cloth towel "wet bin"

Hubby & I have been using cloth "paper towels" lately and cloth napkins.  To avoid having to run to the laundry bin after each meal, we now have a wet bin under our kitchen sink.  I empty this out whenever I do laundry, or if it gets full.

 

I used a plastic coffee container, and Mod Podge to add a strip of fabric for a little more decorative look, and also to easily identify the bin.

Old towel = New heating pad

I got some cute scrub tops on sale this weekend, but have yet to sew the tops that I bought fabric for.  Today I cut a pattern (based on a top that fits me well) and fabric for one top.  Here's hoping it goes together nicely :)

 

The weekend went quick, but I did fit a little sewing in... making a rice heating pad for my Mom.  My Grandma has hers right now, and I just thought it'd be crazy to run to the store to buy another one... when they're really easy to make (and MUCH cheaper to DIY).

 

I folded an old hand towel in half lengthwise and stitched it into a tube.  I then added handles on each side, leaving a small opening on one end to add rice into the newly formed pouch.

 

 

 

After the rice was added, I stitched up the hole.  That was that!  I think it turned out kind of cute, especially for recycling old household items :)

 

Started another knitting project since I bought MORE yarn this weekend, lol.

 

Refashioned t-shirt (worn out shirt with hole)

**Don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY to have a chance to win some printable postcards!! (enter by Sept 9, 2011 at 11:59PM central time)**


I found this old black shirt Hubby gave me to refashion and made it into a quick v-necked tank.

But, I noticed there was a hole in the front of the shirt... I'm not sure that I like the way I covered it up (a more subtle color or different shape maybe nicer?) but here's how it went:


1) As with all shirts I get from Hubby to refashion... there was a big old logo on the front of this shirt. So, I flipped it inside out to have a nice solid shirt to work with.




2) Trace a shirt that fits well and add a seam allowance before cutting the fabric. (remember to take into account how stretchy the fabric from the shirt that fits is compared to the shirt you're cutting... you may want to leave a little extra room)
3) Sew the sides of the shirt back together so that the logo is now on the inside of the shirt
4) Cut the neckline into a v-neck (make sure to remove the tag from the shirt too)



5) If the shirt is worn out like this one... locate all of the holes and determine how to fix them
(I chose to sew a brightly colored ribbon in a random pattern over the hole. A large bow or textured patch of fabric may also be options. Or, you could simply sew the hole shut, depending on the size and such)

I kept the neckline edges raw, but they could easily be turned under and sewn.


Here's a close up of the ribbon sewn on to cover the hole in the shirt:

Refashioned t-shirt (pintuck sunburst)

I'm not sure how I feel about this shirt yet... but here it goes:

Before:

1) Flip the shirt inside out to get rid of the huge logo.

2) Find a tank top or shirt that fits well and use it as a guide to make the shirt the correct size (be sure to add a seam allowance!)


3) Cut the sleeves smaller (if desired)

4) Sew the sides of the shirt so the inside of the shirt now has the logo on it.

5) Sew the sleeves back on the shirt.

6) Pleat the sleeves as shown below (this is a top view of the sleeve).

7) Sew the pleat in place.

8) Turn the sleeve edge under and sew in place.

9) Sew pintucks on the right sides of the fabric (I chose to make a sunburst type of pattern, but anything works)

10) Cut the collar off of the shirt (make sure to cut the tag off too)

Recovering lawn chairs (part 3) complete!

I've been working on recovering a couple of patio chairs, here are links to the earlier stages:

Before the chairs were recovered
Making the pattern and assembling the chairs

Now, here's a look at how the chairs were completed!

My last post about recovering the lawn chairs ended with the fabric sleeve (new seat cover) being slightly too large. So, I sewed it smaller (about 1/2") and then reassembled the chair.

Since I was now satisfied with the fit of the cover it was time to sew the fabric at the bottom of the chair together.

To do this I folded the raw edges to the inside of the chair and used clips to keep it in place. Then, with an upholstery needle and sturdy thread, I hand stitched the fabric together.




Pretty simple. Here's how it turned out:




I have an extra yard or so of fabric, so I'm thinking about making little removable pillows to tie on to the back of the chair. We'll see!

Recovering lawn chairs (Part 2)

You may recall Part 1 of my attempt to recover lawn chairs. (or skip ahead to see the completed chair)

Here's where that project went since that post:

1) I cut fabric (with seam allowances) based on the paper pattern I made for the chair.

2) I sewed right sides together leaving the bottom edge open (I will hand stitch this together on the chair when it is complete)

3) I reassembled the chair (having to make holes in the fabric for some screws in the frame to fit through)

** for fabric reinforcement where the screws were to pass through it, I had a strip of two additional pieces of fabric that followed the frame, made button holes and used fray check around the screws location**

I made putting this chair back together more annoying than it had to be :)



4) Inspect the new fabric cover for the chair (before sewing the bottom shut)

In my case, the fabric cover was too large. (hmm I guess it would have been a good idea to actually make measurements hahaha)


More to come on this project, right now I need to take the chair back apart and sew the fabric case 1/2" smaller.

Refashioned t-shirt (green tank with elastic)

Hubby sorted through his t-shirt collection and rounded up a nice stash he doesn't wear anymore. Then, he gave them to me so I could do some more refashioned t-shirts!

The first shirt I took scissors to was a green shirt (with some lighter more faded areas) with a rather large logo across the chest.

Since I didn't want the logo on the refashioned shirt, I simply turned the shirt inside out. Goodbye logo and hello nice solid green shirt.


The photo above shows the first cuts I made to the shirt. The sides are a little uneven in the picture, but were trimmed more evenly before sewing.

With the NEW right sides together (logo on the outside) I sewed along the two sides of the shirt with a zig zag stitch.

I then cut off the collar of the shirt (and removed the tag)



Now, to finish off the shirt, I simply sewed elastic on the inside of the neck and armholes. I left those edges all raw. Since the edges kind of roll and ruffle a bit, you can see the lighter shades of green on the neck and armholes.

Recovering lawn chairs (Part 1)

A year or two ago, Hubby's parents gave him two lawn chairs they didn't want anymore...

We recently purchased a new patio set (table and chairs) so I was hoping all of our old lawn furniture (some from my parents too) would be thrifted now that we had a matching set (and the old chairs were hard to store). Unfortunately, Hubby felt differently and wanted to keep the ones from his parents.

Since the chairs were full of grime and holes, I agreed to keep them if they could be recovered. Hubby liked that idea.


Before taking the lawn chairs apart, I made a pattern and marked key locations of the chair. Usually I just use the old fabric as the pattern, but it seemed easier to use the paper in this case.



Yuck. Hubby told me he'd clean the chairs up way back when... that did not happen. I'm pretty sure this is even after I sprayed them down with a hose.

The picture below is after I took off a metal support bar from the back of the seat, and the base of the lawn chair.

The chair was ridiculously hard to take apart. So, of course I got my finger pinched by who knows what (nasty!) and was gushing blood everywhere.



I'll leave part one of this post at that... more to come later.


Skip ahead to see how the pattern was made (and tweaked) and the completed chairs!

Refashioned t-shirt (asymmetrical tank with bow)

I was folding some laundry and realized I have tons of t-shirts. So, I grabbed one shirt and a pair of scissors and started cutting it up. Here's a little tutorial for a refashioned t-shirt idea:

1) I chose to do an asymmetric, sleeveless, v-neck. So, I cut the shirt accordingly.


2. Then cut the finished end off of the sleeves that were just removed from the shirt.

3. Cut two 1" wide strips from the sleeve used in step 2

4. Take the strips of shirt and pull on them. This makes the wide, normal t-shirt fabric more tube like but still raw (see picture below)



5. Taking one of the stretched strips of fabric, form half of a bow (see below, left)

6. Repeat step 5 and place it on top of the other strip forming a bow

7. Sew the bow together, making sure to catch all layers of the fabric in the bow

8. Cut roughly a 2" wide (about 3-4" long) chunk of fabric leftover from the sleeves. Tie this around the center of the bow to cover the stitches just made. (keep the extra length of the center of the bow to tie onto the shirt later)

9. Stitch all of the raw edges under on the neckline and armholes of the t-shirt

10. Take in the sides of the shirt to make it more fitted

11. Tie the bow on the shirt. (possible locations for bow: top of shoulder on thin strap, front base of thin strap, no bow at all, etc.)

Check out more of my refashioned t-shirts!  Click on the label "refashioned t-shirts" or check out some of these links:

MORE REFASHIONED T-SHIRTS!

Reversible, multiple look t-shirt

Worn out t-shirt & covering a hole

Pintuck sunburst

Tank with elastic on sleeves

Added trim, keyhole back

V-neck tank with straps centered in back

Completed chair!

Well one chair has made it to the finish line! My first attempt at chair reupholstery was not a complete disaster :) (the other chair is still being taken apart)

I'm happy the final post for this project is on my Grandpa's birthday! He and my Grandma reupholstered these chairs a long time ago, and set me up with what I needed to try the project.

Here are links to the process:

taking the chair apart pt 1
taking the chair apart pt 2
covering buttons with fabric
reupholstering the chair back pt 1
reupholstering the chair back pt 2
reupholstering the seat

Here is the final product:



Front and back views of the chair

Once the other chair is done I'll see what we have left over for fabric (if any, may have to get more). I'm planning on making some throw pillows for the couch to tie the chairs in with it.

Also, I'm thinking of making a piano bench cushion in this fabric, again to tie things together in the room. That's debatable though... it might end up another color/texture/pattern :)

Tutorial - reupholstering the chair back pt 2

The back of the chair I'm reupholstering has fabric now!

Here is how it was done:

1) 3 panels were sewn together (seams matching up with the chair legs) using the old fabric as the pattern.

2) The fabric was stapled right side down, at the top of the chair (so it can be folded over to cover the chair and have a nice finished edge) A TACKING STRIP was used for this step (thin cardboard strip as shown below) to give a nice crisp looking finish.

3) Flip the fabric downwards over the chairs back. Make sure it is pulled completely tight along the entire top so there isn't extra fabric later on.

4) Pull the fabric tight and staple a few sections of fabric to the bottom of the chair, making sure it is centered.

5) Fold the edges under, then, using upholstery strength thread and a special curved upholstery needle, hand sew the two sides of the chair back to the fabric that was stapled on as the chair front. (pic below)

6) Finish stapling the fabric onto the bottom of the chair, folding raw edges under around the chair legs.


7) Get ice, or a cool rag for your very tired, red fingers :)

Here are the two chair pieces (and a cat toy)... next, on to assembly!

Tutorial - reupholstering the chair seat

The first chair being reupholstered now has the seat complete!


Here is a refresher as to what the chairs looked like when removing all the fabric in the first stages of this project.

Basically the seat of the chair ended up being taken apart to just the wooden frame with springs. So, here's how it was put back together:

1) New burlap was stapled (2 layers thick) for protection, over the springs that would be hitting the seat.

2) Another layer that protected the seat from the springs was reused and stacked on top of the burlap. I'm not sure what this layer was... but it was some thick mesh work of straw(ish) like material.

3) The old cushion was added on top of this (along with a couple additional sheets of batting)

4) The new fabric for the seat was cut to size, using the fabric that was removed as a pattern.

5) The fabric was stretched, smoothed, and stapled onto the chairs frame.

(the above pic shows through step 5)

6) Rectangular strips of fabric were cut (and sewn together to match the edges of the chair) to add to the side of the chairs seat.

7) Batting was also used on the side of the chair. (a few layers)

8) TACKING STRIPS! These were amazing. I couldn't find them anywhere in my area, so I had to order them from Joann.com. The picture below shows the process of adding tacking strips with the fabric and batting on the side of the chairs.

Tacking strips give a very smooth finished look, with sharp edges (as in not lumpy)

After stapling the fabric/batting/tacking strips down, the fabric was folded over the edge of the seat and stapled to the bottom of the chair.

So there you have a reupholstered chair seat.

Now, it's time to sew the back fabric on the seat back, and reassemble the chair!

crazy beagle/the story of a homemade heating pad

The story of the heating pad: One day shortly after returning from our honeymoon, hubby and I went kayaking. Hubby was being "macho" and lifted the kayaks out of the water at a bad angle, by himself, before I could help. Not a good idea, but he seemed to be fine. UNTIL... oh around midnight, when he complained of intense back pain. I thought I had a microwavable rice heating pad somewhere that I offered to find for him, and he thought that would really help. Well, of course my belongings were still all in boxes and I couldn't find it.

So, I decided to quickly make one for him. (good thing we coincidentally bought a crazy amount of rice at the store the day before...) I used a fabric bag that originally held a sheet set in it since that would require the least amount of sewing and I was working with a travel sewing machine that had been problematic lately.

Basically I just filled the fabric bag about 2/3 full of rice, and sewed it shut. I then added two ribbon handles to hold when taking it out of the microwave. Not my prettiest work, but it did the job.

I'm super sentimental, so I was pretty bummed when I discovered the heating pad shortly after our beagle decided to check it out.

Here is what it looked like, after the beagle attack:


Most of the rice was missing.

You may recall a post about beagle in the past, when he chewed a portion of our new couch cushion.

Beagle is actually a really sweet little guy, I just like to write about his "naughty" moments.

Tutorial - reupholstering the chair back pt 1

Chair #1 is on its way to completion, slowly but surely.

Here is a refresher on the progress of the chair upholstery

First, batting goes on the back of the chair. Make sure the layers are smooth, and that they all cover the entire area that needs batting. For my first attempt at this I added a little extra batting underneath all of the layers that was just a little short of what I needed. The result: a very obvious lumpy look. Needless to say, I took that layer out.


Next, cover that batting with fabric! (I traced the old fabric panel that was removed from the chair and cut the new panel to match. Pretty simple.)



Oh, but make sure the fabric is smooth all over... don't hesitate to take out a few staples or nails to redo an area.


This chair had buttons holding the back fabric tight. So, here I added the buttons using an upholstery needle and some hemp.



This is what the back of the chair looked like with the buttons all fastened on.

Next up, adding the back panels to the chair back (which will require lots of hand sewing... I'll need to pick up some thread) and the chair bottom.