Shelbee on the Edge

While this is the fifth post in my Shelbee on the Rags series featuring my raggery projects, these curtains are actually the first raggery project that I ever made. Back in June, I gave my bedroom a bohemian makeover and I could not find curtains that I liked anywhere. So I decided to make my own. Initially I was going to sew my own patchwork curtains and I bought about 20 yards of quilting fabrics to get started. But before I even laundered the fabrics, I realized that I was not skilled enough to pull off a sewing project of this sort. And this is when I discovered no-sew rag…

I am sharing my rag curtain projects almost in reverse order. Now that I decided to write a dedicated post for each curtain, I still have to share the first two curtains which I made specifically for my bedroom windows and my cloffice doorway. I created Aqua Allure for my cloffice doorway because I was really hating the long gray drapes that I had hanging there. Once upon a time, I had no door covering for my cloffice but it gets kind of messy in there so I do like to have a curtain to conceal my chaos. First I had light cream curtains with a brown leaf print covering…

The first two rag curtains that I created, Bohemian Blues and Aqua Allure, were made exclusively for me for practical use in my home. I created the third curtain, Saved from the Landfill, for no one in particular. I just had a bag of old kids’ clothing that was destined for the donation bin and I figured it would make better art than hand-me-downs. Throughout the process of crafting with fabrics and textile scraps, I started saving all the little odds and ends and bits and pieces that were “irregular”, meaning they weren’t smooth, seamless cuts of fabric. Then I got the idea to use all of those odd bits…

I have decided to share a dedicated post for each new large rag project that I complete. If you have been following along, I recently began these raggery adventures in an effort to save unwanted textiles from overwhelming our already overwhelmed landfills by creating functional pieces of art. Saved from the Landfill was born out of a bag of old kids’ clothing that had been sitting in a closet waiting to be dropped off at a clothing donation bin until I rescued it from a landfill fate. The bag consisted mostly of old tee shirts and sweatpants with a few pairs of jeans that were all worn beyond function anyway…

I just completed my latest rag curtain project which was inspired by my mother and very much guided by her spirit. I have outlined my step by step process of taking thrift store garments and turning them into functional artwork in the post featuring my Carolina on My Mind rag curtain. I am attempting to prevent as many textiles as I can from ending up in our already overwhelmed landfills by rescuing unwanted garments from thrift stores and creating an environmentally friendly and practical art form. The idea of a floral garden themed curtain came to mind when I first started creating these rag curtains. In fact, about 12 ideas…

If you remember November, you might recall my latest creative adventures which I have named Shelbee on the Rags. I have been creating unique curtains and wall hangings from unwanted clothing (a.k.a. rags). This raggery idea came to me in the summer when I couldn’t find the perfect curtains for my bohemian bedroom makeover so I decided to make my own in the hippie aesthetic that I desired. I did not use unwanted clothing for my bedroom curtains because my initial intention was to sew patchwork curtains from fabrics that I chose at JOANN. Quickly realizing that my sewing skills were not up to par for an undertaking like 3…