to make something interesting. It's going to take a lot longer than a day to use them all up but I started with this aqua cushion, courtesy of granddaughters' dresses - Queen Anna dresses (Frozen movie) and Under the Water themed birthday parties:

Everybody's wearing blue jeans

So sang the Skyhooks . . . but I'm more interested in what happens to the jeans when they wear out or no longer fit. I like the way denim fades as it ages and I've been collecting old jeans for several years. And I've finally got around to recycling some of them.

First I made a notebook cover for my son (I tried rotating this photo but it looked odd).

And then I made two cushions. I tried machine-stitching rows of stitching parallel to each seamline on this one but the squares kept distorting, so then I did the stitching by hand, with a button thread for emphasis. I found it difficult to stitch through the thickness of denim, plus some wadding underneath, and it took ages.

I machine-stitch rows diagonally across this one and I really like the finished texture.