Wednesday, December 29, 2010

It's What I've Been Working on Wednesday! Sweat pants, hats, & mittens


My son is skinny, so it is impossible to find sweat pants that don't fall off of him. Also, I get tired of the wide selection of colors boys sweats come in... navy or red. Luckily he dislikes sweats & wears jeans most of the time, but when he has a gymnastics class or an open gym, he needs to be able to move around comfortably. Today, I made him a pair of sweat pants out of a big, lightly felted, merino sweater. I used a pair of sweat pants that don't fit him as the pattern, tweaking it where it needed tweaking (less waist, more length!). I used the collar of the sweater, folded in half, as the waistband, and I made the bottom of the pants out of the waist of the sweater, so the ribbing is built in. Jack says "they are really comfortable!" & "Mama, why are you taking pictures of my tummy?", lol. I think they turned out pretty good! Please ignore the fact that I need to take a lint brush to them ;) I think i'll try a "karate" style leg on the next pair!

All Christmas, while I worked on Christmas presents, I kept eyeballing this soft, brown, felted sweater (cashmere I am sure, but there was no tag) that was in my stash. I have mentally been making hats out of it for 2 weeks now, and finally had time (made time) to make them. I made a me, Mommy, & dolly set out of them, and even a pair of mittens. I still have to put the button flowers on the girl & doll hats.



I had a couple of requests for neutral/plain hats at the last show, so I made a black one while I was in hat mode.

I even found time (stole time) to make myself a water bottle holder, with hand strap, for my new super cool glass water bottle (I love it!). I got this bottle free with Amazon gift cards that I got from Swagbucks.


It felt good to sew leisurely again, with no deadline. So... what have you been working on? Feel free to show off your finished projects on my Facebook page :)

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

It's Tutorial Tuesday! Make a felted wool sweater purse!



I am too worn out from the holidays to be creative this week, but luckily there's creative people out there like Jennifer Ofenstein! Ready to find out how to make these adorable purses? Head on over to her blog, Sewhooked!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas!


Click to play this Smilebox greeting
Create your own greeting - Powered by Smilebox
Customize your own free digital ecard

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Off topic Thursday - Jack's new cave


Yesterday we went to the thrift store, and I found some cool orange (Jack's favorite color) drapey fabric, and I knew right away that it was the perfect material for Jack's hidey hole under his bunk bed! A shower curtain rod, and 5 minutes on the sewing machine to make a rod pocket, and he was a happy camper.

Inside there are bins of toys, and shelves of books, so it's a cool little place to hang out. I even put a little lamp in there for him. That $2 piece of fabric was a bargain!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

It's What I've Been Working on Wednesday!


I finally finished my grandma's throw blanket, after much frustration. I probably shouldn't have tried something for the first time, while learning a new machine, but it's done, and on it's way to Grandma!


I also finished a cashmere girl/doll hat set for one of my nieces. The colors look so much better in real life... chocolate brown & baby blue. I made sure the doll one was stretchy, so whether she puts it on a baby doll...

or a girl doll...

it should fit!

So, what have you been working on this week? Feel free to show off your finished projects on my Facebook page!

ETA: I found a tiny hole in one of the blanket pieces, that I failed to notice before incorporating it in, so I made a monogram over it to repair/hide it.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

It's Tutorial Tuesday! Recycled wool doll & bottle scarves


Looking for easy & fast last minute stocking stuffers & hostess gifts? This is so easy, so fast, and a great use for your scraps! You can put them on your bottles & jars to dress up your hostess gifts, or stick them in the kids' stockings for their dolls & stuffed animals! Just take a scrap of felted wool, and cut it into a long skinny strip. The one shown below is 1" x 13" (the one on the doll is 22" x 1 1/2"), but these can be any length/thickness you want.


Now just cut fringes on the ends, and you are done!



Wasn't that easy?

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Recycled wool mini trampoline guard

My son has some sensory issues, as well as normal 5 year old boy energy, so I bought him a mini trampoline about a year ago. He loves to jump while he watches tv, and it gets his energy out when we can't be outside. Even the dog likes to lay on it when she's chewing on a bone. Lately, the plastic guard has been cracking from age & use, and the other day it sprouted a hole:


Those little nasty looking metal things look so dangerous! I decided to put all my Christmas sewing on hold & remedy the situation, since winter break is not a good time for a boy's trampoline to be out of order! ;)

It took me all morning, but here it is!


I was able to reuse the elastic on the top, but the rest of the cover was unusable. This project really shows my dedication to recycling! I see these little trampolines at garage sales & thrifts stores all the time for $5 & under, and could have easily thrown this one out & bought a new one, but I wanted to save the frame from the landfill.

Just one thing left... to test it out...

Yep, it works! :)

ETA: I wasn't 100% happy with the thickness of the wool I chose for the top, so I added a circle of wool underneath the rim. Now I am happy! It has stayed in place, so I didn't have to sew it to the cover.