Making Everything Myself

Sunday, February 23, 2014

No-Sew Jeans Mending

Everyone has the IT pair of jeans that ALWAYS looks good, no matter what. Imagine the sorrow when these irreplaceable jeans start to unravel. So, a quick mending always puts our mind to rest, at least for a while.

I used the Heat'n Bond Ultrahold. It's washable, it holds very well (especially for clothes that are spared the dryer) and it's very inexpensive ($3 for a square yard).

I cut a piece of fabric for from a defunct pair of jeans. I matched it with another piece of adhesive tape. In the center of the adhesive I cut a circle the size of the hole I was about to conceal. The adhesive goes on the right side of the patching fabric. I ironed the patch of fabric onto the jeans.

Friday, February 21, 2014

How to Repurpose Crib Bedding

Crib Nursery Bedding Sets - we all have them, none of us have really used them. They are cute, they enhance the look of the nursery but they are not deemed safe so they are mostly part of the decor.

I wanted to brake the vicious cycle of unused baby items and, instead of passing down my daughter's princess crib bedding set, I decided to repurpose it into a pillow sham for her new toddler bed.

My daughter LOVES pillows! So I was really happy when I realized that the baby comforter was the size of a queen size pillow when folded lengthwise.

That's exactly what I did: I folded the comforter lengthwise and I stitched around.

Refashion a Baby Dress into a Toddler Skirt (II)

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Refashion a Baby Dress into a Toddler Skirt

I have quite a few cute baby girl dresses that were probably worn only once or twice. I thought of turning some of them into skirts so my little rambunctious toddler could still wear.

I cut off the skirt part of the dress and I sewed it onto a pair of leggings. That's it! Cute and super duper comfy!

Monday, February 10, 2014

Unique Basket Made with Old Jeans

So many pairs of jeans laying around. They are either not fashionable anymore or they are too small!

I really wanted to try to reused them in some useful way. So I made a really unique basket.

I cut one pair of jeans into 4 inches wide strips.

I rolled the strips and I sewed them around. When I finished one strip, I started another one. I did not sew the strips together because I wanted a more ragged look for my basket.

I continued to sew round and round, this type of wrapping naturally curves the fabric into a bowl.

I made two baskets, one a little smaller to fit into the bigger one.

I wanted a very sturdy basket so this was a great solution. It also conveniently hid all the stitching.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Valentine's Day T-shirt

This recycling project was very dear to me as I repurposed the outfit my daughter wore for Valentine's Day last year into another one she will be wearing this year.

1. I got a very inexpensive white t-shirt and some permanent fusible web.

2. I ironed the fusible web onto the back of the old onesie I used for the applique.

3. I freehand drew a heart shape on the back of the stabilizer

3. I cut out the heart applique with very sharp scissors

4. I bonded the applique to the shirt

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

10 Minute Ballerina Tutu

My daughter loves everything blue and ballerinas. I wanted to combine the two of them and it had to be something that did not take a long time to make. I made a very cute blue ballerina tutu in just 10 minutes!

I got two yards of blue tulle that I cut into 4-5 inches wide strips.

I took a pink headband elastic I had leftover from another project and I measured it to fit my daughter. I folded each strip of fabric in two (lengthwise).

I slipped each folded strip through every whole in the elastic band

and I made a tie knot

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Make a Hopscotch Inside

On a long winter day it gets a little boring to stay inside.
With some utility tape and some sticky foam sheets I made a hopscotch for my toddler.

She was very enthusiastic to help me cut out the numbers and stick them on the carpet.

She played for an hour! Counting and jumping, jumping and counting.
Besides giving us something to do, the hopscotch also became an education tool for learning the numbers.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Recycled T-shirt Rug

I am in the process of making a baby memory quilt for my daughter using her cute baby clothes. I mostly use the front of the shirts with the fun little appliques. I did not want to waste the rest of the clothes since they mean so much to us and we also like to recycle and repurpose as much as we can.

So, I went to work and I created a colorful rug for my daughter's room.
Besides being so pretty it is also meaningful because it is made with fabric strips from her baby clothes.

It's quite a simple DIY, albeit a little time consuming (it took over two days to finish) but it is worth the time and effort. This is a cute little wall art that we will be treasuring forever.

I started by cutting strips of fabric from my daughter's baby clothes. I did not feel too bad using her old clothes since they were quite worn out. I donated the ones that were still in good condition and I kept the ones that were stained and worn out. Those were the most loved and they were worn out by my daughter using them.

The strips were about 1 1/2 inches in width maybe 8-9 inches long. They were not perfectly equal because I wanted the spirals to be different size anyway.

The process of making the spirals is quite simple. Twist and sew. I used the same technique when I made my other recycled t-shit rug.

After the flowers were all done (I made around 50 of them), I set out to bind them together. I just sew them in a continuous circle, overlapping some of the flowers to cover all the gaps and to give a little more texture to the rug.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Repurpose a Sleep Sack into a Cute Pillow

The cute baby sleep sack is no longer used my now rambunctious toddler. Still a favorite, I could not just get rid of it so I repurposed it into a fuzzy pillow.