recycle

Wardrobe Upcycle

This weekend Miss P and I went through her dresser to switch out the winter and spring clothes. She tried everything on and we bagged up the items that were too small to wear anymore. She was pleased that she can still fit into this dress I made her back in August of 2012 ! That was second grade, folks! Look at what a little peanut she was then.  The dress is much shorter on her now but it still fits in the chest and shoulder area.

This is the pile of tights we found that were too short to wear anymore.

Her cousin recently sent her a box of hand-me-downs that included a couple of pair of leggings that she has been wearing with her skirts and dresses. We decided to try converting the tights to leggings.It was easy as pie. I cut the foot part off and hemmed up the lower edge using a multi-step zigzag stitch on the sewing machine. I used the foot portion to test out which stitch worked best.P is thrilled to have new wardrobe pieces made from her old favorites.

She wishes that favorite brown jacket were a little bigger so she could wear that too! She squeezed herself into it for the photo.

Decisions, Decisions

I have a couple of quilts pin basted and ready for quilting but I've been struggling with just HOW I want to quilt them. I don't want to do an all over design on them, I want to do something that really complements the piecing.In my lack of decision and procrastination on the quilting I got into a cleaning frenzy in the sewing room and found a pile of old Christmas fabrics. Do you see that selvedge? 1993!

A few hours later and I have a stack of gift bags. I made them in all different sizes depending on how big the fabric pieces were. I went through the suitcase of trims and found bits of ribbon that I used for ties. I just folded a bit of trim and stitched it into the side seam. Then you can just tie it around the top of the bag to close it.

I still haven't decided how to quilt those quilts but at least I have a stack of gift bags to show for my time. And, the sewing room is a wee bit tidier.

What have YOU been working on?

Halloween Elf

Here is our little Halloween elf.

I made the top from B's old terry/velour bathrobe using Rae's Flashback Skinny Tee pattern. I also added some pink braid from my trim collection.

The pattern for the hat is Lyalya Hoodie by Natalia Schaffer. (knit earlier in the year and blogged here.)

Pretty close to the design she imagined, I think. She is thrilled with the soft, warm top.