Posted 5 years ago
Watchsearc…
(88 items)
Does anyone remember the Polyester Double Knit fabric of the 1970s?
If so, you probably relate it to men’s Leisure Suits and women’s clothes with bright colors and bold prints.
Polyester double knit came on the scene and was all the rage for a decade or less but fell out of favor when styles changed and people wanted natural fibers and softer fabrics.
Polyester had many positive features such as being machine washable, color-fast, shrink-free, wrinkle-free, easy to sew, and inexpensive.
For some reason, the “inexpensive” part equated to the concept of “cheap” eventually, as in cheap quality clothes.
Fabric stores stopped carrying that fabric because it no longer sold well. Over the years, even the fabric stores themselves vanished as sewing became less popular or almost unnecessary.
For seamstresses such as myself, that didn’t matter much till 40 years later when I pulled a few brightly colored fabric remnants out of my mom’s closets and got the bright idea of making a yo-yo quilt.
The crazy thing now is that women who held on to that old polyester are now selling it online for many times over it’s original cost!
As this yo-yo quilt (or coverlet/bedspread) took form, I started running out of fabric but I was too far into it to stop!
I was fortunate to find a few ladies online selling just what I needed so I was able to complete the project.
All the fabric was cut with a 5” template which yielded 2.5” yo-yos.
All are hand stitched with no stitching showing from the front side.
I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I do!
Looks Great!
It certainly does look amazing!! You've done an OUTSTANDING job of recycling the old 1970's polyester fabric. Looks like many hours of labor and love went into this.
I too was the proud owner of a leisure suit. Mine was dark green and I had this really cool silky shirt with a tropical scene that I wore with it. At the time I thought I was really styling:) Now, I look back and kinda chuckle at the thought.
Yes, many hours went into it over about 5 years! I would work on it for hours then just have to take a break from it....but every new color combination would reinvigorate me!
I’ve tried to figure out how many yo-yos I made—it was at least 2500.
Thanks for your comments and loves!
JScott363- I remember those silky shirts! The fabric had a name, “kiana” or something like that.
The 2” wide white belts, wide lapels, shirt unbuttoned part way down, bell bottom pants....so cool at the time!
Thanks Brunswick!
I had forgotten the white double hole belts. Mine had double holes and my younger brother's had three holes. I was always envious of that three hole white belt:) Those really were fun times!!
Lol! I had forgotten about those extra holes....may they never make a come-back!
I had a dark (navy?)blue and black plaid double breasted polyester suit with elephant bell bottoms custom tailored when I was in Hong Kong in the early 1970s. Stylin'! Now I'm going to have to burn CW down to prevent anyone from finding that out. Sorry about that!
Very attractive, colorful quilt! Just the thing for a color junkie, like me!
Keramikos...Yes! That was the fabric! Super desirable back then. If a young man did not have a leisure suit and Quiana shirt, you can bet he was wanting one.
Kwqd, I would be striking matches with you to destroy the fashion evidence on me!!
And now y'all are making me remember the pair of purple suede platform shoes I had when I was young(er). Oh, how I loved those things... <lolol>
Hi Valentino, thanks for looking and responding.
I know what you mean about including polyester in quilts traditionally.
I would not ordinarily use anything except woven cotton in my quilts either, and I’ve made quite a few plus have a backlog of tops, batting and backing just waiting their turns to get quilted. I have to pace myself and do those tasks when I can’t think of anything more entertaining to do. ;-)
However, using polyester double knit was the absolute perfect fabric for this project.
If you have ever sewn a circular piece cut from a woven cotton fabric, you will know that the cut edge will fray unless it is turned under or hemmed. Once the fabric begins to fray on the cut edge, the stitches will start to pull out.
Many vintage cotton woven yo-yo quilts being offered for sale “as is” have dozens of sections which have come unsewn because of frayed edges.
Also, if you look at pictures of vintage yo-yo quilts made with cotton woven fabrics, you will notice the yo-yos look flat because over the years, the cotton has lost it’s “body” as washing and time have removed any starch that was in the fabric when it was manufactured.
Besides collapsing or flattening of the gathers, those woven cotton yo-yo quilts also usually look sad and faded.
As I noted in the post, polyester double knit is color-fast (color will not fade), wrinkle-proof (holds its shape/body), shrink-proof. Also, edges will not fray since it is non-woven.
These are not “quilts”in the purest sense of the word because there is really no “quilting” involved. There’s no batting inside and there is no backing as you find on a true quilt.
So since it is only the decorative part, that’s why the term “coverlet”or “bed cover” is sometimes used instead of “quilt”.
Polyester double knit is also know for holding heat which you will remember if you ever wore a garment made of i! Holding some heat is a good thing with yo-yos since there are plenty of air gaps.
So, having touted all the great reasons for using only polyester double knit in my yo-yo quilt, I can say that this is the only fabric I would have chosen for this project.
As this quilt gets passed down thru generations the family, I know it going to keep the same bright colors and texture and body that it has today. :-D
I plan to post some totally cotton quilts like the ones you mention. :-D
AnythingObscure— we DID have some wild fashions!!
Vynil33rpm
LaurenRedmond
Mrstyndall
Hunter
Thank you all for looking and loving! I appreciate your time and kindness!
Wow! wonderful piece and put together and photographed amazingly! Bravo!
ho2cultcha, thanks for the flattering comment!
:^D
It is gorgeous!
17 loves! I’m grateful. :^)