Does anyone have this sewing machine?

Does anyone have this sewing machine (Singer 5805c)? My mom bought this for me at a garage sale for $2! It is supposed to be working, and has all it's accessories, but I don't know if it's worth my time/money to get it working (figuring out how to thread it correctly, buy a manual, etc.), since I already have multiple machines. I don't have the manual, and the cheapest I can find is $15 online. I'd love to hear feedback on this machine if anyone has the same one!

It's Feature Friday - A blog you will love... The Sweater Project

If you like my blog, then you will love Janda's blog, The Sweater Project! What is her blog about?

"My goal is to create a project every day for 365 days, the inspiration being from Noah Scalin who wrote the book, 365:Make Something Every Day and Change Your Life. My downfall has been to think/overthink the projects I want to make, but never getting to them because of my perfectionistic tendencies. I am now past the 50-Day mark, and this has brought a new vigor to me in many ways. Now I am hooked on the process and look forward to each day to create something fresh and new. Happiness abounds!" -from The Sweater Project

I've been happily following her blog, and don't know why it hasn't occurred to me to post this sooner! What kind of projects will you find on her blog? A little bit of this...





a little bit of that...





but all of it is woolly fun!

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

I should call today What Haven't I Been Working on Wednesday! Since I cleaned up my sewing area, I am forcing myself to use up scraps, and finish unfinished projects, until the pile is gone. I put a good dent in this week!
First I made some draft blockers, you know, you put them at the bottom of doors to prevent drafts. We definitely need some in this old house, and they make great practical gifts. The best part is that they used up a ton of scraps! They are stuffed with scraps. Since wool is insulated, it makes the perfect filler for these. This first one I tries to make triangular, but that was too much work.


I think the round ones look better.


I made one with a bug face (i'll probably make more of these)...


and this one is supposed to look like a log (please tell me it does!).


I made a couple more wool eggs before Easter too.


I found one lone salt shaker at the thrift store and you know what I do to shakers!


Next I hit the unfinished projects that were cut out and waiting to be sewn. These diaper covers were in pieces, so I made appliques & sewed them up.


The pieces for this pillow were cut, but I had no plans for a design, so there it sat. I saw this scrap with a pocket sitting there, shrugged, and sewed it on. A bit odd, but I like it. Turn it one way, and you can use the little pocket. Turn it the other way, and the whole piece is a bigger pocket. What do you think? You can be honest... I can take it ;)


I found a couple of tissue holders that were cut out, but never sewn, so I finished those up.


Lastly, I had a dog food bags (clean) sitting there for the longest time ready to become tote bags. I made this one to get it out of my system, but I have lots of tote bags, and this was a lot of work, so I decided to just use the rest for garbage bags.



There you have it! A super productive week! Hopefully I will have more weeks like this, until my stash becomes manageable. What have you been working on? As always, feel free to show off your finished recycled wool projects on my Facebook page!

It's Tutorial Tuesday! Make a felted crown!

Today's tutorial comes from Ginny of the Small Things blog. I would have made one of these fabulous crowns, but my son said he didn't want one :(. You guys will have to show me yours! Though she made hers from new felt, this will work just as well with recycled wool (aka felted sweaters). If you are ready to make one, just click here to be transported to the tutorial!

Confession time... my sewing area was a MESS!

I cannot believe I am about to show you how bad I let my sewing area get. I'm super embarrassed, but it is what it is. I was supposed to have a studio addition built on my small house this spring, to accommodate all things Resweater, but those plans are put on hold. In this economy, I feel like I should hold off for now, in case we need to live off that money. My husband has been laid off once before, so we'd like to err on the side of caution. I will make do with what I have, and I am grateful for what I already have.

I do well with putting things in their place, but when things don't have a place (like my "temporary" sewing setup), chaos ensues. This was our dinner table, and became my "temporary" sewing area. Note the project bags stacked on the chairs... sigh. So embarrassed, but here it is...



That table (it was somebody else's "craft table" that they were throwing out 10 years ago) was a bit large for the area anyway, and I always wanted a nice little round table to eat at for this space, so I bought this set (table & 2 chairs... the other 2 chairs were ours) off of Craigslist today. Much better, eh? ;)



This embarrassing mess #2 was my "temporary" (notice how that word keeps ending up in quotes ;) ) overflow area... 2 card tables, and a bunch of small bins. That got insanely out of hand.



The formerly "temporary" sewing table, formerly dinner table, is now my sewing table. It is not temporary, so this is how it will stay. Ahhhh... much better working conditions!



I will not be creating any tutorials of my own (don't worry... I will still be having Tutorial Tuesdays, but just with other people's tutorials) for a while. I will getting through all the projects & materials I have already started, and complete them all. This should make for some good 'What I've Been Working on Wednesday' posts!

Happy Earth Day! How about a sale?

Happy Earth Day! I don't want to bore you with a list of cliche things you can do to be green (you guys are already a good green bunch!), so how about a...

For 2 days only, today & tomorrow (April 23, 2011, ending at midnight cst), take $1 off of any 2 individually listed sweaters, $2 off of 3 individually listed sweaters, or take $1 off of each individually listed sweater if you buy 4 or more. Take $5 off of any mystery lot listed in my shop. These prices will not be reflected in my shop, so please check out through Artfire, message me with your email address, and I will send you a revised invoice that will reflect the sale prices. Click here to be magically transported to my shop!

It's What I've Been Working on Wednesday! Easter eggs & shaker pincushions

This week I made Easter Eggs. I plan to make more, but I just made these 2 the other day. I made them with an envelope style closure on the back, so I can slip treats in. Here they are (below) without treats in them. The one above has a treat in it. I'm slowly replacing the plastic!



They are a little wonky, because I was trying out a new (to me) sewing machine I bought at a garage sale this past weekend, a Brother VX1100.



I like the machine... super easy to use, and it doesn't eat my projects for no reason, like my testy Baby Lock does. My only complaint is that it doesn't handle as much wool thickness as the Baby Lock can.


I also hit the mend pile, and finally sewed up the holes on one of Spot's beds. She was so excited to see it that I felt guilty not getting to it earlier!



I found a nice assortment of shakers at all the garage sales I went to, so I made some more pincushions out of them.



So, what have you been working on? As always, feel free to post any of your finished recycled wool projects on my Facebook page!

It's Tutorial Tuesday! Make an earthy owl!

Marcie of Mossy, emailed me with yet another great tutorial to share with you all... an earthy owl! Just click on the chalkboard to be transported to her full tutorial! Thanks, Marcie!

Spice rack or sewing notion organizer?

One of my better finds this weekend at the garage sales, was a spice rack with glass jars that has a revolving base. I have been looking for one for a while to organize my sewing notions & misc. craft supplies... you know... beads, buttons, snaps, elastic, safety pins, needles, pins. Now, instead of in a variety of containers all over my sewing area, they are neatly organized on my sewing table. Love it! If/when I ever get my sewing room/office, I will look for a wall mounted spice rack too.

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

I apologize that there wasn't a tutorial yesterday, and that things will be slowing down a bit on my blog, while my life starts to speed up for the season. What have I been working on this week? Spring cleaning, decluttering, readying for a garage sale, switching clothes seasons over in our closets, my garden, running more to prepare for spring races, mending stuff, bike rides, cooking in large batches, and all the regular day to day. Whew! What haven't I been working on? Since i'll be running more, I made myself a pair of running shorts. They look great on!


Since I only used the body of the sweater to make them, I made my son a pair from the sleeves, and used the collar of the sweater as the waist band. He needed some since he's been jogging with me now!


I hit my repair pile and patched a hole in one of my son's jeans, and turned it into the "destroyed" look that is popular. I blogged a tutorial on that a while back.


In that same repair pile was the cashmere cardigan that I altered and blogged about here. It had a hole by one armpit that I never got around too. Since I only wear the sweater for stuff like running errands, I didn't need to get fancy with the repair, so I just quickly hand sewed it up. It looks good, unless you look really close, so if you run into me at the grocery store wearing this sweater, please don't stare at my armpit. :)


Since my son went through a recent growth spurt, we hit the thrift store this week, and while I was there I found this treasure... a handmade knit & felted bag!

Don't worry, original knitter of this bag, it is in the right hands now, being fully appreciated! ;)


What have you been working on? As always, feel free to post your recycled wool finished projects to my Facebook page.

Football sweater mini update

Since I promised to keep everyone updated on the football sweater, I felt I should share the email I received from the alumni office. I have changed the names, for everyone's privacy:

Dear Mrs. Resweater,

As an update to your phone call on April 6, we have emailed Mr. Sweater with the story of his football sweater and your kind offering to return it to him. I have not received a reply as of yet. If I do not hear back from him this week I will make an attempt to reach him by phone and I will keep you updated. Just wanted to let you know that I have not forgotten about it.

Best regards,
Nice Alumni Office Lady

It's What I've Been Working on Wednesday & a sweater story

I have been cleaning & organizing this week, so sewing has been on the back burner, but I did manage to squeeze in a quick pair of longies for my son. Half of his "woolly pants" are getting too small, and won't fit him next year, so I made another pair. These have rolled cuffs, and a fold over rise, so they should fit him for at least another year or 2. Can you tell we love stripes around here? :)


Another thing I have been working on is finding the original owner of this sweater!



This is a wool sweater that was typically worn by high school football players in the 1960's. I purchased it at a garage sale last summer, and couldn't bring myself to list it in my shop. I ran across it the other day & looked it over. There was a name tag sewn above the maker's tag, and the maker's tag had a city & state on it. Out of curiosity, I Googled the man's name, and the city/state. This man's name popped up in a 1961 alumni list! I then Googled only his name to see how common it was, to see if it was a coincidence, and there only seems to be 2 people in the U.S. by that name (or at least that are Google-able). If it belonged to the man on the alumni list, his class will be having their 50th reunion in May! I thought it would be so cool to reunite this man with his sweater, if he wants it, so I contacted the alumni office, and they are trying to contact him. Wouldn't it be so fun if he wanted it? Maybe he could wear it to his reunion! I'll keep you posted, if I hear back from them.