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scraps of denim in a patchwork pattern on cardstock

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“With Radha’s spirit and cool sense of style - I knew making her pattern while upcycling the denim would be the bag of my dreams!”

- @samscreativeside

THE TOTEPACK PATTERN

HI I'M RADHA

I’m a textile artist, sustainability educator and small business strategist based in San Francisco. But don't worry, I balance all that serious stuff with a fair bit of silliness, and I share my work without judgement.

My unique expertise and passion for sustainability was fueled by a 15-year career in the apparel industry where I travelled the world, visited denim factories in China and Bangladesh, and unfortunately had a front seat to the rise of fast fashion. I used to create new jeans but now at Sewing through Fog I help keep those same jeans out of a landfill through classes and patterns to help you Quilt Your Jeans.

LECTURES

My Simple 5-step System to Organize Denim Fabric Scraps

My Simple 5-step System to Organize Denim Fabric Scraps: how to keep your upcycled jeans in order, and why you might want to keep the awkward bits! But first my #1 tip: Don’t over organize!!

Upcycled Greeting Cards: Turn Fabric Scraps into Handmade Gifts

Looking for a fun way to use up the tiniest scraps of fabric? Upcycled greeting cards are one of my favorite little scrap-busting...

An upcycled denim and leather quilt at QuiltCon 2025

QuiltCon 2025 Upcycled & Repurposed

My goal for QuiltCon 2025 was to shine a light on all things upcycled at the show. In this post I'm sharing the quilts I found, and some sto

THE TOTEPACK

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Pattern & Upcycling Guide

From my reel yesterday, Zak’s picks from the current show on Off the Grid gallery. All these quilts use repurposed materials in inspirational ways.

From bold t-shirts, to found objects, clothing, old quilt tops and sheets, these quilts show what is possible with materials that otherwise might end up in a landfill.

And I want to be clear, these pieces shine because of their materials, not despite them. There are no sacrifices being made here. None of these quilts would be better or more modern if they were made with new quilting cotton.
In fact, just the opposite. The journey and story behind the materials is what gives each quilt weight and makes it even more precious and cherished.

Innovation isn’t buying new. It’s transforming what already exists.

Read more about each quilt on the site and vote for your favorite. Comment “quilts” and I’ll message you the link.

I need your help choosing which artist’s quilt inspires with their use of repurposed materials. Comment “Quilts” and I’ll send you the link to see all six, read their stories and vote.

And a big thanks to @zakfoster.quilts for helping out. I knew from the beginning I didn’t feel comfortable choosing a winner, or having judges really at all. There is a time and place for critique, but it wasn’t right for this show. And the first thing Zak said when we talked was that he didn’t feel comfortable being a chooser or passing judgment… which is partially why I asked him 😅. So that’s why we need your help!

Why I’m giving out monetary awards: whether we like it or not, people pay more attention, take things more seriously, when there is money involved. And while I create my art for joy, I created @sewingthroughfog and bought @feelgoodfibers to make real change. I’m serious about promoting secondhand and reuse because of the impact of textile waste on our planet — and on people. Not so much people here, but Black and brown communities in the global south who bear the cost of wealthy countries’ overconsumption.

If you want to understand more about how buying new clothes in the US affects real people in other countries, Check out the Or Foundation @theorispresent

Does it matter if it’s functional? It’s gorgeous 🥹. No but really, I need it to work so I’ll be trying it out over the next couple weeks and seeing if I need to make any changes. Maybe another snap somewhere, or an extra pocket.

How did I create this? It was very technical 🤓.

1. Decided I wanted to use a leftover denim/leather quilt block for something. Thought… tool roll!!

2. Sewed some other stuff to it to make it a rectangle. How big a rectangle? Not sure, never measured ☺️.

3. Layered rectangle with batting and lining and quilted it.

4. Bound it with leather.

5. Went to my bag o’ leather scraps and chose some I liked.

6. Sewed the leather scraps to the inside in a formation that I thought looked logical.

7. Made a tie out of leather and denim.

Ta-da!

#upcycledjeans #toolroll

Really glad to be finishing this project because I can never find my hand sewing tools. And in theory, if I keep them in this roll and don’t lose the roll… a girl can dream.

I made this fairly custom for my specific tools but also left it simple so as I use it I can see what does and doesn’t work and adjust. Like right now as I write this, I’m realizing I should have added a zipper to the side pouch 😑. But I guess I’ll see how it works without a zipper. Maybe everything will stay inside 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Most importantly I’m obsessed with how it looks and it’s going to give me so much joy every time I reach for it ☺️.

Working on a tutorial for the @berninausa blog and I’m really excited about this one. It’s about doing invisible and visible mending with quilting techniques. Wait… what? 😅

Sometimes I’ll hear reasons why people think they can’t mend. For visible mending, I hear from people who aren’t comfortable hand sewing. From quilters I hear that anything to do with garments is intimidating.

So… I thought why not show some mending methods that you can do completely on your machine AND how free motion stitching and decorative appliqué are actually mending techniques.

I’m not going to stop hand-sewing my favorite blanket stitch on denim patches. But after using this 12wt thread to do a blanket stitch on my BERNINA 770 QE, I think that’s getting added to the rotation ☺️.

I forgot! I said I was going to reshare my favorite dress made from scraps of… nonsense 😅. After my recent dress-ploration (🤷🏻‍♀️) with scraps of knits, I wanted to share this project again because it’s probably my favorite I’ve made with questionable scraps.

I made this dress from a ton of denim headers (headers = denim mill samples) that were mostly poly, some Tencel, a bit of cotton and super lightweight. Basically fabric I wouldn’t wear as pants if you paid me a million dollars.

But their weight and drape were perfect for a dress, where heavier-weight cotton would have that movement. So I used my @berninausa L890 overlock to flatlock all the scraps together and then followed this vintage Butterick pattern.

This was definitely not a 1 day project, but I love this dress and the fact that I made something beautiful out of fabric I normally wouldn’t like. Sometimes working with materials you don’t like, you can learn something totally new.

I’m a pretty big fan of making my quilt sandwich on the wall. Partially because I have a small space and I’d have to move my dining room table if I wanted to even have floor space to do it.

Sometimes I’ll use my cutting table, but it’s not that big either. With the wall you get gravity helping out… kind of. You do have to be careful you don’t pin your quilt to your design wall though…

New project, who dis? I don’t always deconstruct jeans to this extent, depends on the project and my time. Sometimes I just cut off the legs and cut them open at the seam.

But other times I like to take everything apart, harvest the thread, open the seams. Because then you get to use the wear patterns created by the faded lights and saturated darks.

You can use the unfurled seams to make stripes and patterns. You can use the shape under the pocket or the lines in the waistband. It’s fun exploration because every pair is a bit different, especially if that pair has been worn and loved.

It’s my favorite shirt. Indigo dyed @omnigod_pr buffalo check shirt I got in Tokyo. And then I had these indigo dyed cottons in light, medium and dark, so of course I wondered… can I sew them together to look like my buffalo check shirt?

And I found out I could. And scene. Thank you for coming to my caption.

After sharing two dresses I made that I didn’t love (one too whimsical, one too drab), I thought I’d reshare this one I made a while back that is just right ☺️.

And yes it’s made from only 1 fabric I bought new (it was before I stopped buying new fabric), and that fabric was @libertyfabrics Tana Lawn. But later this week I’ll reshare a dress I also love, made from crap ☺️.

This one I didn’t use a pattern, just draped it on my dress form. It can either be belted completely or just belted in the front with a Watteau back (kind of). Who needs the 90’s when you have 18th Century European fashion?? 😂.

I usually strongly dislike high/low hems, but the rules of draping are you do what the fabric wants.

I took the score down flipped it and reversed it 😅.

After last weeks whimsy-explosion of color (that I’m still planning to fix/transform), I decide to try something different and use a mix of fairly drab knit remnants and test out this vintage Vogue pattern. By “test out” I mean use the pattern pieces as a loose guide 😂.

To be fair, I had big plans to over-dye the entire dress to make it one color, but all fiber contents were poly rich and didn’t take the dye at all. “Eeeewww you wear poly?” It’s not my first choice but since I buy fabric secondhand, I’m more focused on keeping that fabric out of a landfill, whatever the fiber content is.

I’m actually super happy I made this because I love the style and I’ll make another one out of fabric I like better. This one almost acted like a muslin, which is what you are supposed to do when you make patterns: make a test first. I just never have the patience for the test 😂.

Sewn on my @berninausa L890 and 770 QE

I mentioned yesterday, I’m trying to amp up the whimsy (to battle ye olde existential dread).

As part of this, I’m trying to be extra spontaneous. So last week when I had this thought: maybe I should take these brightly colored t-shirt scraps that were left over from a quilt and make a dress 😆. Normally I’d laugh and say Ha! What a bad idea, you hate all those colors! But instead I said okey dokey artichoke.

And so I made this dress in a day and, guess what? The colors I found upsetting as small pieces, when combined together in a dress, were even more upsetting. I mean who do I think I am playing Harlequin in a Commedia dell’arte production set on the beach in 2005?

But I’m glad I tried. And I learned some valuable lessons, that I’m going to think about a whole lot more tomorrow as I sit and painstakingly seam rip the entire dress apart.

Because I have another idea of what I want to do with these t-shirt scraps, and I’m going to do it!

Sewn on my @berninausa L890 Overlock/Coverstich

I’m my fight against sinking into total despair about the state of the world, I’ve started to wear my weird bear quilt shirt again.

I found these blocks at @scrapsf when I first started volunteering there (they came in with some Sunbonnet Sue blocks) and I just thought they were delightfully creepy.

Are they bears wearing a backpack? Do they have wings? We may never know. But I did know they wanted to be intertwined with this denim shirt. I didn’t wear this a lot when I first made it because I thought “this might be too whimsical”. But these days I’m taking every single drop of whimsy I can find to keep me going.

Be silly. Fight fascism. Don’t loose yourself.

Claire of @thread.yarn.paper asks: what is a modern quilt? Her quilt is one of many thought provoking works hanging in the Off the Grid virtual gallery on @feelgoodfibers.

I think about this all the time. Are “Modern Quilts” contemporary? Do they represent now? Or do they, like other modern art, represent a time period and specific style? I tend to think the latter. That what is identified as modern quilting on social media and in quilt shows represents a moment in time.

So what comes next? Well, I think contemporary art should represent the world we live in. This messy, painful, beautiful world that is suffocating underneath the disposable culture we have created. To me, contemporary quilts have to have an element of reuse.

In other textile industries, innovation is tied to sustainability. To be innovative and forward thinking is to be focused on circularity and limiting waste. Quilting is made for this. I believe that’s the future.

Hers Was Beautiful Too
Claire Voelkel-Sedlmeir

Size: 16″ x 16″

Artist Statement: This piece examines the question of what exactly makes a quilt be considered modern. The text, juxtaposed on a vintage handkerchief, reflects on the beauty of our ancestors’ art as well.

Techniques Used: embroidery, mending, hand piecing

Materials: vintage handkerchief, repurposed clothing and fabric scraps

I can’t put into words how important being silly is to me (not even in silly words). You have to balance passion and intensity and empathy with whimsy. Or else you will burn out. Especially now when things are so heavy, when everything is a disaster, unprecedented, horrifying.

When everything is so serious, it’s important not to take yourself too seriously. That’s my attitude with sustainability. If I was completely serious about it, if I tried to do it perfectly, I’d fail and not do anything. So yeah I’m going to upcycle old jeans, but also I’m going to turn them into a clockwork orange bear in a baseball cap and wear it to an event where people are talking about legislature around textile recycling.

The weather has been gorgeous in SF, which always means a trip to Dolores Park. Burrito and ice cream also included.

I actually get this question about denim quilts a lot, and it always surprises me. I use denim quilts for everything you would use a quilt or blanket for. (Quick sidebar: am I the only person who needs 20lbs of pressure on them to go to sleep at night? People always say that denim quilts are too heavy, but what’s the point of a light blanket??)

Anyway, if you think denim quilts are too heavy for a couch or bed, they are perfect for a picnic at the park. Especially if you don’t realize the grass is wet and get mud all over the quilt ☺️.

I mean, here I am feeling so proud and grateful I left the corporate world and am building my own businesses promoting sustainable crafting and helping connect artists and secondhand materials…

But then I go and make such a rookie mistake 🤦🏻‍♀️. Have I learned nothing?? And not just 1 pair, but 2 pairs of pants and 1 skirt!? Sigh.

Maybe I’ll need to give up sewing 🤔. I’m definitely not overreacting at all, right??

Sometime around now is the #igquiltfest2026 prompt asking why we quilt. This isn’t that exactly… But recently, my friend Mira asked me to record audio for an art installation she is doing (she asked people to explain why they are involved in the circular fashion movement) and this is what I recorded.

It’s why I do what I do with quilting just being a small part of it. I’ve talked a lot about my story and my background, but I always like to re-share it because this motivation is my why. Why I’m on Instagram why I share my voice why I exist in this space at all.

Every decision I make, and everything I do is tied back to what I’ve learned and seen in the apparel industry and in textile manufacturing with the hope that I can inspire people to reuse and help connect people with materials that already exist.

The goal is circularity and ethical practices that support the planet AND the people who live on it. Fast fashion and cheap prices, in this capitalist society, require exploitation of people and resources. It might seem silly to think that a quilt made from jeans is going to solve anything, and by itself it won’t, but it’s an important part of the puzzle.

Laura @laurashaw.quilts was one of the first people to submit her quilts to Off the Grid and when I saw Rift I knew that the show was going to be great. I’m obsessed with this quilt, the colors and the texture. But Lucca, Recycled is also so special with the mix of materials, I had to share both in this post.

Rift

Artist Statement: Tiny tucks cross over one another, raising the surface, casting shadows and creating ripples. A black line cuts through otherwise orderly blocks. Colors converge into groups. Instability and change are always present.

Lucca, Recycled

Techniques Used: Machine pieced, machine quilted
Materials: All recycled linen and brocade. Brocade tablecloth (orange/yellow), linen bedsheet (blue), unflattering linen pants (tobacco), and leftover linen from shirts (white/cream).

Artist Statement: This is the first in a series of modular quilts built using the same basic building blocks. Like siblings, all the quilts in the series share the same DNA, yet each has its own unique expression.

Combining a well-loved and heavily used tablecloth purchased on a trip to Italy (yellow/orange), with a torn linen bedsheet (blue), scraps of linen leftover from shirt-making (white), and a pair of unflattering linen pants (tobacco), this quilt captures the essence of our experience of Lucca—a medieval walled city—as respite from the turmoil of tourists we suffered from in Florence. Its time on the table over, it has found a second life providing warmth and comfort as we sleep.

I usually write really long captions on my posts. This is not one of those times.

Cats and quilts!

#catsandquilts

Every time I look at this beautiful quilt by Mollie Murphy @molliepictures I notice some new detail. I’m so happy to have it virtually hanging in the Off the Grid gallery, but it’s one I’d love to see in person.
[as always, comment “gallery” and I’ll send you a link to view all the quilts]

Artist Statement: My current projects bring together found objects, fabric, and materials, small sculptures, stitch work and quilting to create literal and figurative blankets. I draw on the skills from my childhood experiences in learning and making and bring those tools with me into this transformative work.
I am working on a series of hybrid quilts that hold significant materials, objects, images, and ideas from daily and dream life.

The poem fragment I embroidered is from a poem by Rumi. The poet writes about seeking to find a place of satisfaction and belonging in your creations. For me, a restless sculptor who has always sought an identity in my work that felt like home, this poem speaks to my journey into quilting and textile-work. I see my quilts as metaphorical tents, in a way. I can rest under their expansive shelter!

Techniques Used: embroidery, applique, quilting

Materials: found and repurposed textiles, indigo dyed cotton, beads, scrap metal, feather

I would never miss #igquiltfest2026 day 3, I get to talk about my bird Nina! Not my L890 overlock and not my 770 QE, but my favorite machine, my 1008 ❤️. My trusty sidekick at the SF Public Library mending clinics I do with @scrapsf. She is my security blanket that helps me replace a zipper in 20min, fix a little girl’s tutu or add a leather belt to sweatpants (mending clinics are judgement free zones).

My mom got our BERNINA 1230 in 1990 and it was the machine I used and loved through school and beyond. I sewed my wedding dress on her. But tragically, in 2018, her motherboard went kaplooey.

There was only one machine that I knew could replace her, the mechanical BERNINA 1008 (which they stopped selling right after I bought mine). I knew this machine from working in costume shops, and I knew she would last forever.

When I started quilting more seriously, I was lucky to get a BERNINA 770 QE as a hand-me-down, and that’s the machine you will usually see in my reels. But my 1008 is still my favorite and does some of the most important work.

No matter how skilled a seamstress you are, mending clinics are intimidating. We try to finish every mend in 20 minutes so we can help the most amount of people; we have no idea who is going to walk through the door and what they will bring; and no matter how much you prepare, you know you won’t have exactly the right materials.

It is really humbling, but also so rewarding. I know this is IG quilt fest and I’m talking about mending but… once I got to mend a quilt and that was awesome ☺️.

*Yes, it’s been over a year since I was creating a tutorial in Adobe Premiere Pro and the auto-generated captions kept thinking I was saying “my bird Nina” instead of “My BERNINA”, but no, I haven’t stopped laughing yet 😅.

The people who were confused why I would “waste my time” mending that cashmere sweater, might want to skip this project also 😂.

Yep, I took slightly over a year to collect the materials I needed to make a cream lace/crochet top (kind of Sezane inspired). I wanted to wear a top like that numerous times over the last year but I couldn’t. Because I hadn’t made it yet. Because I was waiting for a stranger to decide to donate the perfect material to the creative reuse center where I volunteer.

Was that the quickest method to get materials? Was that what the productivity experts would recommend for maximum efficiency? Of course not.

But trust me, this top is going to mean so much more to me than if I’d rushed out and bought new fabric. It’s going to have so many memories and stories to tell before I ever even wear it.

The pieces I brought home last week from that vintage linens donation, when Amy @auerstyle and I tried on all the vintage aprons at once. The piece I took over to Katie’s @oldriverdesignco house and attempted to Shibori dye.

A lot of people think they can’t find the fabric they need secondhand. I think it’s usually out there, you just have to be patient.

Mr. Eyebrows is a gift that keeps on giving. I was thinking, because he didn’t go to QuiltCon, and I didn’t include him in the Off the Grid gallery, that he at least deserved another post or two.

The last couple seconds of this reel is from… I’m slightly embarrassed to share this… a video I recorded where I had one of the little denim faces give a tour of the whole quilt and talk about each character. I never shared that video but I sure laughed a lot while I was filming it.

And a denim face saying another denim face is having an existential crisis, well that about sums up 2026 for me so far. I think I’ve been spending too much time on the internet and I need to touch grass(?), or whatever it is the youngsters are saying these days.

#denimart

I can’t guarantee the values of every small business on my map or every person who sells on @feelgoodfibers. However, the likelihood that an environmentally conscientious non-profit also believes in human rights, is pretty high.

And since I’ve made my values clear (most recently by hosting a protest quilt gallery on FeelGood Fibers), and had people stop selling/buying on the site because of that, at the very least I can guarantee that FeelGood Fibers will always choose inclusivity (in terms of protecting historically marginalized groups) over profits.

Comment “thrifty” and I’ll send you a link to the map, comment “fibers” and I’ll send you a link to shop FeelGood Fibers.

I finished this shirt in time to bring it to QuiltCon… and to visit giant trolls!!

But seriously, who doesn’t want to wear an upcycled and hand-stitched David Bowie t-shirt to visit sculptures made out of recycled materials that promote environmental stewardship?!

I didn’t know about Thomas Dambo’s trolls until yesterday when we found out there was an installation in Raleigh, and I’m so glad we went to check them out. Really moving and beautiful, and the craftsmanship was amazing!

And I found out there is one in the Bay Area so I may have to plan a visit.

I like to think I can do everything. I believe I can. But that doesn’t mean I should. And that’s been such a hard lesson to learn – harder now that I work for myself.

When I was at Levi’s, I was always working towards a goal that felt misaligned with my values. Developing strategies and products to ship more units, to make more money for shareholders. But I was good at it. And I put my blood sweat and many tears into it.

So now, when everything I do is for my values and my goals – to promote secondhand, reuse and repair – my drive and desire to do everything is even higher. So choosing not to do something, when I know I could, feels like laziness. And prioritizing myself feels selfish.

I am only sharing this because I know there are a lot of other small business owners out there, and I think many of you have this same struggle. And I guess I want you to know you aren’t alone.

I really didn’t intend for this caption to sound like a cheesy Ted talk, but it’s what I’m feeling at the moment. And after 15 years in the corporate world, having to play a role that wasn’t authentic to me, I swore I’d always be authentic in whatever came next.

Did I think it would consist of making videos and posting them on social media? Sure didn’t 😂.

Two equally interesting David Bowie related facts about me:
• I once rewrote the entire lyrics of Ziggy Stardust to be about my friend’s cat Ziggy (named after Ziggy Stardust).
• I got to see Bowie’s last tour in 2004, at Berkeley Community Theater. Best show I’ve ever seen.

So not surprisingly, when I saw this piece of a Bowie t-shirt at Scrap many months back I made a loud squeak noise and then asked if I could buy it. And then did nothing with it because I was (say it with me) waiting for the perfect project.

It’s like when you buy extra special fabric and then never use it because you are waiting for the perfect pattern or idea. I do that too, but with random pieces of things. But recently I’ve been on a “finishing things” kick and I decided I’d rather do something not-perfect with this and be able to wear it than wait for the perfect project that will never come.

Use the fabric.

I got a couple of these comments after I posted my first mending video of this sweater, and i just wanted to scream! And then sit down with each of the commenters and have a heart to heart conversation about textile waste and the beauty and power of mending ☺️.

But seriously this comment sucked for about five different reasons. I completely understand that many people don’t have the time, skill or desire to mend a sweater, but viewing it as a waste of time rather than respecting someone else’s passion… what’s up with that?

I see people doing things all the time that I can’t relate to and would drive me nuts (bird watching, making the same block-based quilt pattern more than once 😂). But my reaction is “I love that for them” and “someone needs to watch all those birds and if it makes them happy then I’ll chip in to buy them new binoculars”.

Never would I dream of commenting on someone’s post where they are making their second or third version of the same block-based quilt pattern with “boring! Throw that pattern away”. 😂

What was I talking about? Oh right! Look how good the cuff mend turned out!

#visiblemending #darning

I had an idea and I did it 🥹. And I’m really proud of the first virtual quilt show launching on the @feelgoodfibers new gallery – Off the Grid. I would love for you to check it out. Comment “Gallery” and I’ll message you the link!

I am so grateful to everyone who trusted me enough to share their quilt ❤️. This is the just the first of many shows, and things will change as I learn and the gallery evolves.

And yes, today is my birthday which usually means it’s all about me ☺️, but what I wanted this year was to celebrate all the awesome quilters out there and help people get their art seen. I also wanted basic human rights for all humans, and climate action and gender-affirming care for those who need it and… well, you get the point.

Make sure you pick a protest quilt (or two) that has an impact on you, to help guide the donation I’ll be making to a social justice non-profit. AND keep your eyes out later this month because my dear friend @zakfoster.quilts is going to help us celebrate a couple of the quilts that inspire with repurposed materials.

And please leave a comment on a quilt or two, and let someone know how their art has impacted you.

My favorite thing about this upcycled cashmere sweater is the holes. Well first the color, and then the holes. But this one hole in the front was so big that it was effecting the structure and I felt like it needed to be patched so the sweater would last longer.

I’m not a knitter, and I’m still new to darning, so my instinct is always to patch and not to darn. Especially with such a large hole. But I ended up doing a bit of both.

I had this cashmere scarf I’d found at Scrap (with holes of course) so I dyed it to match the sweater so I could use it as a patch. And then I had some silk and wool yarn that I dyed as well. (Maybe later I’ll share a video about the dying process because it had some unusual results).

I’m not making any clothes for QuiltCon this year, but I wanted to finish this mend because I’ll be bringing this worn and loved sweater.

#visiblemending #visibledarning

As I lay awake last night having imaginary arguments with people about basic human rights, I thought about when I started Sewing through Fog and this IG account in June 2022. By the end of July I had maybe 100 followers and I thought “If all these strangers are going to follow me, I need to make it clear who I am and what I stand for”. And I made this silly reel with photos from different protests I’d been to. Shoutout to fellow Californians who remember protesting Prop 8 in 2008.

There were times over the years, especially after buying @feelgoodfibers a year ago, that I thought about the pros and cons of being more or less vocal politically. Because I’m about to say something that you might not like: my content is for everybody, regardless of who they voted for.

Why? Because my entire platform/business/penance/goal after working in the apparel industry for 15 years, is to educate on textile waste, connect people with secondhand materials, and advocate for climate-beneficial and circular crafting and creating. And I’m going to make a much smaller impact if I only talk to people who are as liberal as I am.

But, I also left the corporate world because it didn’t accept me as me: passionate, empathetic, silly, rational, egalitarian. And so I promised myself that whatever happened I would always be my authentic self.

All that to say, being on social media is complicated, having a small business is complicated, life is complicated. Not complicated? Calling your reps, being anti ICE, releasing the Epstein files (ok maybe this is a bit complicated but seriously folks).

Yeah, I swore I would never dance in an IG reel but it’s the Benito Bowl today and this is honestly me whenever I try to listen to music and get anything done. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Working on adding a bit to this upcycled denim log cabin quilt, we will see where it goes…

Mini PSA: if you want to learn Latin dance (or any dance rooted in another culture), seek out classes taught by people from that place. It matters. If you’re in the Bay Area, check out Dance Mission @dancemissiontheater, they center women artists and artists of color. Support culture by learning from the source.

And yes, NUEVAYoL isn’t pure salsa (not that I’m doing pure salsa), it’s fused with reaggaton and dembow which is why it’s so awesome.

#denimart #upcycledjeans #benitobowl

It might just be me, but nothing motivates me more than an under 24hr deadline when I’ve been thinking about a starting a project for months 😅.

This shirt snuck into Scrap and was going to get put in the free pile because it was trashed but I loved the graphics because it was niners and I brought it home. And then it sat there until Friday night when I got an invite to this Levi’s event happening Saturday morning, with @kristinjuszczyk for Levi’s Wear Longer project.

No better excuse to do a quick upcycle using my BERNINA L890. Thankfully my sewing assistant (Troy) was on the job and helped me handsew the back patch.

And I got to wear it with my upcycled niners jacket, and my upcycled jeans and my vintage bag, and my secondhand/thrifted everything…

I’m so excited about making these little cards for all my finished projects. Which is why I’m sharing this video even thought it’s slightly rambling and a bit wacky and I have some new followers now because of the whole abolish ice thing, but then I realized that’s exactly why I had to post this video. They are going to find out sooner or later that a large portion of what I post is quite silly.

I’m a whole upcycle-jeans-combat-textile-waste-support-human-rights-but-don’t-take-yourself-too-seriously vibe. It’s a bit of self preservation. Sustainability itself is such a heavy subject, let alone what’s going on around the country, I have to find humor where I can.

In conclusion, I would like to apologize for my hair in this video. I didn’t notice how it looked until after I recorded the video and then I didn’t care enough to re-record the video. 😊

Just a reminder that uneven stitches and wonky corners are just as impactful and beautiful as ”perfect” ones. Especially when you sew them with passion and heart.

As I started to freehand cut out these letters (at 1pm, for a protest at 4pm), I had the thought that maybe I should print out templates, but I didn’t.

As I zig zagged them on, I knew a tighter zig was needed to get a better satin stitch effect, and a narrower zag for the tighter curves, but I didn’t make the adjustments.

Because the unbalanced stitches and wonky letters felt right with the intensity of the fabric and the message. But I still had to keep reminding myself that it was ok, that it’s ok to not make things “perfect”. In fact, sometimes it’s better if you don’t.

Isn’t it so typical - @bayresistance puts out the call asking everyone to show up, and you don’t have a thing to wear…

…that will adequately convey your anger and sadness about what’s happening in Minneapolis and around the country. And because you are a textile artist you have to express those feelings through fabric.

And it is a bit cathartic to stitch those letters down on denim (letters from fabric bought secondhand from a nonprofit where I volunteer, just to make it extra liberal). And it felt great to march, to be around other people who are also angry and sad.

Sending love to Minneapolis ❤️

➡️ If you are in the Bay Area please follow Bay Resistance for all rapid response tools and education.

Well that is… a quilt. It’s fun and cheery and it says Hi, so those are all good things. And it matches the FeelGood Fibers website which was the whole point ☺️.

In news that should shock nobody, I ran out of patience while I was quilting it. I had this idea to hand tie it with the ties on the front in the Hi and on the back outside the Hi, and it turned out very underwhelming. Because I didn’t do enough ties because I lost patience.

Minneapolis really showed up yesterday, sending love and solidarity from California ❤️.

Also I feel like Heathen is such an underrated Bowie album.

Pros and cons about making these upcycled denim log cabin quilt blocks into one big quilt or making them all be different projects:

Pros: if they become one giant quilt, that means I already have enough for half a quilt, otherwise I will have five separate log cabin projects that I need to finish.

Cons: I will be forcing them to be friends even though they are clearly not friends. They respect each other, but they just don’t want to hang out and that’s ok.

Sigh. I think I answered my own question. Darn it personal integrity, you are sometimes annoying.

You can still submit your quilt until Jan 28th! Comment “gallery” and I’ll send you the link to the submission form or just message me. And yes you heard right, I’m going to be giving a monetary prize/award/thing to the quilt with the best use of repurposed materials, as a way to help support artists who are creating sustainably.

Working on this today brought me so much joy, reading through each artist statement and learning about the materials each quilter chose. I know it’s hard right now, but sharing your art and supporting the makers in this community is a great way to move forward. It’s not a distraction, it’s fuel!

Quilts pictured by @laurashaw.quilts @sewistry_nc @aw_quilts @DebbieQuilts @sara.fornia

Yep I’ve fully lost my mind so I’m going to go ahead and post this and probably regret it later. It’s game day and my upcycled 49er jacket is finished(ish). I need to do some detail work still – I’m going to quilt it more, and add some 49er patches and we will see what else.

The leather collar was… an interesting process since I just freehand cut it out and sewed it on. It works but I won’t be doing that again. But seriously… it’s so comfy and I love love love it!!

It’s cool to think that a week ago I had a pair of 501 shorts and one leg of a 501 that I took home from Scrap, and a 49er Snuggie that had sat in a box under my bed for 10+ years, and now I have a custom jacket that I’ll wear year around.

Win or loose this has been such a fun season. Go niners!!!

Inspiration: @kristinjuszczyk
Sewn on: @berninausa

Part two of this 49ers upcycle that I plan to wear to Levis Stadium to watch the 49ers play in the Super Bowl. Or to sit on my couch and watch the Bad Bunny halftime show 😂. I’m actually OK with either because whatever happens on Saturday, this has been a really incredible football season.

A season, however, that has had a little bit less impact on me than normal since I’ve been a bit distracted by our country slipping into fascism and more recently, the city of Minneapolis, being under siege.

All that being said, how freaking cool is this jacket coming together?? A jacket I made from some parts of some 501s and a 49er Snuggie I’ve had for 15 years. It was actually my husband‘s idea to add the leather details which I’m really liking – it has a bit of a collegiate vibe.

Inspiration: @kristinjuszczyk
Sewn on my BERNINA L890 and 770 QE

#upcycledjeans #49ersfaithful

Yep, I’m making an upcycled outfit to wear to Levi’s stadium to watch the 49ers play in the Super Bowl. ☺️
(a la @kristinjuszczyk but with more 501’s because it’s me)

Am I delusional? Probably, but this season anything is possible. And I needed something to do this week between going to protests and mourning the loss of our democracy ☺️.

And if they don’t make it to the Super Bowl, I’ll be wearing this at home on the couch for the Bad Bunny halftime show. 🎶 Bad Bunny Baby 🎵

And yes, I’m aware that probably no one following me cares about the 49ers, but if anyone is out there who is #49ersfaithful and loves #sustainablefashion let me know!!

Sewn on my BERNINA L890

Yep, I’m making an upcycled outfit to wear to Levi’s stadium to watch the 49ers play in the Super Bowl. ☺️
(a la @kristinjuszczyk but more 501’s and a hoodie style)

Am I delusional? Probably, but this season anything is possible. And I needed something to do this week between going to protests and mourning the loss of our democracy ☺️.

And if they don’t make it to the Super Bowl, I’ll be wearing this at home on the couch for the Bad Bunny halftime show. 🎶 Bad Bunny Baby 🎵

And yes, I’m aware that probably no one following me cares about the 49ers, but if anyone is out there who is #49ersfaithful and loves #sustainablefashion let me know!!

I started this project a couple months ago, and I’m so happy with how it turned out! It took that long, not because of the pattern, but because I kept changing my mind about what fabrics I wanted to use, and then when I finally decided, first I had to make the fabric into a patchwork using the flat lock stitch on my BERNINA L890. Because… why make something easy when you can make it hard? 😅 All fabrics were bought secondhand at Scrap SF of course.

Actually the pattern (Jenna by @closetcorepatterns ) was really great and came together really smoothly. The time-intensive part was piecing all of the scraps and figuring out how to get as much as possible out of the animal print because I really didn’t have that much of it.

The buttons I harvested from a thrifted button down shirt, actually two different shirts, The very bottom button doesn’t match, but you’d never noticed.

Did the whole thing take longer than it would’ve if I went to a fabric store and bought all the materials new? Yes, but it’s so much more fun and rewarding for me to do things this way. I like the challenge and how it pushes my creativity and problem-solving skills.

Sewn on my BERNINA L890 and 770 QE.
#berninaambassador

I made these two years ago by upcycling two pairs of jeans that were too small for me. I re-shared them recently and they got a lot of love, and I love them also… but I just haven’t been wearing them because they were way too short and that just wasn’t my style anymore.

So, they have been in my mending pile waiting for me to do something about it and I finally did. And like most projects that you put off for a year, they ended up only taking about 45 minutes and now I’m super happy because I’m gonna wear these all the time. ☺️

I mean… not with the legs different lengths.

When I started talking about sustainability, reuse, repair, and upcycling online, I was really intentional about how I shared it. It’s easy to slip into sounding preachy or judgmental, and that never helps anyone feel included or inspired.

But honestly, the bigger issue is humility. Anyone approaching sustainability with a sense of moral superiority is missing the point. There’s so much we don’t know, things change constantly, and the moment we think we’re “right,” we usually aren’t.

Recently I heard from another creator about people being shamed for buying new fabric, and that really stuck with me. We should be spending our energy lifting up other creatives, especially now when the world is such a mess. I truly believe that sewing, mending, quilting, and creating – in all forms – are sustainable acts because they reconnect us to the value of the things we have.

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but I have been thinking a ton about priorities for 2026. One of which is less chaos in my sewing studio. I know for some people, clutter and chaos can fuel creativity, but it makes me overwhelmed, distracted and anxious.

If that is you too, you might want to check out the new blog post I just wrote on FeelGood Fibers about resetting your quilting space with low-pressure, practical ideas. Comment BLOG and I’ll send you the link.

In 2025 I grew Sewing through Fog, jumped headfirst into FeelGood Fibers, brought home a @berninausa L890 (so now I’m collecting knits 🤦🏻‍♀️), and suddenly had even more projects, materials, and ideas floating around. And my space reflected this chaos.

I wrote this post just this week and already had a mini breakthrough with this extra storage. I’m not saying there are any magical systems in there, but it’s a starting point, and over the next couple weeks I’ll be sharing more specifics and what’s actually working for me.

#sewingroomorganization

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