• Blog

    Quick upcycle project

    It never occurred to me that today was St. Patrick’s Day…and that it’s traditional to wear green so one does not get pinched…until about 45 minutes before I had to leave….and I wasn’t even dressed yet.  You see I was subbing at one of our district middle schools today. The one that my oldest is at. I know a bunch of the kids so I thought it would be a good idea to fall into customary green attire for the day. My problem is the fact that I don’t own any green clothes…or at least not weather and work appropriate clothes.

    A while back I picked up a knit shirt from Goodwill that I thought I liked. I was wrong. Not flattering…it had to go. Lucky for me, it was laying on the top of the donation box this morning.

    I quickly hacked it up into chunks 6 inches wide and ran it through the sewing machine. Out came my brand new infinity scarf ready for St. Patrick’s Day.quick infinity scarfIt doesn’t show really well in the photo but I alternated horizontal and vertical stripes throughout the scarf as well as which side the seem was on…that way no matter what way it was looped it would look intentional.

  • Blog

    Upcycling projects

    We all know how to recycle and I’m sure most do it daily. Newspapers, cardboard, glass and plastic are all readily recyclable in most cities, at least across the USA.

    This is wonderful! But I’ve been really focused on upcycling lately.  Finding a new use for something that would ordinarily be tossed out.  Wine corks, bottle caps, worn out clothing, stained linens, broken plates…you get the idea.treesI showed a sneak peek of these a while ago. I made a wine cork tree last year but this time I decided to change things a bit. I used a Champagne cork cut in half for the trunk.  I think they turned out really cute.

    sewing

    I’ve also been using some scraps from previous projects such as the denim remaining after completing a quilt or two.  As well as the remainder of the dress shirts that I made wine bottle gift bags from.

    cards

    In addition I’ve been making a bunch more cards. I’ll show more of these last two projects at a later date. The cards have much less upcycling in it’s truest sense but I am still attempting to include elements that might otherwise be considered unusable such as tiny scraps of fabric and yarn. As well as photo trimmings. I have a cigar box full of photo trimmings…they have such vibrant colors that it’s a shame to toss them out.

    It doesn’t have to be Earth Day to be a little “green”. Do a little more every day to be kind to our planet. Last time I checked…it’s the only one we have. 🙂

  • Blog

    T-shirt scarf

    You may recall that I showed this sneak peek of a project that looked pretty much like a pile of rags. Well…not quite.

    upcycled shirtI was inspired by a friend who sent me a link to this upcycled t-shirt scarf after making one for her daughter. It’s a quick and simple no-sew project.

    20130916_3418 The boy had just outgrown yet another shirt, so it was perfect timing.

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    The shirt I used had seams on both sides. The tutorial didn’t allow for this. I decided to take extra bits of shirt and tie a knot to cover each seam that was exposed.

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    Next time I’ll use an adult size shirt to make the loops longer that way it won’t be as tight when doubled up.