In the beginning of 2020 I started my first sewing journal.

I was starting to get serious about sewing and mending, I had just watched a YouTube video about it, the world was in chaos, and I was at home in our first experience of a lockdown.

I had a lovely blank journal I had made years previously in a fleeting affair with bookbinding as a hobby. A sewing journal was the perfect use for it.

I've wanted to volunteer for some time now, and have been looking for an organisation that aligns with my values on sustainability and caring for the environment.

At the start of 2023 I reached out to my local Repair Cafe at Woolloongabba to find out if they needed more sewing volunteers to help people with mending and keeping their textile items out of landfill. I attended all 6 cafes during the year and hope to volunteer at many more.

I have come to a pleasant realisation.

I was hanging out my washing and for almost every item I had mended in some way, there was a me-made garment hanging next to it. Have I really made that many garments in the last few years since getting serious about the hobby? Is it even a hobby anymore when you’re well on your way to having a majority of clothes made by yourself? When does a hobby become a true passion?

When you sew, you end up with lots of scraps of fabric that many crafters cannot bring themselves to throw away - including me. And even if you mend, items do degrade to the point they can’t be used anymore and they should be thrown away… but it’s fabric!

Enter the Scrap Foot Pouffe. I am on a mission to use all my bits of tiny scraps - and unwearable clothing - for something useful. I found a pattern online at Closet Core Patterns that I drafted my own pieces from. The idea is to make an inner bag that you can stuff with all your scraps, and put it inside a lovely outer, pretty cover sewn up with bigger scrap pieces of lovely fabrics. This also allows you to remove the insides and wash the pouffe when needed, and you can top up the filling as it flattens over time.

I set about making my inner bag, and this thing turned out huge. A photo of it doesn’t really do it justice so I will have to post progress pictures as it fills. It already has a bunch of scraps and a heap of my husbands discarded socks inside and it’s still mostly flat.

I’ve cut the pattern pieces ready for the outer pouffe, but I haven’t started cutting fabric for it yet. I'm about to start a project with red polyester fabric lining, and I will cut that for the bottom of the pouffe. It doesn't have to be pretty as it will always be on the floor!

My husband thinks it’ll take me years to fill the pouffe with scraps and have a usable item… I think it will take between 1 and 2 years. We will see!