It's Feature Friday! Refashion co-op

Yep, more knee patches! This is the first pair of jeans, that I bought new, that my son has put knee holes in. All the previous holey knees were from thrifted jeans, whose knees were already faded and on borrowed time. Hopefully this is not an indication of how things are going to be from now on... I can only patch them so fast ;) ! I asked my son what he wanted for this pair, and he said "stars... like on GI Joe stuff". Army green stars it is!

Here's the jeans, before and after....


and a close up of one of the knees, before and after...


It'll look cooler after they get washed a couple more times, and the stars get fringier.

What does this have to do with Feature Friday? Well, I occasionally blog for a coop blog, Refashion Co-op, and I blogged about this pair of jeans there. It is a great blog, devoted to upcycling clothes, with many different contributors. There are so many great ideas on there, and I highly recommend checking it out!

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

I patched another hole in jeans, but this time it was mine! Almost 40 year old women should not play tag on roller skates without all the proper padding on. I may, or may not, know this from experience ;).

Since these were my jeans, I wanted to go for feminine, and since Valentine's Day is approaching, a heart seemed the most logical. I just cut the hole to a heart shape, and sewed a scrap of felted wool behind it, leaving about a 1/2" of denim, so it can fray a little. I stitched it on with a neutral thread first, to make sure it wasn't a wonky heart, then went over it in a contrasting thread. This would be a really cute way to patch a little girl's holey knee for Valentine's Day! I think this will look even better after it's washed a couple times, so the edges fray more, but i'm happy with how it looks.



How's that braided "basket" (I think basket with remain in quotes, until it starts resembling a basket) coming along? Slower than I thought, and a little wonky, but this is a learning experience for me, and I am pleased at my attempt so far.



What have you been working on?

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

My husband got me [us] a GPS for Christmas, so I made a little pouch for it, so it won't get scratched when I throw it in my purse. I just used a couple of scraps I had on hand, and it took me under 5 minutes to make! Front & back:



Two more pairs of Jack's jeans ended up with holes in the knees, so more patching had to me done! Jack asked for an owl on one pair & let me have creative rights to the second. I wish I would have made the owl & the background colors contrast more, but oh well!


I think this one's going to look better as the edges fray more.


I made my son's Lego table this week too.



I think it turned out great! I wish I had taken a "before" shot of the coffee table. It had crackled gold colored leather on the top, and this looks so much better! I love the style of the table, and it was the perfect size for my son's room. I had so many great suggestions for glues, but once I got to the hardware store & started reading all the labels, I kind of went pale. Everything was toxic, and the bottle that the clerk was urging me to buy said "WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm". When I read it out loud, he said "those hippies in California worry about everything". I laughed, and said "and rightly so! I'm not putting this crap in my son's room!". I ended up reading all the labels, and found one with no warnings that said "non toxic", and that is what I used... Gorilla Wood Glue. It seems to be holding up with no problems, and I am more than willing to reglue, should a piece pop up in the future. It is worth the piece of mind.

May the force be with you! ;)


So, what have you been working on?

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

After making stockings for my son, my husband, and I, I realized someone was missing.... our dog Spots! I made her a stocking too. When I showed it to her, she instantly got the zoomies (if you have ever had a dog or cat, you have probably witnessed the zoomies at one time or another). It almost seemed like she was excited about the stocking, and we laughed so hard :). No point to this story... it was just funny.


Monster knee patch? Pure genius. Not my idea, but I love it! I found it on Pinterest. Have you been on Pinerest?! It is addictive! It is a virtual bulletin board, to "pin" all those fun ideas you run across online. Anyhow, I found this idea here, and just happened to find a pair of my son's jeans with a hole in the knee, so there you go. The thing I did differently than the original tutorial, is that I seam ripped the side of the leg, so I could do the sewing with my machine. I figure the patch will survive more washings this way, and it only takes a few seconds with the seam ripper... much faster than hand sewing.

before & after:



If you have an older child, and this is too cute for them I posted a tutorial a while back on how to repair a hole with the "destroyed" look, here.


What have you been working on?