Sewing with Salvage
A photo story of the rewarding process of upcycling materials
The flaking interior of a 'delaminated' rain shell is a death knell for waterproof garments. This is largely caused by oils and dirt from your skin and regular washing can extend the life of your shell. It is inevitable that even with proper care this will happen to almost every shell.
BTW — here is a great video starring Kern about rain shell care which I recommend: How to Keep Your Shell Well ↗︎
I already started deconstructing the jacket but notice the flakes are concentrated around the neckline where it touches skin
Salvaging can take a little time if you want to keep things like drawstrings and zippers.
I won't disclose how many times the wine glass was emptied between the photos
The bulk of the time was spent seam-ripping the main zipper in the jacket. Zippers are often unsalvagable but I gave this one a go anyway and came away with about 60% (eh good enough).
Excelent! We got 3 large pieces, some smaller sections that can be pieced together, and a bit of hardware!
For this piece I only needed rectangular pieces so I didn't bother making a pattern. Just measured then cut. Each panel had two identical pieces; one of canvas and one from the salvaged rain shell.
The bulk of the sewing for this piece was creating the two layered panels. This photo shows after the initial panel construction was done and they pieces are coming together.
There are a few ways to create a bag liner but I liked the process of constructing each panel separately and connecting them all together. While a little more labor-intensive than a floating liner, I think it made for a more durable bag.
The white thread contrasts well with the black shell fabric and displays the process.
5 hours later we had a bag! Upcycling fabrics always takes more time but it also leads to much more precious creations. If I wanted to process to be fast I'd just buy something new.
Little details like this logo peaking out are some of my favorite things to add. While I don't really care to center branding in upcycled pieces I think it's nice to leave some clues as to the piece's history.
