11/11/11 is Corduroy Appreciation Day!

Okay, so who knew there was a Corduroy Appreciation Club?  And that today- 11/11/11- is Corduroy Appreciation Day?  you know, uh, 11/11/11.  This is the date that when expressed in writing most resembles corduroy since 11/11/1111, which was 900 years ago and I don't think corduroy was even invented then.  Thanks to Slow Cloth for pointing this out.  I totally missed the New York Times article yesterday. 

Anyhow:

The only corduroy I could find in my workroom today is this tote bag- a particularly nice one with pockets, sturdy, lined, welted, underwired to hold its shape, from Neiman Marcus.   Thanks to my sister-in-law Marguerite- I am the frequent beneficiary of her eagle eye for red accessories!   Bags, scarves, wallets, socks, business card cases, you name it- if it's red, she snags it for me. 

If you're interested in corduroy in quilts, check out this blog post by Barbara Brackman. I myself once used corduroy prominently in a quilt- the first quilt I ever made, in fact, circa 1979.  This was no art quilt.  It was made the old-fashioned way- using scraps of fabric leftover from clothing that I made and actually wore, an old blue cotton blanket for the filler and the binding, and some pink terrycloth for the back that I bought to make something but never used.  

I can't remember what the corduroy was originally used for, but I had enough to make a border for both front and back.  The colors used to be a lot brighter!  Although this quilt is rags and tatters now, I keep it because it was my first, and the earliest embodiment what became the spirit of my taste: what we now call repurposing; what later came to be called shabby chic; and a mixing of disparate elements in a style that we now kindly refer to as eclectic.  But I know that really this quilt is just plain weird.  Hey, it was 1979!!

I've always been a big fan of corduroy, and I'm glad that it has its own special day, but I think the most important thing to take away from Corduroy Appreciation Day is the realization that fabric nuts of all kinds are just plain crazy.