It wasn’t until a summer beach day with my sister and young children that I was reminded of how useful a muslin is. I used to love them when the kids were babies, they were so versatile and they mopped up everything!
A baby muslin was a staple for a long time and they were constantly getting washed, but I suppose, like a nappy bag, the moment you don’t need them they are pretty much forgotten about. Put in a pile, then eventually end up at the charity shop. On the recent beach day in particular we were a towel down but my sister had muslins spare so we dried off with one and Etta laid happily wrapped in one as she warmed up.
I thought it was great and just nice how nostalgic I felt wrapping Etta back up in one. It wasn’t then untill I was In Birmingham at the FESTIVAL OF QUILTS I had a peruse at all the fabric stalls when I came across HIGGS AND HIGGS, a really stylish stand with a great collection of more modern children’s prints. They also had a range of denims (I nearly got some baby pink) and cords (again pink) and then a selection of muslin fabric on a roll. I knew there and then that I was going to make some big muslin type blankets for the kids to have in ITALY for snuggling at the airport and sleeping with and in fact taking to the lakeside as towels! After all, they dry super quick, are light and actually take up hardly any room.
After our first full day at the lakes, I realised what a great thing they were to bring. Etta was able to just walk back to our apartment in her costume with it draped over her shoulders, the warm heat meant it dried as it dried her. The fact that is was so lightweight just made it easy and she carried it the whole way (without dragging). I can’t take any credit for re-inventing the humble muslin but I did want to share it with you as the fabric is beautiful and really, I wanted to mention that and just say how I edged it to prevent it fraying.
On reflection of thinking about hems I decided that even though it doesn’t appear to be the kind of fabric to fray, all muslins are hemmed, so I really simply hemmed the piece of fabric. I got a metre length and the width was 1.30m ish. I ironed a fold of 1cm and then folded it in on itself a further 1cm so that it hid the edge. I then straight stitched on my JUKI DX7 each edge. I re-ironed to help set the hem and that was all I did.
I had these in the car for our early morning drive to the airport, we used them as a comforter and they were then in our backpacks as part of our day trip essentials. I know it is late in the summer for an Idea like this but really they are not far off what a Turkish towel is and really could be used all year round for swimming trips or just as pull on blankets. Maybe it is the realisation, just like still using baby wipes, muslins are also a keeper!
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