Boston Trip_Upcycling, Serging

I usually try to find some sort of fiber experience to have during visits with my son and daughter-in-law in Boston. One year, I went to  Saori Worcester for an intensive with Mihoko, another I went to the CGOA conference in Manchester, VT. I couldn't find any events or workshops this year, but I didn't have to! 

My daughter-in-law Lisa recently got a serger and is interested in making a Katwise coat. (Click on that link, but only if you want to fill your visual field with happiness)

I have had Katwise's tutorial for years and have always wanted a serger, but they seem complicated and daunting. How perfect to get some hands-on experience with the machine and begin to explore the techniques! So my fiber arts excursion is right here in the house. 

Lisa already had two big totes full of wool and cashmere sweaters:

 and we spent a couple of days searching out more. Two Goodwills and this place: 

This is a picture of the back of the first floor of The Garment District in Cambridge. It's just a pile of clothes, that are sold by the pound. There are about a dozen people in that picture, including Lisa, who I fondly call the truffle pig of wool and cashmere. Perhaps she is just more focused than I am, but my finds wound up being woven cotton & linen for my small stitchery collage work, and some knit cottons, T-shirts, to experiment with at the serger.

There was massive hot washing and drying going on for a couple of days, to full and felt the sweater supply, and then there was the fun of cutting them up, a process which Katwise refers to as "butchering" sweaters. It feels slightly wrong at first, almost wicked, to alter and butcher a relatively decent sweater, but upcycling and making artful things redeems this particular wickedness, I think. 

The above is Lisa's nice neat stack of pieces for a coat! 

While Lisa and I were busy learning to thread the serger,

Moochie pulled down a selection of sweaters and made herself a comfy bed: