Re-purpose, Reuse ... But Get Crafty

As often happens in January, I get busy crafting things - either because I have more time to do it or because there is a need for something.

I already mentioned the super hero cape that I made for Kids Camp, but that wasn't all I needed for the costume.
Most of my costumes get recycled in one form or another, either because they originally came from an OP Shop, or because I have thought of a way to use them differently for another costume. Several years ago I altered a t-shirt by putting a fringe on the bottom and putting on some iron-on motifs. The iron-on motifs had started to come off, and I wasn't going to use the costume again, but then I realised it would work a little differently for a super hero costume. I kept the fringe on the bottom, but this time I have put on my made up super hero logo.

 I matched the colour of the logo fabric to the fringe.

The logo is actually the letter B. I flipped the letter backwards and put them together then flipped them upside down. The stitching around the edge is very close zigzag stitch, and the detail in the centre is actually a bright pink gel pen (it may wash out, but it works for now).

Then I was thinking about hair and what I would do for that, and ended up making myself a new headband - using the same fabric as I used for the logo combined with some purple ribbon that I had in my stash.

The headband is based on some others that I've made in the past, but with some small alterations because of the length of fabric that I had and the addition of the purple ribbon. In many ways I think it has improved my pattern - which is always a good thing.

And here are the two together - perfect match! Plus I'm certain I'll wear the headband at other times, so it really won't be wasted.

Now all I need is a really cool super hero name!

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Now for something not camp related.

How many of you used to have pen-pals that you wrote letters to on pretty writing paper. I certainly had my share and a collection of writing paper to match.

These days I don't write many letters, but I still have a collection of writing paper and have been trying to find creative ways of using it.
Last year I used some to make a journal, but I still have plenty left. One pad, although really pretty was not one that I would have chosen (I didn't buy it. It was a gift). I think it still had all it's pages (but I didn't count them), so I figured out it would make a perfect note pad for in my handbag.

I used the whole thing - front and back cardboard and all the pages.

The back cover and all the pages were cut in half. However I cut the front cover so that I would still have the picture in the middle.

Every second page only has the border because the girl was just on one side, however I flipped each of those pages so that the border is always on the same side.
I then just used my Bind-it-All to put the wire in.

Getting My Crafty On!

I've been getting a bit crafty in the past few days - that is other than working on African Sunset when sitting down with my family to watch movies.

It all started with Kids Camp. No the camp hasn't happened yet, but the preparation has.
Our theme for this year is Superheroes! So, of course, that means capes and such.
I was going to post a photo of my cape, but the fabric I made it of doesn't lend itself to photography. Now I've got you curious.

Last year I picked up some pink tulle in the remnant bin at my local Spotlight store. I had planned to use it at work, but some things changed and I never did quite find a use for it there, but the idea came to me, that it would work well with the idea of the superhero talent of invisibility!
I used a single layer of the pink tulle and edged it with pink bias tape. I sewed the bias tape around except for the top, then used more bias tape to cover the top and form the ties to tie it on.
I'm very happy with it and hopefully it will be cooler than a full fabric cape if the day is very hot when I wear it.

I've also been working on some cards that a friend asked me to make for her. So far I have 3. All are based on designs I have previously made, either exactly the same or with variations depending on the materials (such as stickers) I have available.

 

Then there has been the folder that I use for Kids Crew, the children's ministry I am involved in at church.
I may have mentioned the folders in previous years, but this year I thought I'd post some pictures.

The picture is actually a cross stitch that I cut out of a magazine - I have no idea which company it is from, but it is beautiful.
The font I used for the words is called 'Peeps' and has little eyes on each letter. It perfectly fit for what the folder is for.
The folder is plain white with a plastic sleeve that you can slip things into - perfect for designing your own cover and side panel.

Inside I make my own section dividers. I used cardstock that I would otherwise be unlikely to use. This year I have the swirly pink (as you can see), mauve, orange polka dots on white and mauve with a white box-like pattern. There are 2 of each of the pink and polka dot.
The tabs are tab stickers that I have. I'm not entirely happy with the colours, but they were the only ones I had left. Next time I think I'll go back to using my Stampin' Up! punch and stamps to make the tabs.

The last thing, which I actually did today, was to make this really interesting pen holder.
I found out about the idea on Pintrest, checked it out, and as the instructional video was going, pulled out the materials I would use and had a go! Thank you to Michele at Poochie Baby for the idea.
It's just a binder clip and duct tape, although I used washi tape for mine. I just love those hot air balloons!
I'm still figuring out the best position on the folder for it - yes, because you use a binder clip it can be move when needed or removed completely!

A Spot of Mending

I wonder how many people still mend their clothes?
Do you?

I, for one, still do!
During my uni days I darned my socks and mended as much as possible - all by hand - because money was very tight.
These days I still mend, although more often with my sewing machine than by hand.

Once I had a work shirt that had a collar that just didn't sit right and no matter how many times I ironed it, there there still wrinkles. Then one day I realised the collar had been sewn in backwards!! Most people would have put the shirt in the OP Shop - not me! I unpicked it, turned it around and sewed it back on. It finally sat perfectly!

My most recent mending job was to replace the zip on my favourite coat. The problem with zips is that a whole lot of sewing goes on after the zip has been attached  - in this case, the buttons on the flap that conceals the zip and keeps the wind from going through it.
It took me all afternoon to get it done, but finally success!!
I also was able to reinforce the pockets as they had started to come apart.

Please share your mending successes (or nightmares).

First Attempt

What can you do with a remnant of 1.4m of tomato red felt and an undetermined length of hessian braid?

Make bunting, of course!!

This was my first attempt at making bunting, and I'm very pleased with the result. It is 8.5m long! I even put hanging loops at the end.
It will be used at work for our circus theme this term!

Costume anyone?

I'm on a Kid's Summer Camp this week!
Each day we have a different theme - Dinosaurs, Pirates, Medieval and Under the Sea - and needed a little costume item to make the games fun each day. Most days it was easy to find something because I already had a suitable costume, but Dinosaur day was a problem.

A Google search started and I found an idea that I could modify, so thank you Ginger & George for the inspiration!

I started out with a plain green t-shirt (conveniently already in my wardrobe).
Then I added 10 felt diamonds.
A needle and thread connected things together, and this is the result:

Side view!

A Sewing Adventure in Re-Purposing

How many of you have a few items in your house that you don't use and are getting frustrated by the space they take up?
I'm guessing everyone!!
I know I have a few.

Which recently led me to get rid of a few things in my wardrobe. A few things will be making a trip back to an Op Shop! They served their purpose but I'm not going to wear them again.
This leads me to the purpose of this post.
I've had a skirt sitting in my wardrobe for a few years that never quite fit right (on me or any other member of my family). I also had a need for a bag to put my pillow in when I go away on holidays or trips.
The skirt was the perfect size - resulting in the idea that the skirt could become a bag.

Before

After

It took a bit of unpicking - I had to remove the elastic in the waist and take out the hem.
I used a French seam for the bottom to make sure the denim wouldn't fray in the bottom seam, then sewed up the casing for a cord. I even used the gold coloured thread to match the stitching. I tried using a toggle that I had to secure the cord, but it wasn't big enough, so I popped the cord through the holes on a big button and used that instead.

It's the perfect size bag and it even has pockets (I left them as they were)!!

My Working Space

Have you wondered about my crafting space?
Well, if you have I'll tell you a little.
My bedroom is not just a bedroom - it is also my home office, crafting space, relaxing spot and library!
The top of my bookshelves holds DVD boxes full of stamps, ink pads, dies and a variety of other crafting paraphernalia. My desk is flanked by 2 sets of plastic drawers plus another set of plastic drawers on the other side of the room, holding embellishments, paper punches, adhesives, brads, eyelets, scrapbooking papers, ribbons, lace, templates, cardstock, beads and chalks.

That's all good, neat and tidy, but when I get crafting things start getting pulled out, and things get piled up on every available space - generally my bed!
This is what happened when I got crafting recently:

What you can't see from this photo is what my desk looked like, but I can assure you there were crafting things all over that too (I just don't want to give away the project I was working on)!
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With the school holidays I have had a bit of time to work on some sewing projects - I have actually halved my list!

• Darts in pants so that they fitted properly
• Mending
• Putting pockets into shorts that didn't have any
• Making a rag bag

The most interesting is the rag bag. I used the legs of a pair of jeans that had worn out in other areas. I cut them off, sewed them together in a tube, sewed up one end of the tube and made a casing for a draw string by opening a small section of the hem on the other end.

To make the string, I started off by finger knitting some wool, but I found it was not thick enough and likely to break. So I used the initial finger knitting and finger knitted that again to make it stronger. It was then too short, but I had more wool and tried again.

So that I got the right length, I started doing the single finger knitting, then before finishing it off, I started the double up. It worked really well because I could do more single finger knitting to make it longer until I had the right length.

It's a good feeling to finally get some things done.

Sew and Sew!

Sewing has been my focus (when not studying) in recent days. I needed something to wear to my cousin's wedding, and had been unable to find anything in the shops, so I decided to sew something. This is what I ended up making. I did not end up wearing it though.

Let's just say, that pattern pictures are decieving. This top did nothing for my figure. So I ended up having a day of shopping with my Mum and one sister, that resulted in me purchasing a beautiful dress in an oceany green, that was very flattering, and everyone said I looked good.
I did, however, learn some new sewing skills and learned that Chiffon is an awful fabric to sew with!

This was a skirt I bought recently, but it was very straight and rather boring, so I jazzed it up with some dainty lace around the hem, I love it! And the pattern on the lace looks remarkably like butterflies. I actually stitched this by hand, although I could have done it much quicker by machine.

Sew Much Done

Today I had another successful sewing afternoon. 4 things crossed off my 'To Do' List.
Two of them were mending jobs, but the other two I cut out the other day and sewed them up today.
I needed a couple of headbands, and having had some success with making them myself in the past, I wanted to try to improve my "pattern".
I tried 2 different techniques and am happy with how they turned out. The one with butterflies is actually purple, although it does look more blue from this photo.

And here I am wearing the green one.

Getting on with my Sewing List

So one of the best things I have done lately is to quit playing Facebook games. It means I have time to get on with some of the projects I haven't got around to for ages.
Just tonight I cut out 3 of my sewing projects and completed one of those 3.

My best friend bought a top at the OP Shop the last time we went OP Shopping together, but wanted the sleeves to be longer. I said, "Oh, I can do that!" On our way home we bought some matching fabric (at least as close as we could get it), and I measured her arms to work out what she wanted.

Finally tonight I got on with it and finished!!

I had to fit the sleeve extensions to the existing sleeve because of the elastic there, but it wasn't too hard once I worked out where they were to go. To "hide" the stitching, I stitched over the existing stitching for the elastic.

I'm really happy with the way it has turned out. I hope my best friend is too.

A Sewing Day ... Finally!!

Yesterday for me was a sewing day - or at least a sewing afternoon.
I've needed to do this for a while and it finally worked for me to get some things off my list. I haven't quite finished the list, but it's now down to just 4 things.

The first photo is actually the progress on my crochet rug. I've finished the 1st ball of purple, the second section of maroon and started on the next ball of blue. I love the way it looks and the contrast between the sections of blue.




The next photo is of the t-shirt that I altered for a clown costume. I ironed on some flower motifs and around the bottom hem I sewed a sequined, decorative trim. I love how it jingles!
The costume is for Good News Gang this week. We are having a special event - Everybody's Birthday. The kids all get to dress up in what they would like to wear if it was actually their birthday. This way we can celebrate all the birthdays for the year without having a separate party for each child.

And finally are the other things I sewed. 2 headbands and a small bag. The bag I got the fabric and ribbon for at a craft show that I went to last year. It's just 2 pieces of fabric sewn together with the ribbon sewn into the seam, then turned right side out. Half the fabric is inside as the lining.
The headbands are just a single length of fabric which I folded in half and sewed up the side. Then I turned the fabric to have right sides out and sewed the ends. The ends are then folded twice over lengthwise and sewn up to make narrower parts for tying.


And that's my carft weekend. I'm now in the process of making some cards. One is using some stamps I recently bought off Ebay.

Too Much!!

I'm convinced I have too many projects on the go, and too many potential projects competing for mental space and to be done.
Let me tell you what I've got and then you can decide.

• Crochet Rug - 2 balls of blue, 1 ball of purple and 4 rounds of maroon complete
• The Lighthouse Quilt/Embroidery - 75% done (or maybe a little more), once complete to be incorporated into a quilted doona cover
• African Sunset Cross Stitch - 5% (or maybe a little more done - needs to be completed buy August 2011)
• Felt Brooches (photo not yet loaded on my computer; people who see them think I should be making more and selling them; I have some of my own designs that I would like to try)
• Doona Cover - I have the fabric (it matches my curtains), I just need to cut and sew
• Hair Towel - one of those turban things (I've made 1 but I need a 2nd one)
• Alter new Jeans - I have to put elastic in the waist and that requires hand sewing because of the belt loops (I really need a good thimble)
• Finish off the latchhook rug that my sister did for me (the edges need binding - and yes, I have the stuff to do it with)
• Headbands - I have the fabric to make and they would literally take 10 minutes or maybe 15 - and that's for 2, if I just had the sewing machine out
• Drawstring Bag - to go in the Operation Christmas Child shoe box (needed before next month)
• Clown Outfit - needs to be completed before Term 4 starts
• Cardmaking - I have new stamps that I'm dying to use, plus some ideas I want to try

So that's my list - so far! I'm sure I've forgotten something.

Then there is the interior design course that I'm doing, plus planning for next year - like applying for study at TAFE.

I just need block time to concentrate on this and not get destracted by, well, my computer, which I'm on now when I really, really should be in bed.

So what do you think?

Project Overload

Is is possible to have too many projects on the go at once?

I was reading someone else's blog tonight and they said they have 7 cross stitches on the go.

Also, can you have plans for too many projects in your head at once?

My dilemma is that I think I will forget to do something important, a project that will be a gift or just something in general because I'm thinking about too many things at once.

Ok, so I've heard that we only actually use a very small percentage of our brain at once, but still ...

There is this one project that I have been thinking about and planning for 11 year. Yes, you read that right. ELEVEN!

I keep changing the plan, which is not surprising since I first started planning it as a teen and some of my tastes have changed.
I'm now saying that my current plan is the last one. We'll see!

Part of the current plan involves my 'The Lighthouse' project. I'm planning on using that as the centrepiece for the doona (quilt) cover. The plan used to be for a cross stitch sampler, but I like my current idea much better. The doona cover is going ahead. I purchased the base fabric today. I have no idea what the rest of it will look like, although I have been adding to my fabric stash for the past 11 years. The colours that I want to use haven't really changed all that much. I'm currently planning for the rest of the area surrounding the centrepiece to be crazy patchwork. I just kind of like the idea of putting my fabric stash together in a random way. I just hope it works. There will be a plain border between the centrepiece and the crazy patchwork.

Ok, so then I have another doona cover that I'm making using the same fabric as my bedroom curtains (once this is done I may try to get it posted on Ikea Hacker ).

Then to continue with my sewing projects list I have a few items of clothing needing alterations, some things to mend, covers to make for my desk chair (the black is boring and doesn't match my room), and the binding to do on a latch hook rug (my sister did it for me, but said I had to do the binding - she has now learned how to do it as she goes).

And then there are my cardmaking and stamping projects, including a set of cards for my Mum for her birthday (shhh, don't tell).

So, I ask again, is it possible to have too much planned or on the go?

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe I haven't posted anything here since February.

So, I guess you're wondering what I've been doing.

Well, I finished the stamping project that Mum was getting me to do (see my last post), at least the first pack of tags, anyway. We just can't find anymore of the right size in the shop at the moment.

I've also been working hard on Butterflu Profusion, and you will be pleased to know that I've almost finished. I am currently working on the final butterfly - the orange beauty in the bottom left corner.

And then I've been doing some mending and clothing alterations - like putting some elastic into a pair of jeans so that they don't gape at the back.

Oh, and I've been teaching a friend how to sew with a sewing machine. She knew how to sew by hand but hadn't used a machine and wanted to start making clothes for her family.

So that's what I've been doing.

Along with changing my mind (AGAIN) about the quilted doona cover that I have been planning for 11 years.

A Little Bit of Sewing

So you've been wondering what I've been doing over the past few - gasp - months, well, except for the Tiny Stockings (see previous post).


For the past few days I've been doing some sewing and mending that has been piling up. My sewing machine saw the light of day today for the first time in months.


And this was the result:


A personalised sheet set.

Several members of my family have sheets of a similar colour, so to tell mine apart from the others I decided to personalise them.


The butterflies on the sheets are hand-stitched on with button hole stitch, after using an iron-on fusion to hold them in place.

The pillowcases just have a strip of the same fabric as the butterfiles, machine stitched in place.




And then there is my latest completed cross stitch. I didn't have it in my list of projects, mostly because it was a little one that I just picked up when I needed something small to take with me.
So here it is 'Especially For You' from the Country Companions collection.






















I'm still going on the table runner, and worked on it some more today. I'd really like to get on with something else, because it is starting to annoy me, having to alter the pattern slightly because the printed cross stitch just doesn't look right. I only hope the blue outline comes out when I wash it, otherwise I will have spent all that time stitching it for nothing.

Holiday Projects and Progress

Ok, so I know you have all been wondering what I have been doing over the past 3 weeks.

Well, there were Christmas, birthday and New Year celebrations, hanging around at home, watching TV and DVDs, sewing, stitching and decluttering (see the link to my other blog).

I decorated our family calendar. I guess you could call it an off the page scrapbooking project. This year I branched out a bit and some pages have some 3D bits on them. I discovered that you can colour the Kaiser Craft Fozz Felt with textas and it looks great.

I won some of the white daisy chain several months ago and wasn't sure how to use it, but this worked really well for February.

My mending bag was getting rather full, so I did some of the mending while thinking about a couple of other projects that I wanted to get done. I bought a new set of sheets in the after Christmas sale (normally about $250, I got it for about $75). It is plain blue and there are a lot of other blue sets in our house, so I wanted to jazz it up a bit. I decided that I'd applique a butterfly onto each sheet and pillowcase. Out came my Fiskars Butterflies-1 shape template and I traced the one I wanted onto a piece of paper. After tracing the smaller one, I realised that I didn't really like the shape all that much, so I tried the larger one. That one didn't quite work for me either. So later that day when I was in Spotlight I found the second butterfly template and purchased it.

I haven't traced this one yet, so the sheets are still waiting to be adorned. I also need to decide what fabric to use.

And then there were the new PJ shorts that I was sewing. I bought the fabric months early on a clearance sale, but hadn't had the time to make them. One morning I got out the fabric, cutting board and all my bits and peices and cut them out (after making a couple of adjustments to the pattern). I had forgotten to buy the right colour thread, so I couldn't finish them that day. Once I had purchase that, it only took a couple of hours for me to finish them (although my sewing machine broke part way through and I had to change machines). So here is the finished product.

I haven't worn them yet, probably next week.

Finally, as promised here is an update on my progress of 'Sweetheart's Gate'. It is coming along quite nicely.

I have stitched up to the top on the right side and am now working on the more central parts at the top (all on the same page of the pattern which is divided into 4 with some parts crossing over because of how I photocopied them). There is part of the stitching that you can't see on this photo because it is rolled down on the scroll frame. You can just see bits of it at the bottom. I have done a little more since this was taken last night.

So that's about the extent of my crafting over my holiday.