Showing posts with label recycled. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recycled. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Leg Warmers

 With my daughter being in ice skating it is hard to dress her warmly with out her having layers layers of clothes making her look like the state puff marshmallow man. She has to wear the bear minimum so she can still move around with ease and poise. I thought what better way than leg warmers. 80's is back in style anyways right?
 As I was walking around Walmart they had a $1 rack full of clothes. I thought heck I could find something in there that I could use. I found this sweater and it sparked my mind. And so I came up with my idea.
 First cut off the sleeves right at the armpit
Then fold the end that you just cut over 2 times to make sure it doesn't end up fraying later on and sew to seal it off. Yes, my sleeves are uneven. I did not measure right on the cutting, but I was in a hurry so it had to work. And what do you know when my daughter put them on you couldn't notice, because they bunch up anyways.
There you have it folks. Leg Warmers for $1. This was a very easy project only taking about 5 minutes to make. Since this one I have made 3 more. I went back to Walmart and got all the different colors they had. I figured you couldn't pass up $1 sweaters or should I say, leg warmers.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Pillow Cover

My sister in law gave me her old pillows she made when my husband and I got married. That was about 7 years ago, not including the time that my sister in law had them. That is just how long I have had them. I would say that it is about time for a make over. My girl's room needed some throw pillows so I thought I could put these old ones to good use. Follow along to see how I made these pillow covers.
First take your old pillow and measure all the way around it. If your pillow is rectangle you will need to measure horizontal and vertically. Mine is a square so I only needed to measure once. Which my pillow is 34". Now when you take this measurement to your fabric you will need to add about 1 1/2 inches to the length before cutting. So my new fabric will be 35 1/2" long
Next, fold, pin, and sew all the way around the edges. This seals your fabric so it won't fray latter on.
Now fold one end of your fabric over to the middle. Make sure you are doing this all inside out.
Then fold the other end of the fabric over. Making sure to overlap your 2 ends a little bit. I overlapped mine by about 2 inches. Once again you are going to sew, but this time your not going to go all the way around. You will only need to sew down the 2 sides that are open. Don't forget all this is inside out.
After you sew your 2 ends you will flip your fabric the right side out. As you can see you are left with a little pocket to stuff your pillow inside.
Here it is stuffed. Can you see the old pillow? You can also see why it was important to overlap your 2 end pieces. It creates a nice little covering so you can't see the old one.
Yay! For about $3 I have some new throw pillows for my girl's room. That sure beats spending $30 for some new ones from the store

I've linked up to...
NightOwlCrafting



Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Ranger Shirt

Round 2 on refurbishing old clothes.

Here is the 2nd shirt that I did for my son.
Once again I started with 2 shirts
and cut one of them to pieces.
Then pin all your pieces where you would like them. My main concern was making the shirt longer as well as the sleeves, but it never hurts to add some embellishments.
Last, sew all together.
And Voila once again, you have a "new" old shirt ready to go for another year. I put a little bit of embellishing on the back of the shirt as well.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Tie Shirt

Now that it is getting to be cooler weather I had to go through my kids closets to see what winter clothes still fit and what doesn't. The shirts that I found that were too little I couldn't pull myself to throw away. So instead I came up with some ways to combine some of the shirts to make them bigger. Here is my first shirt that I did. ..He is so happy.
First, I took 2 shirts of like colors and cut one of them to pieces
First cut the sleeve's cuffs off. Leaving an extra amount so you have enough material to work with when sewing.
Then I flipped the shirt over, because the back was solid yellow. I cut 2 long strips. The width of the strip will depend on how much your kid has grown and how much longer you need your shirt.
Now you will have 2 long strips (for the extension of the bottom of your shirt) and 2 cuffs (for arm extensions)
Fold your long strips in half and pin in place. Folding them in half makes it sturdier and seals it off.
sew them together
Turn your shirt inside out and pin your long strips at the bottom hem of your other shirt and sew. You do this same step for your sleeve extensions as well. I didn't make my ends meet, because I wanted to have the split ends like an undershirt would have
I wanted to add a little flare and had some more yellow material left over so I drew a tie, cut it out, pinned in place on top of my shirt, and sewed with a contrasting color thread to give more character.
Voila! Here you have a newly cool shirt. Look how long those arms are now. No high water sleeves anymore. I love the tie and can't wait to wash it a few times so the extra rim around the edge of it will get ruffly. I like the ragged look. I should have put the tie up maybe a little bit higher up on the neck part, but oh well. It still turned out pretty good I think. Can't wait to do my other shirts.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Going Green

Since my husband and I are in the military we travel a lot. Every 3-4 years we will move to a different location. We came up with the idea of getting a souvenir from every place that we have been. Well, our first duty station was Del Rio, TX. Haven't heard of it? Don't worry I had not either until we got stationed there. It is a little little tiny town that is 9 miles from the Mexico border. The nearest big city is San Antonio and that is still a 2 1/2 hour drive. It was torturous to live there sometimes, because there was NO shopping or restaurants. All we had was a Walmart and Chili's. I'm so glad to be out of there. Anyways, Since we were dealing with slim pickens in we decided to jump the border and buy something from Mexico instead. We found this little guy...I call him Tico. He isn't too pretty, but the area of Mexico that we were at was not the nicest part of Mexico. It was really run down and poor living. Tico was cheap and I thought later on down the road I could give him some TLC and bring him to life.
I figured since we own our own house, now would be that time to show him that TLC. I grabbed a bottle of spray paint and sprayed away. I love the color green. Its very calming to me. And since he is going to be outside why not blend with nature.
Plus, now he matches my other little plant stand. I bought the stand at Goodwill last week for $1.25. Of course, it didn't look too pretty then. I didn't take a before shot, but just imagine black, crusty, rusty, nastiness all over...and now with some soap, elbow greese, and of course spray paint it is looking fabulous. Now all I need is some plants to go in them. I love to sit in my rocking chair out on the porch and feel the fresh breeze blowing on face. Fall weather is so nice.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Hair Bands

Ok, here it is. My 2nd post of my own personal crafts that I have made. With school starting back we have bought lots of back to school clothes, but unfortunately didn't get any hair bows. I went through some of my scrap crafts and clothes to see what I could come up with. This is what I got...3 HEADBANDS
and a FLOWER PONYTAIL HOLDER
As I was looking through all my crafts I had all different kinds of flowers. So I cut some off of the stems. I got a regular ponytail holder and cut a small piece of felt to wrap over the ponytail and superglued down to hold it together.
With this one I got one of my daughters old plain headbands and spruced it up with this big pink flower. First you have to find where the seam is on your headband. I'm holding it up in the picture
Next you take your trusty superglue gun and dab some glue on the flower and stick it on to where that seam is on your headband
VOILA! You now have a new and improved accessory.
This headband I made out of one of my old tank tops that I didn't want anymore and cut the hem/trim of the neckline out of it. Its perfect, because it is all sewn for you, and not to mention its made out of stretchy fabric. The only thing you have to do is measure your child's head and sew together an inch tighter. The butterfly came from an old clip that broke. Once again find your seam and superglue on.
VOILA! You have another.
The third headband I used that same tank top that I used from the previous headband, but this time I cut the hem/trim off the bottom of the shirt. It was a wider strip, but still was made out of the stretchy material. I used another flower I had and superglued it together.
VOILA! All accessorized out. Can I just say it is hard to take pictures of an active 2 year old. My school girl had already went to sleep, so little mini me had to be my model. She was happy to comply.There you have it, 3 new headbands and a flower ponytail holder. The best part, I didn't have to spend any $$$$. Go try it yourself. Start searching through your house for old junk and see what you can come up with.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Rosetta Tanks

The Before:The After:
For this one I used the same lace curtain that I used on the first shirt to add trim at the bottom and cut lace leaves out for the Rosetta flowers at the top. For the Rosetta flowers I just cut strips of a yellow & white striped shirt and twirled around and around until you are satisfied and sew in place.

I tell you what, if I keep this up my girl is going to be all set for school. The best part is, it hasn't cost me anymore money. Who said back to school shopping was expensive?

Frills & Thrills

Here is another shirt that I did. I took one of my daughter's old shirts that was too little and cut off the butterfly and sewed it to this shirt that had a stain. The butterfly is a nice little cover up don't you think. I also cut strips of that same old shirt and sewed it to the neck line for some ruffles. Sorry, I didn't take pictures of all the steps. I was doing these at midnight and was getting a little tired.

Its another winner for my daughter. I'm glad I can my girl smile. When she smiles...I smile...and the world goes 'round.

Sorry, I didn't take pictures of all the steps. I was making these at midnight and I was getting tired. I took pictures of the first shirt I did, but then I was ready to hurry up and get done so I could go to bed. All you really want to see is the end product anyway...right? I got what was important

New Threads

Yay! My first, very own post. I'm so EXCITED! For months I have been posting other people's ideas, but now I have finally made something of my own. I'm so proud.
Since school is about to start I have been going through my kids clothes. You know the usual, does this still fit, too little, have stains, no good. Anyways, I came across some plain shirts that I thought I would dress up with the clothes I was going to get rid of. Here are the results. I started with us with this shirt.And turned it into this using an old lace curtain. Do you like?First you pick out a pattern on the the lace that you like and place it on your shirt wear you want it. I wanted a 4" trim around the bottom. So I laid it out and pinned it 4" from the bottomThen cut all the excess off. I left about 1/2"-1" extra at the bottom so you could have enough to wrap around the backside and sew.
Here is a picture of the lace being wrapped under. Once you have everything pinned in place you are ready to sew

Sew all around and VOILA!
I also cut a single flower out and sewed it to the top corner of the shirt for an extra little umph. My daughter loves it, and thats all that matters.