Showing posts with label repurposed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label repurposed. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

What should I do with these tea towels?





While garage saling this weekend, I found these fabulous vintage calendar tea towels, 1965, 1966, 1967, and 1968. Aren't they fabulous? Now, what do I do with them? I have the book Craft Challenge: Dozens of Ways to Repurpose a Tea Towel on hold at the library (surprised they even had it!), but it hasn't come in yet, so I need ideas. I'd like to use the whole towels, if possible. What did people use tea towels for anyway? They don't seem absorbent or practical for anything, but I am sure they served a purpose.

I saw these ideas on Pinterest:


Super cute, but I have no stools to recover.

So cool, but I have no upholstery skills or patience to learn.

These little dresses are adorable, but I have no girls...

What would you make out of them?

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

It's What I've Been Working on Wednesday

That quilt I blogged about yesterday took up most of my week's sewing time, but I managed to get sidetracked and make a couple of other things. I hate most store bought dog beds. They fall apart if you look at them cross eyed, and they always seem to be made from something synthetic & uncomfortable looking. When I found a crib bumper at the thrift store for around 50 cents, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.



Spots loves a good "nest" (she'll paw at a blanket to create a nest, unless she has a dog bed with sides). She was very happy with her new nest!

It took me less than 5 minutes to sew the bumper to the pillow, the whole thing cost under $1 in materials, and is sturdier than any dog bed that I have bought. The colors were just what I had on hand, but doesn't it look like a big egg?

I made a couple of fitted tablecloths too. My son wanted me to make a tablecloth for his table, so I made matching ones for both tables. I bought this fabric (a big rectangular tablecloth) a couple of weeks ago at an indoor garage sale for $2. The elastic I used came from a gallon sized ziplock bag packed with notions that I bought at a sale last year for $1. Not only was there enough material to make both tablecloths, but there's more left over, so each fitted tablecloth cost me less than $1 in materials. I made both tablecloths in about 20 minutes, so they didn't "cost" me much in time either. I love repurposing! I LOVE this fabric too... the pretty cheerful colors... the kitchy roosters. It's just me :). I don't know why my camera wasn't able to pick up the colors of this fabric, but it is so much more vibrant in person, and not washed out at all!



Just so this post contains something made from recycled wool, and so you don't think I abandoned the braided basket, here it is... still in progress.

I will eventually finish it.

So, what have you been working on?