Orts and Cabbage

 

Hello and wishing you a happy day!

"Orts and Cabbage" may sound to you like a foreign recipe but it's not.  It's just another chapter in words I find that I love.

"Orts" are leftover threads from your sewing, usually embroidery threads.  There is a movement to reuse these pieces in a variety of ways.  They are usually collected in jars.

These pieces of threads are then recycled in a variety of ways.  Many sewists use them to "make fabric" and cover the orts with a piece of tulle or lace.  

The pretty colors of the scrap threads makes an interesting background to the lace or tulle.

I've seen orts used in a variety of ways.

Christmas balls above or ort beads below:

These are very clever uses but I won't be partaking in saving orts this way.  At this point in my life, I've become very respectful of Murphy's Law. I just know that if I don't wrap my extra threads on the appropriate cardboard bobbin that I'll need a wee bit of a certain color of thread at a later date...and I don't want to be digging through a pile of threads for it.

Cabbage is a different term that Beth taught me years ago.  It's apparently an old European term for fabric scraps.  The word "garbage" was also used for these bits of scraps.  There's a great article here.

These days, I do see people "making cabbage" with their scraps.  They cut the fabric into small bits to use as filling in pillows, dog beds, and pincushions.  Even Olfa (rotary cutters company) has a pattern for a cushion that uses "cabbage" here.

Have you heard of these terms?  The ort term seems more prevalent now with more people cross stitching.  When I cross stitched in the 1980s, I don't remember anyone referring to orts then.

Wishing you a safe and happy day!