Hillbilly Dresses

by Jacki
(Grand Forks, B.C. Canada)

the Blue Fox Farm clothing line - Country Style Dresses

For survival in the old days, every scrap of fabric was turned, remade, cut into patches for quilts, and finally, made into rags for stuffing into cracks, to use as cleaning rags, or for patching a wound.

Nothing was left, nothing was wasted.

Here’s my take on repurposing every single bit of fabric.

I get second hand cotton t-shirts from the thrift store which still have some wear in them to use as play clothes.

When they get holes in from crawling through the barbwire fence after a pig, they get washed and put in the rag bag.

After there are some worn out pieces accumulated, I take them out to see what can be done with them.

If they’re really worn out, they get cut into rags for the workshop.

If they still have some parts that are okay, like the sleeves and parts of the front and back don’t have holes or paint on them, I’ll cut them into squares. If they happen to be in a colour that I don’t like, some Rit or Tintex dye will colour them to whatever you choose.

Then I sew them together in strips, and make the pieces into a skirt.

For the top of the country style dress, I use a t-shirt, tank top or old style long underwear with the placket and buttons down the front, and sew the bottom part on with some gathers to make them roomier.

I’ve been using these for light summer dresses or night gowns for ages.

Then, when they finally are done after many washings, they get cut up again, this time for their final use, as cleaning rags.

So, out of one garment, there are five uses. What’s the fifth use? Cotton will break down in the compost pile, so once you’ve finished washing the floor, it can go in the compost. How’s that for recycling?

See how to make hillbilly dresses here.