I collect old books. Not special, limited edition types, just old books with good pictures & sayings. I recently pulled out an old atlas that I found at a goodwill & sewed the pages into little bracelet bags. The colors of the old prints are fantastic & I like that each bag was a different country or state. These types of books just pile up at used book stores & really have no where to go but the recycle bin. I like that they can have one more life before they are discarded.
My younger son is spending this week at sewing camp. I’m hoping that he’ll take the initiative & start making his own projects after this. The first day he came home with this big canvas bunting. It was a perfect compliment for his already existing small felt bunting that hangs above his bed. I love the combination & I love that I have a son who is not afraid to go to sewing camp…. next camp is parkour….
After making lots of leather bracelets lately, I looked at my wrists & decided they needed a bit more color for my springtime mood. I went down to our local bead shop & bought some beads & waxed polyester cord & just started braiding. I made some for myself, I passed them out to friends & now I’m feeling like the beads & some colored thread make my hands look a whole lot happier!
I had the pleasure on Tuesday to spend the day teaching a class on repurposing old garments into tote bags. Six, very creative, wonderful ladies showed up & proceeded to first deconstruct their garments whether it was a pair of pants, a skirt or a jacket to see exactly what we were working with. Each person ended up creating a completely different bag with a different look & twist. We used strap cutters & rivets to transform old belts into sturdy, fashionable handles & one bag was hand painted with a beautiful triangle design on the front. Leather scraps were used as embellishments & contrast details.
I had so much fun & was so incredibly impressed by all the creative energy & capability in 1 room. Each bag was completely unique & fantastic! I’d teach this class again in a second! Thanks to Common Threads & Sarah for the opportunity!
xo
Last spring I blogged about a Sharpie bag project. Here is a simple tutorial to follow so you can make your own!
When I was down visiting family in Texas, my sister-in-law had these really fun wine charms that we would use in the evening. She mentioned that a friend made her own using small hoop earrings. Well, it got me thinking so when I returned home I went to the bead store where that sell such things but they had none left. Instead I just got a spool of silver wire & made my own. It was much more inexpensive & also super easy. For the “charms” I decided to make little flags out of leather scraps. I punched holes & hammered in some x-small rivets. This project was very quick & you could really use anything to mark the glasses. I think a hostess gift will be in order the next time we’re invited to a dinner. (Are any of my friends reading this? hint, hint….)
Check out the link in the side bar for a new class offered (March 13th at Common Threads). It will be all about recycling old garments into really cool bags. Can’t wait!
I posted this tutorial back in June & at that time I may have had my 5 closest friends & my mother following this post. Since then, the audience has grown slightly outside that circle so I decided when I’m in a pinch for time it would be fun to just repeat some of my favorite posts. Please forgive me if you happen to be one of those 5 people that saw the original tutorial the first time around.
Enjoy!
With an iron on applique you can make a really graphic image on a pillow very quickly. Personally, I like how it creates a very clean line that looks much neater than when I sew something on because I’m not such a great sewer & my stitch lines can go all over the place. This is a technique I can control better.
How to make a no-sew applique:
The pillows find a home
I found this beautiful (very large) cashmere sweater at a local thrift shop. It is a 2 ply cashmere from Sax Fifth Avenue so I knew it was quality goods. I bought it purely for the fabric & thought I may make something out of it someday. Earlier this week I took it out & decided that it just might be salvaged as a real sweater for myself. Out came the scissors & after a snip-snip here & another snip-snip there I turned it inside out, drew some chalk lines to reduce the size then sewed it along the lines. After cutting off the excess fabric & turning it right side out again I found myself with a more fitted & slightly slouchy (which I like) raw edge, cherry red, very wearable sweater. The whole thing took no more than 20 minutes. I thought this was an appropriate color for Valentines week. Are we tired of red yet? No way!
I spent most of Monday making these as Valentines gifts for my kids. I figured the chocolate part of Valentines Day would take care of itself once they went to school. Since Valentines day is smack in the middle of winter it was a good opportunity to make them something that would keep them & their bed warm during these colder months. I was going to make a straight up rectangular pillow then thought better of it as there is always room for improvement. The foxes are exactly the same except for the fact that I switched the order of the fabrics so they could tell them apart. This is a relatively easy gift to make & it can take any form. I tested it out in the microwave to heat it up & it worked like a charm.
Happy Valentines Day! Stay warm!
