How (not to) make a pee-rag

A pee-rag is an essential piece of any Leave-No-Trace (LNT) hiker.

I’ve gone through a few of these precious things in my time and although I wash them between trips, I do feel the need to replace them once in a while. Many times I have wanted this to be a more sustainable process. How can I create less waste while allowing myself the luxury of wiping away pee-drips while out in the bush?

Today, I came across a pop-up of an NZ-owned outdoor company. They were giving away FREE offcuts from production. Excellent. Up-cycling opportunity!

One problem.

These were some random shaped, (often) small scraps of various fabrics. Then I had a genius LIGHTBULB (*Gru from “Despicable Me” voice activated) moment. I will make a groovy, colourful patchwork pee-rag!!

Ok, another problem.

I have not used a sewing machine in over 15 years, and I never prided myself as much of a machinist. However, me being me…. I turned this problem into an opportunity – time to relearn (and grow on my skills) of using a sewing machine.

An opportunity.

My multi-talented, multi-hobbiest flat mate got out her sewing machine, showed me the basics and sent me on my way. I stitched together my little squares of (beautiful) marino fabric with simple hems (technical term: unknown). I was very proud of myself. I now had a lovely 30cm x 20cm patchwork piece. At this point I realised I would probably need to backing to make this a neat finish. And this is where I got imaginative.

I encourage imagination. I love following my imagination when I am creating things, however, I have learned a valuable lesson today. Learn the basic skills first, then get imaginative. I can promise you right now, that I will continue to relearn this lesson throughout all avenues of my life as I just love to jump RIGHT IN to whatever I am presented with.

So, anyway I begin stitching pieces another type of fabric together, this resulted in many frustrations as the fabric was very slippery and stretchy (the machine almost ATE the fabric up at one point). I practiced patience I did a whole lot of manual unstitching, still excited about what the final product may be. Eventually I settled on another type of fabric (the slippery stuff was driving me up the wall). I made another set of patchwork and examined my beautiful work. I was honestly quite proud of what I had created.

Then.

Ok, how do I sew these two sides together? My flat mate has mentioned something about using a thin strip of fabric as a hem so that I didn’t have to shrink this whole piece of work too much. Great. I found a thin piece of…. yes… slippery fabric (WHY OH WHY?). Folded it over one edge of the two pieces and sewed it on (with a few munches from the sewing machine). It looked ok, but it had the fraying edges on the outside and I realised I had done it the wrong way around. I tried to fix my mistake by sewing more and more and more…. and now there was too much to unpick. I got the scissors and… cut off the whole situation I had just created. Now I had lost a chunk of my rag but maybe… just maybe I could still save it. I went back to the basics, created a simple hem (shrinking my rag once again).

So, that upcycle attempt remains incomplete. It may sit on my desk for a few weeks before I decide how I can repurpose it.

In the meantime, I will cut a larger piece from an old tee-shirt and use that as a pee-rag.. No sewing required.