In Defense of Keeping that Fabric Forever

When I was in high school, everything was purple. And frequently paisley. Whether inspired by the Little Purple Rock Star, Prince, or just a sign of the times, you couldn’t get away from the stuff. I used it for everything, including a purple paisley velvet jacket that boasted an impressive 28 pattern pieces. It was fully lined, too! You couldn’t pay me to undertake such a complicated project today, but back then with no kids and no job it was just an easy weekend’s worth of sewing. I still do have that paisley jacket in the back of my closet. I know I’ll never fit into it again, even if I did want to wear it ironically. I’ll continue to keep it around, just in case it is ever 80’s theme day at my kid’s high school.

Although I no longer have most of the tragically hip getups I crafted in high school, I continue to hang onto the little fabric remnants from those projects. There isn’t enough fabric to really make anything with them, even if those fabrics were in fashion again. Speaking of which, have you seen those dolman sleeve knit mini dresses that are now back in style? I still have my original McCall’s pattern for those… ripped straight out of the Brooke Shields line. Unlike the old days, with the benefit of my adult sized paycheck, I can now afford a serger to theoretically sew those knit dresses up properly.

I hang onto fabric scraps from those long-ago projects as a kind of tactile scrap book, reminding me of all my Prince and Bowie-inspired threads and how cool I felt wearing them. Just for a minute, I’m a kid again with the coolest jacket in the whole school.

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