The winter solstice and a season of textile Care and Repair

Today is the shortest day of the year—the winter solstice. Tomorrow, there will be a wee bit more daylight… and a wee bit more the following day… until the spring equinox. The winter solstice also marks the beginning of Winter of Care and Repair.

Winter of Care and Repair Challenge for 2024 - 2025.

A Winter of Care and Repair pledge

My pledge for this year’s three-month Winter of Care and Repair Challenge is much like last year’s. The main focus is on textiles with the addition of household care.

• textile mending and repairs
• upcycling and repurposing
• organizing my fabric stash
• minimizing scraps
• and this year, an effort to find time to tidy up my home office.

To start off the Care and Repair season, I’m donating four scrappy quilts to our local veterinarian and animal hospital.

Scrappy quilts for cats and dogs.

I use improv patchwork and fabric scraps to make these little quilts for the animals at the vet. The quilts are fun to make, stress-free, and go to both my Care and Repair pledge to repurpose and upcycle as well as providing care for the four-legged fuzzy ones.

Scrappy quilt backs.

Two of these quilts have flannel backings.

Free-motion quilting.

The quilts are free-motion quilted and the bindings are attached by machine with a narrow zigzag stitch.

Machine bindings using a narrow zigzag stitch.

The mending pile

I have begun gathering items in need of mending or repair. The Care and Repair Challenge is a perfect motivation to keep household items, clothes, and other textiles in good working order. 

 

Make it Again… and again… and…

One of my Make Nine prompts is “Make it Again.” It’s a prompt for a project where I can use an existing pattern or a technique with which I’m familiar, to expedite “getting to the good part.” Here are another pair of Valencia one-seam pants and another long-sleeve (I’ve also made a few short sleeve versions) Bristol knit top.

The Bristol top and Valencia pants patterns from The Sewing Workshop.

Garment details

The knit is from Art Gallery Fabrics and the pant fabric is a woven from Diamond Textiles.

Another “Make it Again” outfit.

I always add pockets to my Valencia pants. Where else do you put your kleenex and your car keys?

Patch pockets added to my Valencia pants.

On the Bristol, I added top stitching by hand with a variegated 8 wt. perle cotton thread at the yoke. The sleeve cuffs are also a different knit print.

Hand stitching at the yoke. Contrasting fabric for the cuffs.

Two makes in two days. It’s “Make it Again” in all its glory. Can’t beat that efficiency!

“Make it Again” Bristol knit top and Valencia pants with pockets.

Making Wreath Blocks with scraps and a specialty ruler

 My pile of make-do wreath blocks has grown!

Wreath blocks for scraps.

Using the Hatchet Block specialty ruler

The original “make do” blocks that inspired this project were made with scraps and strings, pieced on the diagonal of a square. 

I used a Creative Grids Hatchet Block specialty ruler to gauge the fabric length for the center section of each unit. Red fabric squares were cut in half diagonally for the corner triangles. The Hatchet Block ruler was designed to be used with 5” charm squares, but it can be used with scraps, too. Quiltmakers love tools that are multi-use and versatile as well as making the patchwork process efficient!

The Hatchet Block specialty ruler and a 6.5” square ruler were used to make units for the wreath blocks.

Four Hatchet units were needed to make each Wreath block. Trimming a few of the Hatchet units also added to my collection of HSTs (half-square triangles).

Scraps and trimmings contribute to half-square triangle [HST] units.

12-block layout

My individual Wreath blocks came to 9.5” square. They needed to be trimmed down to 9” to match the three “make do” blocks—the impetus of this project.

Squaring up Wreath blocks to 9” [unfinished size].

Twelve blocks make up the layout of this little quilt top. I opted to set the blocks solid (without a sashing). This allowed the diamond shapes—created by the intersection of four blocks coming together—become apparent. This echoes the diamond shapes in the center of each wreath block.

Wreath blocks on the design wall.

If you “spin the seams” at the block’s center (all in the same direction, mind you—either clockwise or counter-clockwise), the seam allowances will nest at the sides, making assembling easier and reducing bulk.

Spinning the seams reduces bulk and aids in nesting the seam allowances.

A simple red border finished the quilt top.

Finished quilt top. 31” x 39.5” 

Making these scrappy blocks were fun and stress-free. And I’m pleased that three orphaned “make do” blocks have found their home.

Getting ready for “A Winter of Care and Repair”

A Winter of Care and Repair. I love this Challenge! I participated last year and it was very gratifying. The online Challenge is hosted by Jeanna @thepeoplesmending and takes place from the Winter Solstice (December 21, 2024) to the Spring Equinox (March 20, 2025).

Winter of Care and Repair 2024-2025

Make a plan, set some goals

During this season-long project, participants are encouraged to design their own parameters/plan/outcome/pledge that suits their lifestyle while focusing on mending, repairing, and caring for their belongings or themselves. I generally focus on textiles—mending, up-cycling, recycling, prolonging their life, and keeping them out of landfills. In general, being more sustainable by caring for existing items rather than buying new.

One of the mending projects slated for this year’s Winter of Care and Repair Challenge.

How the WOCAR Challenge began… and what’s new

Jeanna started the Winter of Care and Repair Challenge in 2020 during the Covid 19 lockdown as a way to provide some semblance of structure and control during an uncertain time. This year, she’s added another element to the concept. She says, “The winter of 2024/25 feels like the beginning another period of frightening uncertainty… with the future of human rights and environmental action looking bleak, I’m expanding the very lose parameters of WOCAR to include ‘something within the participants’ circle of control’ rather than just belongings.”

In the past, the Challenge focused on the care and repair of garments and belongings. This year, she’s including other aspects to her personal plan that are “in her circle of control.” 

Need ideas?

Visit @thepeoplesmending for ideas for creating a plan or your personal plan or pledge. In the past, some participants have designed their Challenge project to focus on things such as:

• tending a garden and prepping the ground for the next season’s planting,
• repurposing or repairing household items (rather than disposing of them),
• de-cluttering a room/garage/house,
• creating habits to improve personal health and well-being.

Whatever works for your schedule, lifestyle, and goals… A Winter of Care and Repair is the perfect opportunity in which to apply them!

 

I’ve notified members of my household to begin setting aside things for the mending basket.