9. The More Usual Kinds of Repurposing
Textiles woven, or otherwise produced, using materials taken from
other textiles.
Textiles , sometimes only fragments of textiles, used as covering of
various sorts.
Textile fragments assembled to resemble other formats.
A textile made by cutting down a larger textile from another format.
Resizing. Cutting down or supplementing an item of clothing so that if
fits a different person. (Perhaps a marginal case, since the basic
purpose is unchanged.)
33. “Boro,” a Japanese
urge toward economy
“Boro,” is a Japanese word the
literal meaning of which is “tattered
rags.” But the term “boro” is
also used to describe patched
and repaired bedding, clothing and
some utilitarian bags
34. Made by sewing together pieces of
textiles, originally, part of something
else.
When the pieced items become
worn, the patches are patched.
62. Our next category in our
“kinds of repurposing”
outline is:
Textile fragments
assembled to resemble
other formats.
The most impressive
example we have
encountered is this
Czar’s throne coverlet,
composed of pieces of
two different Persian
embroideries. It came
into the Russian Czar’s
possession in 1582, but
is much older.
(from Daniel Walker article in Hali, 161)
63. Greek embroideries have also, famously, been assembled to convert
“fragments” into saleable formats, like this piece, a little over 2 feet square.
79. I like it because it looks
like a “little rug.”
“Rules” about
constructed pieces be
damned.
80. A textile format made by cutting down a textile of a different format.
Salt bag a likely format candidate for “construction.”
81. The “continuous” fabric indicator that I mentioned in relation to cut down salt
bags, is not infallible. There are bags made originally by folding over and
sewing a single piece of material. Sometimes this single piece is woven at the
size of the bag and sometimes the bag is, in fact, cut out of a large piece of
woven material, but still made originally as a bag.
The bag (the guesses have been Luri or Char Mahal) below is of the first sort:
made to this bag size, then, simply folded over and sewn up both sides.
84. Cut from a larger piece, but still not “constructed” in the way we are talking
about that here.
Here it is with a similar bag from Boralevi’s collection
87. Our fifth and last category is sometimes more than an instance of cutting down,
but it can also be the occasion for enlarging.
We’ve called it “resizing.”
88. A boy’s great coat, estimated to have been made in the 1930s
Note boteh lining
89. Cut down from its
original size to be worn
by a smaller child.
