Fabric Scrap Tutu

Last night I wanted to do a little less "intense projects in the dining room" and a little more "sitting on the couch on my behind". So, I compromised. This fabric scrap tutu was cut and created from my couch while I watched Cartoon Network.

It was a glorious evening, if you were wondering... no shame here.

I started with the white/silver/gold fabric that began as a swim coverup, and had actually, foolishly thought those strips would be enough. I added the rest of the skirt from this (failed) lampshade redo, remaining pink floral from the jeans to jumper upcycle, and a few other scrap fabric pieces. I used what lengths I had (from 30" to 8") and varied the width from 1"-2". Once I had everything tied on, I trimmed it all until I got the length and look I wanted.

Hey, Elana, she likes it! Woot! I'm off to my couch to watch some more cartoons. (At least I'm honest).

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Circle Skirt

This morning while Elana played I made a list of all the projects - sewing to home improvement - I have materials for and really want to try. At naptime, I picked one to tackle: a circle skirt, following the tutorial by Dana at MADE.

Remember that I mentioned some "deep closet finds" that I could use for repurposing? Since I'm all about using materials that I already have rather than expand my supply collection, I chose to repurpose a dress I already had in my closet.

I bought this dress at Target on super-clearance last year. Even though it's too big on top for me, I thought it'd be easy to take in.

Turns out, it was even easier to shove it in my closet and forget about it .... woops.

Dana recommended using a yard of fabric, and she shows you how to fold it so that you cut the fabric from a pattern of 1/4 of the skirt.... and it makes more sense when she writes it, too! I used the bottom half of my dress, which wasnt quite a yard... maybe more like 2/3 of a yard.

To get the pattern to lay right, I actually had to sew the bottom of the skirt together before folding it. Then it was just like having two 1/2 yard pieces sewn together. This left two seams in my finished skirt, but with the way it is draped when worn, it doesn't really matter.

I'll let you visit MADE for instructions on how to make your pattern. Here's mine laid out and ready to cut on top of what is also my sketch pad/pattern paper/ironing board. Ha! Oh man, what I wouldn't give for a craft room - seriously.

After cutting out my skirt, I finished the waist. Here again you can see the seam from sewing the bottom of the dress piect together.... in case that helps you understand what in the world I was talking about up there...

It was about this time in the process when I realized something important.... Elastic has it out for me. Seriously. Pinning the elastic to the waistband and stretching it while sewing was really time consuming for me.

The first time around, I used gray thread... on white elastic.... which was dumb. The hiccoughs that happened while I stretched the elastic to match the length of the skirt fabric were WAY noticeable. I went around a second time with white thread.

See the difference? No, you probably don't, because the white thread DISAPPEARS on the white elastic. Just call me Einstein.

Here it is, all finished, gray thread picked out, and bottom hem finished.

I tried it on Elana girl, and I think she needs a little less length. When I hem it up for her tonight I think I'll use black thread. To preserve our reputations, let me say that she just woke up from nap at this point, and that totally explains the bedhead! She's cute all the same!

Perfect for spinning (close to corners and walls).

I'm going to hem this up tonight and make another with a (SUPER CHEAP - $1.76) heart fabric remnant I picked up the other day. I'll edit the post with more photos then!

**EDIT**

I had a little fun with Elana this morning putting on skirts and twirling - here's a look at the second skirt I made. Since there's so many pink colors in the skirt, she'll be able to wear it with tons of tops we already have. Bonus. I had a thumbprint on my lens today... sorry.

Dizzy!

Not only did I make another skirt for Tootie with the heart fabric, but I broke out a double needle for the hem. It looks way more professional and polished than just one line of stitching. Amazing. I re-did the blue skirt with the double needle, too.

Happy Upcycling,
Sarah

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Repurposed Photo Frame

I have that wonderful curse of the bargain shopper - if something is a good value for the money, I have to buy it. So was the case with this adorable photo frame that I found at Salvation Army for $.49.

It has been sitting empty on the shelf for a while. Every time I see it, I remind myself to find a small picture to go in it.... but of course I never got that done! Instead, I decided to lay it down and use it as a candle holder. The 3" candle was just a touch too big, so I'm using a votive instead.

Easiest repurpose of my life.

Taking pictures of things on that shelf makes me remember that I wanted to paint it... one thing at a time!!

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Toddler Romper - Jeans Upcycle

A friend gave me some old, torn jeans to use for sewing projects. I used one pair and some cotton print I had on hand to make a jumper for Elana.

I started with a pattern that I found at Salvation Army ($.49) for a romper that had cinch ties around the thighs, and sort of altered the pattern to suit my needs. That is... I cut off the legs and extended the bottom of the pattern in an A-line for a skirt. It was NOT a scientific or exact process in any way!

I found I really enjoyed making this... I used facings and ironed my seams and all the good stuff that I'm usually too lazy to do. It's definitely not perfect though! The hearts that wrap around the side of the dress are hiding holes from the knees of the jeans.

 I also broke out the manual for my machine to re-learn how to use the button hole settings. The buttons were actually purchased for a class assignment this summer - a camp shirt. Yeah.... that got seam-ripped to shreds when the semester was over!! The pocket balances those details. I added the heart on the chest as an afterthought after trying it on Elana to size the straps.

I love the way the facings peek out when Elana is wearing it - she rocked it to daycare today, and let me take some pictures. She was concerned that there was only one pocket! Duly noted, darling.

This afternoon, I set aside some deep-closet finds for more upcycling. I'm excited to use them up!

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Hanging Laundry Bag

At our house, we go through a ton of washcloths and bibs. That all comes with the two-year-old and infant, right? We have always thrown this type of laundry into a bucket at the top of the stairs to the basement (where our washer and dryer are).

My dad HATES this bucket. The rags, etc sorta just get thrown in the general direction of the bucket, and even if they do make it into the bucket, it bothered my dad to be able to see dirty laundry. He asked me to make something that would hide the mess. I used a tutorial for a crib toy bag, here at Create Studio, to create a bag that hangs at the top of our stairs.

I like the way the bag turned out, and the fact that it's washable, but I'm not sure I'm totally sold on using it for laundry. You'll be the first to know if I find something different!

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Makeup Organizer

I grew a little brush-and-eyeliner garden today. Total green thumb here.

A few vase fillers and an old gift basket, presto changeo, new, accesible storage for beauty products.

Repurpose - Glass bottle soap pump

I bought Perrier lime seltzer for the sole purpose of using the cute little bottles...

And as long as we're being honest, I'm not crazy about the pink pump, but I used what I had. I'm hoping to swap that out in the near future for something more nuetral.

You know, to match the puke yellow countertop.

Snowballs - the Cookie Dough Cookie

I wanted to give treat boxes to friends and family for Christmas, and so I was flipping through my mom's "build-your own" recipe binder to find some ideas. I stumbled upon this old recipe from my high school cafeteria for Snowballs, published in the local paper about ten years ago. They taste like a ball of cookie dough, they sold them 2 for $.75 in the cafeteria, and I went nuts over them. Oh, look at them. Delicious.

It's an easy recipe. You mix all the stuff together, form balls, sprinkle with sugar, and try not to eat all of them in one sitting. Sidenote/tip, I don't have a sifter, so to sprinkle the sugar onto the snowballs, I filled an empty spice container with powdered sugar for easier application. I know, I'm basically a genius.

Here is the recipe. It's a lot of butter and sugar, but so are most other cookies. Besides... these are life-changing. Make them. Love them.

You're welcome.

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Felt Doll Diapers

I'd like to think that Elana's favorite gift this year was from me, and that made it my favorite one to give. I made felt doll diapers a couple days before Christmas because I felt like she didn't have enough from me under the tree.

(Turns out, grandpa had it covered!)

I found this felt diaper tutorial on - surprise, surprise - pinterest. It's from Happy Together, which, as it turns out, is a fantastic blog with tons of terrific tutorials. That's really half of what's so great about pinterest; discovering the blogs behind the pins.

I printed out the template from Happy Together, and the rest is hot glue gun history!

cut out

For this particular diaper, I used felt scraps from Elana's Halloween costume. Even though the template didn't fit perfectly it was easy to make it work.

Unfolded, looking at the 'inside' of the diaper.

Turn up the front of the diaper to attach the long strip of soft velcro. the tutorial uses nicer felt with a right/wrong side, mine was the cheap stuff so it was harder to tell the front from the back.

My velcro was iron-on, but with only a couple days until Christmas, I was all about speed, and used hot glue instead.

To make it easy for Elana to distinguish front from back, I added something to the front of each diaper. This butterfly was supposed to be a flower, ha.

Each diaper takes five minutes to make, which is good for me since Elana is such a mommy. You just can't beat a homemade gift that you can make with on-hand materials. I'm so glad I found the tutorial!!