leather

Bee and I repurposed some leather and made a bunch of jewelry from some scraps I salvaged months ago.  The art room was cleaning out their closets and giving away excess.  I grabbed up a whole box of leather samples.  They were on a big ring like a collection of swatches.  

 

Bee made several tassels.  (That'a my favorite bag/purse- it's from Karma- oh my, check out all the goodies here.)

I made earrings... so many pairs of earring. 

We didn't have any actual supplies on hand to make earring so we just took apart old earrings that were going unworn.  We parted them out and made new. 

Then we ventured into necklaces. 

We have had friends ask about them, like wanting their own- Bee and I may make up more and list them in one of our easy shops.    

Bee had a special request for a necklace to wear to the daddy daughter dance.  She wanted to wear brown sandals with a black and white dress to the dance and we decided that the only way to make it work was going to be to wear another piece of brown leather.  

I think it worked!  Check out those awesome gladiator boots.  She has amazing fashion taste. 

that blue dress

So I had this navy dress that had been with me forever.  Like since the mid 90s.

 Just to date this photo, the sister in the sunflower dress is a wife and mother and the littlest sister-baptized baby is in her lat year of college and engaged.  hmm... Littlest sister was born in 1994.   

 

So it still fit, but needed a little loving. The length was weird. Not maxi dress long, not ate and short.  I love to wear dresses to school- basically because you're not wearing pants.  I considered removing the sleeve, but I have to wear a sleeve to school so that seemed pointless. 

I looked around online and discovered that the print is pretty cool again.  

I decided to shorted it and add a belt with the removed length.  

Totally wearable again.  

Thinking about what else I have that could use a little remake.   I've probably got this dress somewhere...  Hello 1997.   

On a side note, this was one of my senior picture.  It was a pose my mom wanted.  That was back when the show 'Touched by and Angel' was popular.  There was this scene in the opening credits where she is wearing a hat and dress in this style and sitting barefoot on a suitcase waiting for her next assignment.  That's what inspired this lovely photo. 

shorts turned purse- a remake

 I was feeling like I wanted a fun lazy summer purse. Something easy going and slouchy.  I picked out a pattern online and then went to my stash to find some fabric.  I found a pair of old navy XL shorts I had purchased on clearance for 99 cents just for a remake.  They didn't have my size but I loved the orange/salmon color and white sailboats. It wasn't enough fabric for the pattern I chose, so I scrapped the pattern and just went with the shorts.

Basically I just pulled out the stitches in the crotch running from one leg to the other turning it into an open at the bottom skirt shape.  Then turned them inside out and sewed up the front and back crotch area to flatten and even it all out, took in the sides, and sewed the bottom together, and added some corners at the bottom to give it depth. I lined it with an old pillowcase and made a strap and belt to go through the original belt loops.  Not a tutorial by any means, sorry about the 'short'ness of the directions.

All of the original shorts pockets remained. The front pockets...

And the back pockets...

 
99 cents for the shorts, 10 cents a pieces for 2 old pillowcases, 40 minutes I lets the kids watch some silly show on TV and a dusted off sewing machine.  This was a successful remake!

teacher jumper refashion

It's a teacher jumper refashion... at night... in the basement... Photos are the appropriate quality for a nighttime basement photo shoot.

Here's the before.  I used to wear this teacher jumper all the time. My mom got it for me at least 12 years ago. She used to really like to shop at Christopher Banks.  I have an apple one, a denim one, and a fuzzy cat one.  It used to have a short sleeve blue jacket with it. I'm not sure where that's gone to.

 
I actually like the fabric.  It's sort of a thin cream linen with little children playing outside.  I knew I wanted to do a little remake with it but it has sat in my in-progress basket for at least three years.  I don't know why it took so long to get it out because this redo took half an hour tops.

I'll be wearing it again this spring!  I chopped in off just above the knee and used that fabric to create a belt and two ruffles.  Nothing fancy.   I had hoped to be able to add a little sleeve, but this was literally every scrap available.

This has be excited to tackle other projects just waiting in the basket!

naked no longer

 Our preschool worked with one of those groups that sells jewelry and bags and such made by ladies who have been taken out of bondage situations.   I saw this mermaid bag made from a recycled rice bag and loved it.  I ordered one for myself and another to give as a Christmas gift.  When It came in, I got looking at it and realized that she's pretty much naked. 

I felt pretty weird about carrying it.

She's naked no longer. My orange sharpie and I added a top.  Much better!

more pants to skirts

I've mentioned before (Here's the last set)  how we are the recipients of such lovely hand me downs for the kids from friends.  It's such a blessing!  When we are done, we try to bless others in the same way.  The little girl we pass most of Bee's things to does not wear pants.  Our shorts and tanks go to a different home. I am able to transform some of pants into skirts for her.  They take a bit longer than one would think, but I love that she gets something original and we are able to share the bottoms again.  Once they are on their fourth kid, they could use a little work anyway.

About 90% of the pants need extra fabric added to allow for movement; she's not a mermaid and needs some leg room.  I put all the fabric for this on in the back.  There are only so many places you can add it, so I like to mix it up. I added some hearts to the front to add some detail and cover a slightly worn spot.

This khaki pair got fabric added in the front and back.  The pleated ruffle on the bottom added the required length. 

Then I couldn't help  add flowers to the front in coordinating fabric and buttons.  

I have four more pair of pants laying on the cutting board, but this is a filler project for me.  There is no deadline, so it gets pushed off. 

remake- sheet to baskets

I saw the idea for making little nesting baskets out of fabric strips at Petals to Picots, which I found via pinterest. Mine don't really fit inside each other very well, but they aren't ending up together in the end.  I tried to follow that pattern at first, but ended up loosing count on the stitches and just winging it. It's easy crochet- Just a single crochet all the way around.

My youngest sister sent me a full size sheet with a hole in the middle.  Most would not re-gift such an item, but I was pleased to get it and knew just what to make with it.  That makes this a remake-  sheet to basket.  It got cut or ripped in about 1 inch strips.  If you sort of zig zag them, you can do the hole piece of fabric in 1 continuous super long strip.  To see the zig zag cutting pattern, click on that link above to the original source.

The medium one is on the kitchen counter holding lunch box notes I printed off various blogs I found through pinterest and the tiny one is in Bee's room holding treasures.  The biggest was sent back to the sister- who is the proud new resident of a dorm room. 

I've been making others now too.  They are great to keep my hands busy when we are traveling. I made a colorful one that is rainbow-ed with different fabric scraps and a white one that Lou requested and I'm working on a series of denim nesting baskets for preschool.  They are leftovers of the never ending denim project that is now done and I'll photograph next week. I'll share all that after we get back from labor day travels.

those clip boards

In the recent big pick, there were five old clipboards. Bee and I had just been talking about picking up some clipboards for her to display her artwork on. She's been quiet the artist lately. I've even unpacked my artist watercolors, chalks and charcoals for her. We set up the easel on her desk and she's been producing art like a mad woman. 

We've done this remake with clipboards before, but we just traced some scrapbook paper and modge podged it on. 

 We hung all five on the wall above her desk (which she keeps pushing closer to her window so she can draw things outside).  You could use these to hang photos or art work or notes, whatever you need displayed.   They hang right under her photo canvas artwork. 

Bee received some Christmas money from my Grandma and what a proud and happy mama I was, she asked me to take her to the art store and she spent almost all her money on more watercolor paper and a nice set of watercolor pencils.  I got out my good watercolor brushes and she's a happy artist.   I was almost as proud as the day she said she wanted to learn to sew!

ruffle shirt to skirt

Bee's been wanting a ruffle skirt and I kept telling her I'd make it.  It would take like 15 minutes and I just needed to find the right ruffle fabric.  I kept looking with no luck, certainly without spending more than it costs to buy one.  Luckily she was being really patient.  At a yard sale recently, I found it though.  I bought this XL shirt for $1.  They had it marked at $2, but it was late in the day and I wasn't paying that much.

The fabric was right.  The construction was super easy.

I just cut it below the arm pits, gathered it up and stitched it to a piece of thick black elastic. The sewing isn't even pretty.  No one can tell.  Except you.

There was so much fabric left I thought a shirt might be needed.  We also whipped up a ruffly hair clip (you can see it in the picture of the full outfit). 

Bee gets 10 points for patience.  I get 5 for a good bargain.

pants to skirts

I know I mentioned a few times what great hand-me-downs we get for the kiddos.  We have such sweet friends who supply us with clothes and we always love when it's our turn to hand down.  There is a family who we have befriended and they have both a girl and boy, so they make great playmates.  They are Pentecostal and the girls do not wear pants.  Bee mostly has worn dresses and skirts herself, on her own accord, so it hasn't been a big deal.   During our last clothes drop off/picnic, the mom told me how some of the moms will take a pair of pants and make it into a skirt.  I googled this and found several ways to do it.  I worked up a few pairs for her that will make perfect spring skirts.

The legs get opened by pulling out the stitches. I also pulled stitches up the front and back a bit to make them come together more easily.  There is the option of adding a panel in the newly formed triangle or bringing the to side in together in the front and again in the back. 

Bee will. not. wear. these camo shorts.  will. not.  She says they look like boy pants.  I thought I'd try this method on these guys too.  Maybe they won't look boyish in skirt form. 

I tried both ways on the first two skirts.  I used the left over material from the length of these pants to make a ruffle.   I used every scrap of fabric to get it together.   Bee insisted it would fit again and it almost did. 

These two were easier and faster and just got a panel sewn in.

For Bee's, I just brought the leg openings together and ironed and sewed in place.  It's cute.  If I had one, I'd wear it.  She won't wear it.

I'm pretty excited to send these along to my friend now.  It's opened up a whole new world of re-purposing clothes.  I'm planning a set for myself next. 

Here are two of the blogs I had seen on pinterest that I had looked at for ideas.  Here's the ruffly skirt at The Frugal Girl.  Here's the panel skirt at Katie Blog.