Thoughts about Quilting

I've run across many instances of quilters using various clothing items as fabric for a quilt. And, there are many that are from traditional men's clothing; ties, shirts and trouser cuffs. Here are some places to read more:

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• Ties:
  Article in Periodical - "Ottawa's Necktie Quilt" by Roselia Verhoff, in Timeline 2001 18(6): 48-53
  *This article is very cute, about a restaurant in Ottawa, Ohio that collected neckties from all fo the men going off to fight in WWII. These ties were later made into a "victory Quilt" that is now owned by veteran Richard Brickner.
  
  Blog Entry - "Necktie Feathers Pressing Tutorial" on BurdaStyle.com -- http://www.burdastyle.com/howtos/show/722
  *This could be a good technique if you are now inspired to use those old neckties to make a quilt, or something else. They show step-by-step how to open up and use ties, in this case for women's dresses or decorations.
  

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• Shirts:
  Article in Book - "Enrique Caruso Haberdashery Quilt" by Jennifer Regan, in American Quilts: A Sampler of Quilts and their Stories (1989) Gallery Books
  *This article explains about a beautiful quilt that is made up of very expensive and rare fabrics that were left-over from making shirts. The shirts happened to be ordered by the famous Italian tenor, Enrique Caruso. The women that made his shirts simply kept all of the scraps and then made a wonderful quilt - using mostly log cabin blocks.
  See page 85.
  

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• Trouser Cuffs:
  Article in Book - "Trouser Cuffs Strip Quilt" by Jennifer Regan, in American Quilts: A Sampler of Quilts and their Stories (1989) Gallery Books
  *This one is not only interesting because of the material used by seamstresses, the cuffs from trousers; but it is an example of early African-American quilts - using stripes, assymetry and the predominant use of the color red. The stips of scrap fabric were sown together in varying lengths and then used to make a strip quilt that is striking... especially with the splashes of red.
  See page 93.
  

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This is all so inspiring, it makes me want to start saving every piece of clothing I might otherwise give to Goodwill. Hmmmm.... maybe not, but the ones with cool fabric maybe. It also inspires me to be more frugal with my quilting fabric and keep all scraps - as they can all be used in a future quilt.