Bippity Boppity Boo!

There is a wizardy vibe to sewing.  There is something magical about putting fabric, patterns, notions all mixed together and coming up with a useful/decorative 'thing'.  
There is something positively, benevolently, magical about Upcycling.  


I have dabbled in this mystical craft for some time now.  I have loved cutting the heck out of a holey orange sweater just to make a play carrot for Miss Viv.  I have hacked into a wool blazer to get the purse that waited within.


But this time, I outdid my crafty little self.  Humility (ahem) aside, I had some help.  I had the invitation from Crispina ffrench crispina.com at Alchemy Initiative alchemyinitiative.org, and fellow contributor to the book Mend it Better menditbetter.com, to create a wearable fashion item for her event at Alchemy this coming Earth Day.  I had Younger Son's favorite shirt that he had just donated to my 'I Wanna Be Something Else' stack of old, used up, no longer wanted pieces of clothing that had too good of bones to totally discard.  I had the design influence of Baby Girl.  I had the referral to a Pinterest pinterest.com pin from Eldest/Admin for this crazy good blog, http://dee-construction.blogspot.com/ to help me wrap my mind around this plunge into designing a woman's light weight sweater from a man's V neck pullover.


I told you it was magical.

Here is YS's fav shirt.  Or it was.  He just laughs when he sees it in it's reconstruction.  I cut out the little piece that laid between the v neck.  Didn't need it.  I found a pattern for a knit top that I have made three times; I know it fits and it has simple lines.  I cut the sleeves to a tidy three quarter length. I started cutting strips from the length, YS, after all, is a 2XL.  These strips, I knew had to be ruffles.  I knew this from another blog that Pretend Daughter Kris shared with me. http://tearosehome.blogspot.com/2010/01/tutorialruffle-shirt.html#?m=1.  You can see what a group effort this has been.  That's been part of the Magic....

Believe when I say that I had no completed vision when this started.  It seemed that every time I cut into the shirt, a new aspect of it's transformation revealed itself to me.  Truly.


Part of the reason that YS had to ditch his favorite shirt, was a small hole that had formed right smack in the front and center of the shirt.  Simple for me!  I just cut the shirt up the front, cardigan style and did away with the scourge.  Wanting to make the style a bit softer, I rounded the corners so the line of the ruffles, (now around the neck) could be accentuated.  Having ribbing around the v, made a perfect backing for the ruffle. And because it was a knit shirt, edges do not have to be finished.  Lovely.


Using the pattern pieces from the top pattern, the sleeves and the front, I was able to cut out, from this ample top, the right amount for the new sleeves and to carve out just the right shape for the armholes.


I was concerned about the color.  Good, manly color, but a trifle too....boring...to make it as a girly ruffly re do.  It was then that BG injected her opinion of putting in some color in the seam in the sleeve.  The next morning, I was looking for a light weight 3/4 length (I try to avoid revealing the 'flap' that comes with regular T shirt wearing.  You know what I mean.) T shirt in my drawer and since Summer clothes have not yet been unpacked, I had to settle on my beat up ol green shirt that had definitely seen better days.  The few hours I wore the shirt, I kept thinking, 'this color green will go wonderfully with the brown!'  Bingo!  Double Upcycle!!  Score one for the old lady!!

As I was cutting up the old T shirt into long strips, I realized that trimming the New Girly Sweater with the Green T shirt would be absolutely great!  So I did it!  And it was!  And once again, I did the happy designing dance!


The trim down the front did away with the question as to how to hold the cardigan together; I simply elongated the trim pieces into long ties.  Simple bow - little ruffles - curved bottom: = feminine fun.

As you can see, I got a bit carried away with the green trim.  But I like it; a little funk with the feminine ain't bad.


Thought you'd like to see YS wearing his fav shirt before mama got to it with her scissors and green accent t shirt material....Baby Girl's smiling because she probably knows that someday she'll own YS clothes- transmogrified by mama and her posse.....!





So it's off to the Earth Day Fashion Show Dance Party and Clothes Swap in Pittsfield Massachusetts for you, my fun, feminine, funky upcycled friend!!  


Enjoy your new life!!!

Old Blazer; New Hip Bag!

 I look at all cloth as a potential something than what it is.  I walk through Goodwill and see fabric,not clothing.  I see tablecloths or place mats or curtains and think, 'what else can I make this?'


Same goes with my closet.  Today, I asked Hubby, 'Do you have any corduroy that you're not using?'  He does not think this is strange.  He has been answering obtuse questions like this for nearly 40 years.  He just goes to his closet and looks around.


Youngest Son wouldn't think of throwing out used clothes.  He brings too small sweaters and well used pants into my sewing room, knowing for a fact that he will see them again, transmogrified into something else.

 
 So when this old blazer at St Vincent de Paul's Thrift Shop hopped into my hands, no one with me thought, 'Hmm Deb.  A bit dated huh?  A bit too big?'  Nope.  They knew that I would bring it home, cannibalize it by removing buttons, pockets and yes, even labels (I collect them too) pop it into a steamy hot washer and equally hot dryer and wait for it to become an extremely felted wool, just waiting to be a crossover/hip bag for some lovely person.


The breast pocket was just dandy and I knew that I had to utilize it's handiness.  I cut long strips out of the back panels for the extra long straps.  Searched my stash for the right vintage button. Even used some old blouse material for the lining.  A true repurposing manifesto. 


Always donate your cast offs to charity.  However, if there is a piece that you just have trouble parting with, consider transforming it into something else useful to elongate your loving relationship with that particular item.     You will be quite pleased with yourself.   

New Leaf Collection of Bags

 Designing Donna http://www.facebook.com/leafgirl65  ordered another batch of mama's collection bags.

 Because we like to live and create a little bit left of center, she gave me some  inspiration by sending some fabrics that she had lying about. These fabrics shot me right back to her salon in my mind, recalling those wildly inventive cuts that she used to give a much younger me. My designing mojo kicked into hyper mode.....


  I loved working with the fabrics from her collection since they 'told me' information as to what they wanted to be; Designing Donna had selected them, used them, liked them and now they were destined to another invention. Short of speaking right out loud, I got it right away for each piece of cloth.


  The top green bag was an amazing batik print that grabbed my attention immediately.  This bag is packed with pockets and a most interesting tie dye lining.  The strap is a Patagonia Belt; sturdy and well constructed.  The batik flowers have vintage buttons accenting their centers. My favorite.


The second bag is made up of five really swell cloth napkins.  Quilted, sewn together and lined with useful pockets and decked out with key, bead and button embellishments, this very practical tote is about as creative as it gets.

 Then there is the Celtic Tablecloth/bedspread Hippie Bag.  In order to utilize the twining Celtic knots that border and center the tablecloth, I cut it on an edgy triangle and used the border to be the straps. Pockets went high up near the straps on this unlined bag and an embellished weighted flap closed it nicely.  Wouldn't be a Hippie Bag with out bells and beads on the point on the bottom, now would it?

 And for the traditionalist, we have another tablecloth from an entirely different neighborhood.  The Safe Bag, unlined and normal looking because I have to remember that not everybody walks on the edge.  Vintage buttons and a useful pocket on this unlined bag make it a market bag that you can proudly use and use again.

 Because Designing Donna knows that I will try to repurpose anything, she threw in an odd quilted pillow sham so as to mix it up a bit.  Adding some bits of brass saddle embellishments procured at an Amish Store down the road from me, this handy little bag is fun and soft and perfect for those outings when just a small bag will do.

 Do you remember this fabric?  Pretend Daughter Kris bequeathed this lovely vintage Waverly Fabric from her mother's collection to me last fall and  I made a diaper bag out of it for Baby Girl.http://sonowiknow.blogspot.com/2010/11/sewing-sidetracks.html.  This wonderful fabric practically makes itself with all it's wizened history and lineny goodness.  It is so full of linen, that it indeed has bits of flax woven in this very nice finished product.  With some of DD's brocade fabric to line it and a few vintage buttons, it turned out to be high on my list of faves.  DD termed it the Autumn Bag and last I heard, she was calling this one her own.

 Some very utilitarian canvas, sturdy and strong, decided to be retro by adding some flowery buttons and vintage pillow case embellished and I could see it being the hit of the Farmer's Market, able to carry books and eggplant quite aptly.

 On this shipment, I got to premiere my new mama's collection  labels.  Baby Girl took care of this for me and I am quite excited about them.  Hence the blurry photo.

So by now, the bags are being displayed gleefully, proud of what they've become and waiting patiently for just the right someone to come and make them theirs.

Makes a mama proud.......

Young Daddy's Gifts

The Time is ticking away....
Baby Girl's due date is looming large and so is my Baby Girl...
All signs of imminent birth are beginning and Grammy is gearing up.
Even though I had other pressing things in the sewing room, anything for BG/BG's seemed to take precedent due to the time constraint. From the very beginning of the pregnancy, BG's Hubby has been insistent that he wants to be the very involved, very connected papa.  When BG started going through my Handmade Beginnings: 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby, her Hubby was close by selecting  t appropriate accessories.  He particularly wanted a Mei tai baby carrier that reflected him and not someone else's idea of a Man Mei Tai.  Grammy Deb convinced him that he would be able to tote his newborn babe around comfortably with a signature statement.  We selected this one.
And to make it, I used some pretty nice heavy weight cotton in a blue not quite denim but not too light of a shade either. The lining, which was very important since Grammy's little sweetie will be surrounded by it, was a compilation of Hubby's old flannel shirt scraps, worn soft by years in the factory.

Young Daddy Young really needed a bag that would suit his mobile lifestyle.  Something that he could be productive with as well as being nurturing.  He sat down and wrote all the Bag Needs that he had.  I sat down and looked through Anna Maria's book and altered her Dad Bag pattern to suit my more demanding son in law.

The Daddy Bag is made of two colors of suede and is lined with the softest vinyl Crazy Don could share with me.  The pockets are lined with scraps of Unca Joco's trousers that suited the softness and durability requirement.  I used webbing from a part of an old belt to trim out the zipper and the side pockets.

All in all, there is nine pockets, enough for solar chargers and cords of all types and maybe even enough for a few didies, wipes and clothing changes.
Hubby had brought home a passel of straps procured from Who Knows Where, complete with shoulder padding and open clips.  On my last visit to the Amish Leather Shop, (pretty awesome place indeed) I picked up some wonderfully durable brass attachments that probably belong to a horse bridle.  They became the attachment to the strap.                        
                                                           There was something extraordinary about making these things for Young Daddy Young.  There was the creative challenge.  There was the technological challenge.  There was the material challenge.  But aside from these practical things, there was the awareness that I was making these things for a man that is the father of my youngest daughter's child.  A man that had been prayed for and over and about for as long as BG took breath.   Knowing his deep love for BG and his preborn daughter, this task took on a more transcendental feel.  A grand thing to say about something so mundane as a diaper bag and carrier, but truly, profound things are usually spotted in the usual.  I truly felt honored to be supplying for this new daddy, tools that can help him provide nurturing for his newborn.  I felt pleased to be able to send the obvious message through the doing of it, 'I support you in how you support my daughter and granddaughter'.  I want him to know that I am here for him to help in whatever way, from babysitting to help in interpreting my daughter's needs and moods.  
So it was with great excitement that I delivered it to him on Wednesday as we drove to their home to celebrate a very special Pre Birth Thanksgiving.  I was overjoyed to be there and I think he was pretty stoked as well....
.Don't you think??                                                                                                                  

The Vacation Market Bag:

While packing for The Trip, I realized, I'm sure, as the cobbler did when sending his children outside without any shoes, that I had no proper book bag.  This summer, I have made over a dozen of these things in all shapes and sizes, but, alas none for me.
Despite the busyness of travel preparations, I sat right down at Close Friend Sewing Machine, determined to have a mama's collection Market Bag of my own.
My vintage stash provided the tablecloth that had spent too many days outside on various tables to be useful as an actual tablecloth anymore.  But never no mind!  It's good parts made an excellent weight for the transformation into useful market bag.  Cast away hand towels of long ago made an appropriate pocket and seasons ago blue and white striped porch cushion fabric finished up the project with a fun lining.
Stout and solid to carry the multitude of books that I think that I need on holiday.
I believe I did read from three of them, including my Bible and notebooks that go with that, so the lugging of my little library was not totally wasted.
Fun things, new tote/market/book bags.
Fun thing to carry around previously used/loved items in a whole different form.
Fun thing to have collections that constantly shift and change.

What does your favorite tote bag look like?

Simple Sewing Saturdays: Volume Eight: Tee Shirt Transmogrifying

This Simple Sewing Hint is embarrassingly simple.  Simple Simple.  But somehow it eluded me for many years.  The thought of altering shirts that don't quite make it for you, with nothing to lose since if it's not right, you won't wear it anyway, right?  So, with that thinking completely in place, it is with fearless wonder, that I attacked another Garage Sale Tee shirt (thanks, Editor Friend!) to suit my many older lady tee shirt needs.

1. Take a tee shirt, preferable purchased at a yard sale. (less to invest)  Preferably all cotton.  The best; soft and breathable in This July Heat/Humidity.

2.  Take it for a Trial Run.  In my case, I wore it on my Morning Dog Walk.  This shirt was a Med but seemed more generous for my L, XL body.  Wrong.  It was a Med; who was I kidding?  Noticed it was a little snug around the neck and, of course, around the hips.  And the sleeves were a bit too long for the heat,even though they were just short sleeves.

3.  During the walk, altered the shirt in my brain, figuring what options I had. 

4.  Remembering the Too Short Cut of the last Tee Shirt Redo, I carefully thought about the suitable length for this shirt before The Fiskars had their way.

5.  Cut 1 1/2 inches off the bottom. Zip.

6. Too tight neckline? Clip way down about 3 inches.  Longer if you are prone to displaying cleavage. Ha.  Fold back the 'flaps' and pin.  Set your machine to one of the decorative stitches that you have on your machine but seldom use, and sew close to the edges so they will not curl up on you. If you don't have the decorative stitch option, use the zig zag; stretchy knits need the stretch.  Voila!  Neckline expanded!

7.  I rolled up the sleeves the width of the hem and did the same thing. Edged with the same decorative stitch close to the edge.  Ditto the bottom hem.

8.  Pop that sucker right back on and breathe deeply for all the comfort that this lovely reconfigured tee shirt brings to you.  Wore it all day, patting it in affirmation, that it was a good thing we did.

When you pass that bargain at a yard sale, you love the fabric or color or design, but there is just a bit off, snag it up anyway.  If the color etc, speaks to you, you can re use it somewhere else.  Or just lop enough off to just make it work.  For 50 cents, take a chance.  Just this week, I got a chance to see this in action with Baby Girl.  Years ago, I had bought a blouse for her at at a Thrift Shop.  I loved the color, design,  fabric content, buttons, the whole enchilada.  Sadly, it was an iron needy shirt, and BG in her High School busyness, rarely got a chance to wear it due to time constraints.  Imagine my delight, when on our visit this past week, she pulls out her Pregnancy Journal, COVERED IN THE BELOVED BLOUSE MATERIAL!  I was thrilled to see the fabric again, and even more thrilled to see that BG had used her skills to preserve our beloved material on a journal that will be around for many,many years.  Her BG will be touching that same fabric long after I am worm food.

If a fabric, piece of clothing speaks to you, get it.  Your enjoyment of it, whether in it's original form or altered, will be worth it all......

Sheesh....

I do not call Eldest/Admin that name lightly.  Yessiree; she earns every praise she gets for putting up with her Technological Deficient Mother.  After DAYS, (did I stress days enough?) of desperately trying to upload photos and deal with Blogger's down time, I resorted to asking my very busy E/A to explain, Why oh Why does my computer not like my camera any more.  And she patiently analyzed the problem and gave good advice.  Then one, two, three!  Upload happened!!  So in the meantime, this mama has been a very busy, albeit blogless, lady......

Let us begin.

Weeding.  The temperate temperatures allowed me to spend quite a few productive hours in the garden.  With my Guard Dog, Pudge, (can you see  him at the gate?) standing patrol, Stella the Ditsy Cat, following me around the Weedy Needy Areas, I had a pleasant day of puttering.  Thank you God.

Summer time brings about Vacation Bible School!  So many memories of VBS with my children.  Personally, I never attended one in my childhood.  Oh, but if I could have!  Please never give up on dragging the neighborhood with you to your VBS.  You just never know.  I think of how my life would have been different if someone, anyone would have invited me to their church for VBS or Youth Group.  Many a year when my children were young, we would have station wagon/van/car full of Unsaved Waifs, just ready for the Gospel Message.  My Hubby always took the week off so we could make it a family affair, both of us usually intrinsically involved as Director, Food Lady, Craft Director, 4-5 year old teacher, Story Lady, etc, etc...It was a long hard but very fun week.  This year, my only interaction is to design and create Space Patches for an astronaut costume for a Space Themed Bible School.  Having made MANY a costume for my Pretend World Children, the thought was exciting and reminiscent for me. So now, between today and Sunday, I shall be embroidering till my fingies bleed.  And happy to do it, I am just that fond of VBS.

Before I started the patches, I did finish The Lineny Vintage Bag!!  It's everything I was hoping it would be; roomy, soft, shaped well and well, you know, of course...Pockety!!!

And the Sows Ear to Silk Purse Award goes to:

The Throwaway 40's Lawn Chair That I Pulled Out of the Garbage!

I wouldn't exactly feel safe sitting in this chair; some rather conspicuous duct tape at some key junctions, keeps me from offering it to guests.  BUT as a proud displayer of my New Guinea Impatiens (and an errant tomato plant!), it works quite well!!

And last but certainly not last, a wonderful photo of Rabbit Rita's http://ritabunny.com/ One of Three Solid Blue Hydrangea Bushes that we visited on the Garden Exchange.  A whole bush this color!  Extraordinary!  Makes me sigh just looking at it!

So that, dear readers, is some of what mama and her collection has been up to....And More.......Tomorrow, if the Kodak gods smile upon me........!

Everything Old is New Again Again...

Time to look around us and see what we don't need around our abode and how it can transmogrify into something else.
A crafty kind of hide and seek.
You know how you clean a closet.
You sort into Will Wear Again, Will Never in a Thousand Years And What Was I Thinking, and Donate and Throw Away.
Mighten I suggest that you have another pile.
The "How Great is This Fabric and What Could It Be Because I Don't Really Want To Part With It" pile.
Let me show you some ideas:
Sunshiny Sally (she always greets me so warmly) from my Garden Exchange, showed up on a cooler Garden Exchange evening with this jacket. I kept looking at it, quietly inspecting the little details. During our Refreshment part of the evening (is there any point to going to any gathering without refreshments? I think not.), I approached SS and asked her about it. I told her that I was admiring it from afar.
It was then that Sunshiny (a wise woman of the generation above me) stated proudly, that her well made jacket was a Repurposed Project!
She told me that she had attended a class on this very subject and the attendees were to bring an used article, prepared to make it into something else.
Sunshiny Sally brought in three pair of jeans.
Adding some nice knit ribbing around the neck, bottom edge and cuffs (I might inject that SS is quite an accomplished seamstress and maker/designer of quilts) and some very fine applique and voila! A very, very unique jacket to wear on the cooler Garden Exchange Club Nights.
I was impressed. And where did this clever little apron come from?

Once upon time, long, long ago in the late nineties, a dapper little straight skirt came to me via a second hand store far away.

To be honest, I didn't think it fit me very well but I just loved the fabric (key!)...

I wore it and wore it until it starting looking very much like I had landed in a 90's closet freeze.

I put it away with off season clothes and each season as it rotated up in the storage bin, I would sigh, put it in the giveaway pile then at the last minute, I would pull it out, thinking someday.....

Then a Customer that shall remain nameless because the apron is a gift, asked me to make a birthday gift, an apron and could it please be on the budget side?

Bingo!

Knew from the very beginning what fabric I would use!

The feminine floral was on the heavy durable side and could stand up to a lot of laundering.

Got out an Easy Shemeasy Pattern from the 70's (They really made patterns easy then; wish they still did the step by sub step by assuming nothing type of patterns for sewing neophytes)

Added a bit o' flourish, lining pocket with some of Paulina's Gingham and making the adjustable straps with another gingham, and it was done. I even used the original hem, thus aiding in the speed of it's completion.

What have we learned here?

Before we toss anything, be it a towel, blanket, clothing, sheets, check it over carefully. How wonderful is this fabric? Durable? Could it be pockets or applique on something new? Is there enough in it to make something for Baby? Reflect carefully and repurpose it happily.

Or give it to me.......