new thing

I am super excited about reverse applique: My shirt, ahem, my very favorite shirt, was horribly maimed in an accident involving my very favorite belt, which is no longer my favorite. The poor thing has holes in it, and I've been reluctant to throw it away, because other than the holes in the belt buckle area, it's a perfectly fine shirt.

So then I encountered the concept of reverse applique. From what I can gather, this is a technique developed over the years. It was used by women in the Southern states forever. It is now being revived. I remember appliqued items throughout my own childhood. It is also used in African sewing.  The little paper deer appliques stuck on the sides of the doll cradle my grandmother made me. My mom did a lot of applique in fabric, and so I looked at lots of pattern books as a child in the fabric store. Leading me to this conclusion: Nothing is new under the sun, people. It occurs to me that age wise, I'm not that old really, to be making that statement and it almost sounds funny coming out of my mouth. Okay I admit, I was old before I was even 10 years old. Huge amounts of cultural information were downloaded into my brain before I could even talk.  

Anyway my pattern is a fleur de lis. Everything in white will be purple, because that's my other favorite damaged tee-shirt. I got Clorox Cleanup on it the day after we got back from San Francisco, cleaning up J's sister's kitchen. Still beautiful purple soft fabric. Just a spot in an undisguisable spot. The thread to hold it all together is sort of pearly grey.