Zoe's Milky Way

#131. The Empress Dowager's New Jewels' first repurposing commission! Woo!

In the very first post that I wrote on this blog, when I started making the New Jewels, I said, "If you'd like a commissioned piece made out of, say, a special piece of vintage fabric, or an old dress that holds fond memories but which you can't fit into anymore, I'd be happy to convert them into "jewellery" that you can wear." The very same idea as melting down old heirloom gold to create a new piece of jewellery.

A year-and-a-half later, someone finally took me up on my offer! Thank you, Zoe! For coming to play!

Zoe was recently given some of her grandmother's vintage handmade aprons and wondered if I could convert one of them into a necklace for her because as much as she loves the apron, she knows that she's not going to get much wear out of it.

Of course! I've been waiting for such an opportunity for so long!


I've made necklaces out of "found" fabric before - old cushion covers found in op shops, a pillowcase from a pal and remnants kindly donated by another - and had never hesitated cutting into them. It was different with this apron. Knowing the backstory of the apron and looking at the fine work that Zoe's grandma had done on it, it was hard taking it apart.

But I had to.

And here's the "conversion". All 190cm of it! From sparse "scribbles" at one end to denser ones at the other.

I was so happy to find that we had sufficient fabric for a complete length of Milky Way! The introduction of "foreign" material, if we didn't have enough from the apron, was discussed. Glad that we didn't have to put that plan into effect because I kind of like that the "conversion" has remained "pure".

Mustard was one of the colours we talked about (Zoe is "really into mustard at the moment"), if we had to use additional material. We didn't but we liked how good it looks with black so we incorporated it into the piece via the joining stitches.

I hope I've done the apron justice and that Zoe will have loads of fun wearing her Milky Way!

It's been so much fun for me so I really hope that I'll be getting more repurposing projects soon!

Go on! Go look into your closet! For something that can be given a new lease of life.