De - Re - Construction

The Hubbers is hard on his clothes. He wears them hard and also works with chemicals and solvents that damage and discolor them. Which could be a bad thing, except that it means I have a unending supply of cast off clothing to repurpose. Sport socks with holes in the toes become absorbent terry lining in coasters. T-shirts with bleach holes in the belly become interfacing in table mats and lining in trinket keepers. The latest shirt to become unwearable by the chemistry professor fell victim to nosebleed. Well, no, that's not accurate. Dr. Chemistry had a nosebleed on the front of his shirt. He used some compound or other in the lab to reduce the iron in the hemoglobin (blood is the color it is because of the iron in the hemoglobin). This makes the iron become metallic and fall out of the hemoglobin. What this means to you and me is that the blood stain goes away. Only problem is, this time, the magic (yep, that's a scientific term don't cha know) compound also reacted with the dye in the shirt and created an unsightly discolored blob across the placket (the part with the buttons on the front of the shirt).

Let the deconstruction begin! I find it fun, not to mention informative, to cut apart the different elements that make up an article of clothing. First, off with the sleeves. Then I removed the placket with the intent to use it in constructing a smock for myself. I'll cut off the front pockets and use them for something, too.

For now, I only needed a few rectangles of the shirt fabric to line the latest batch of card wallets. Which I hope to have the time and organizational skills to get into the etsy shop sometime soon. Stay tuned (but don't hold your breath).