Up-cycle Sewing

Even though I have two five-shelf bookshelves filled with fabric, it sometimes happens that a child asks for something to be made that I don't have either the right color or enough of the color the child is requesting. This is what happened when my 3 year old had her birthday.

I always try to make (although sometimes I purchase) a dress for my girls for their birthdays. My 3 year old for some reason has grown a love for the color orange. I knew that she wanted her birthday dress to have orange in it and since she was in need of more clothing, I figured I would make some dresses for her birthday gift and they might as well be orange, too.

Since I didn't have much fabric with orange, I had to start looking. Anyone who sews or who has purchased fabric lately knows that fabric is not cheap and making clothes isn't always cheaper than purchasing because of the price of fabric. Well, God provided fabric for me through our local thrift store!

"Pillowcase" dress in which I added small sleeves
from the fitted sheet.

I found a twin fitted sheet that was orange and pink striped for only $1. The next week, I found an orange pillowcase ($ .50) and orange flat sheet ($1). I now had lots of orange to work with since I was up-cycling from previous products! I also still have lots of fabric left to make more clothes for her in the future!

We had been given the "Birthday Girl" shirt, but
since my daughter is long waisted, it was too
short to use as a shirt so I turned it into a dress.

I did end up purchasing orange thread. I could have made any of these dresses work by using either white or pink, but it wasn't the look I wanted. Of course, that one spool of thread will last through many more uses so I didn't mind spending it. In any case, I spent less than $5 for three dresses (plus material to make more)!

I love the frugality of up-cycling as well how much better it is for the environment. It also sometimes helps with time management because I can use things like the hemmed edges, or in the case of the last dress, half the dress was already done. Besides, it is just fun to give new life to something that most people just discard.

Do you enjoy up-cycling? I would love to see some creations you have made from up-cycling (and it doesn't have to be sewing related).

Providing Clothing

Proverbs 31:13

She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.

After going through the clothes for this spring/summer, three of my girls were still short on pajamas. I figured I would just make some. Just a few days later, we were given some bedding which happened to have some extra queen size pillow cases that didn't match other bedding. I use them to make pillow case dresses. I made two different styles as I used what I had on hand. I then took some material and made a "pillowcase" to make a third pillowcase dress. I added some lace to the bottom to make it a little longer.

Pillowcase dress made using bias tape and elastic.

"Pillowcase" dress using material, lace, bias tape, and elastic.

Pillowcase dress used by making a casing and using ribbon ties.

For all three of these it cost me nothing but my time which was maybe an hour combined to make all of them.

Trying to Save Some Money

A few weeks ago, two of my children decided it would be fun to hang from our shower curtain. Guess what?! It broke and they fell. They also tore the decorative shower curtain and broke the shower rod. I'm thankful the shower liner stayed intact as I just purchased that not too long ago.

However, I had forgotten how expensive shower curtains are! We don't like using the plastic shower curtains because the smell of them always give me headaches and I like being able to throw them in the washer every now and then. When I purchased the last shower curtain, it was when we had to remodel our bathroom due to some water damage and we chose the paint color of the bathroom based on the cheapest shower curtain I could find that I liked (it was on clearance and if I remember correctly less than $10).

The shower curtain rod was the rod that came with the house when we bought it almost 20 years ago so I didn't mind that it had to be replaced, but I didn't have the money to replace it with the kind I wanted, so I had to do with what I had.

We had an old tension rod that didn't hold the tension well, but I used the brackets from the old rod to stabilize it. I found some hooks at the thrift store for only $1. I then went about making a decorative shower curtain from some upholstery fabric that had been given to me a few years ago that matched our paint. I did have to spend $4 on some ribbon to cover the seam from sewing the material together to make it big enough, but I like how it turned out by giving it a little more decoration.

So, for only $5 and about an hour of my time, we have a new shower curtain. This way, I won't feel bad about making a new one when we are able to repaint the bathroom another color.

I'm not sure why I hadn't thought about sewing my own shower curtain before. I am thankful that a post on sewing a shower curtain popped up on Pinterest one day when I was searching for something else.

10 Cents and a 1/2 Hour

My girls have been asking me to get out the fall/winter clothes for a couple of weeks. Well, I finally decided that since it wasn't going to be in the 80's again, we would start going through the boxes.

I was pleased to find that almost everyone had enough in their needed size to outfit them for fall/winter. My son needed pajamas, but I was able to get some at the consignment shop and even was able to pay for them with my credit. My second oldest is in need of some shirts, but has enough to get her through until we find some. My 5 year-old was another story.

This girl some how is attracted to a special kind of dirt that doesn't like to come out of clothes. I can wash everyone else's clothes that are covered in dirt and it will come out, but her clothes remained stained no matter how many different types of stain removal I use.

In fact, I ended up getting rid of 5 of her skirts and 7 shirts (I had more shirts for her because of the staining problems)! Considering we only keep 7 casual outfits per person, that is a large percentage of her clothes! Two of the skirts were skirts I made for her at the beginning of spring. (edited to add--only 2 nights after she got out the fall/winter clothes, she came to me with a large hole in one of her pajamas! Praise God that we have more pajamas in her size waiting in the tote!).

After going through the tote filled with her size clothing, she only had 4 outfits. We decided that a couple of outfits could be passed down from an older sister so that left her in need of only 1 more outfit. While I am sure I could get her a skirt using credit at the consignment store, I also knew that I have two 5 shelf bookshelves filled with material so I might as well make her one. She had about a dozen shirts in her size that didn't match anything else and weren't stained so I just looked for material that would match a couple of those shirts. I figured I might as well go with a heavy-duty material to withstand her abuse. I found a brown corduroy with just enough to make a skirt for her. In about a 1/2 hour, I had it cut and sewn.

We have been blessed by a number of people who have given us fabric to use. In fact, I haven't had to purchase material in at least 3 years! In addition, the elastic I used for this skirt was part of a large bag of new elastic that I purchased at the thrift store for only $2 and the thread was also given to us. My guess is that this skirt cost me about $ .10 and less than a 1/2 hour of my time!

I might get ambitious and try my hand at some shirts for my second oldest, but shirts take a bit longer to make so we'll see how much extra time I have. I do have lots of sewing ideas in the works for Christmas gifts already.

I would love to hear about any sewing projects you have done recently, are in the middle of completing, or are planning on doing!

Birthday Outfits

For every birthday, we get the birthday girl or boy a new outfit. Since most of the time they wear hand-me-downs, this is an opportunity for them to get something that fits their personalities. Years ago, I started making the girls' dresses as it was easier to find something within our budget, fit their personalities, and met our modesty standards.

Here are a few pictures of dresses I have made this year.

This is the first year the twins actually asked for the same
pattern and same material. Usually it is either same pattern
and different material or same material and different patterns.

She wanted a Princess Auroa dress. It didn't turn out
as nice as I wanted, but she loves it!

This was my first time working with tulle and
with making an overlay skirt. While it was a
little more difficult to work with, I like the end result.

Since I'm new to sewing pants and tailored shirts, I have been doing something different for my little man. In the past, I made him a bow tie. This year I made suspenders and a tie, but purchased the pants and shirt (and matching hat).

There is the rare occasion where I do not make anything. For example, my oldest this year was given a very pretty sweater (new) from someone and then a very pretty skirt from someone else and they matched so well that she said that she wanted to wear those for her birthday outfit.

Fortunately, I didn't have to purchase any of the material used this year for any of the outfits! We have been blessed with people giving us material they either bought for us or had themselves but never used. I also didn't need to purchase buttons, ribbons, lace, thread, etc. The only thing I purchased this past year for their outfits is elastic and the clips for my son's suspenders.

I would love to hear if you sew clothes for your children and your reasons behind doing it.

Keeping Baby's Legs Warm

The women/girls in our family wear dresses and skirts only. Somewhere along the line, all the tights for my baby were lost between now and the last time I had a little girl. I bought one package of three thin tights for $6, but the thicker, warmer tights were $6 each. Since I am quite frugal and money is tight, I couldn't see spending $6 on tights when I would need at least 4-5 pairs. I began a search on Pinterest for tutorials on how to make my own tights. I found two tutorials that I used.

The first tutorial is for baby tights. I made a pair last week and used them to make sure they would work. They are great! I was blessed by a friend with a lot of knit material that I used, but as the tutorial says, she used t-shirts that she either had or bought at thrift stores. The pair I made last week was a white pair and I made another two pair of white and a pair of red. I might make more in other colors.

The second tutorial I found is for leg warmers using adult knee-high socks. I made a pair last week using a some brown knee high socks. They worked great, but were really long on her. They kept falling down over her feet. I tried them again this week but put on a pair of socks and it kept the tights from falling over her feet. I tried another pair using crew socks that I like as well today. I will make more as I find socks I like.

I'm happy that my baby's legs will stay warm this winter and it didn't cost me anything but about a 1/2 hour of my time!

More Sewing

I have been in the sewing/creative mode lately! I truly do want to use up scraps, but also make useful items.

I first made a bib. My son has destroyed some bibs and needs more for himself and I will need some for the new baby. I have several bib patterns pinned in my pinterest account and I tried this one first. The backing is green fleece and the front is a navy blue polkadot material which both came out of my scrap bin. I don't think it turned out too bad. He used it once. He doesn't care for the tie (his others are either snaps or velcro), but it was VERY simple and quick to make.

I know I only have 7 more weeks of my pregnancy, but I'm still low on maternity clothes that aren't stained (for some reason I keep staining the belly area!). A friend shared a maternity pattern so I gave it a try today. It is a simple pattern and I completed it all in the morning. I am going to go through my material to see if I have enough of a knit to make a knit shirt in this same pattern (this is a cotton blend).

As before, I used all material/notions I already had so these projects only took my time.

I have also started on my first pair of suspenders for my son's birthday. I really dislike turning "tubes" inside out so I told my girls I would pay $1 a tube for them to turn them. One is turned and a girl is working on the other.

30 Minute Skirt

Jaina is happy with her new skirt!

I discovered that Jaina was still short on some outfits. She had a shirt that fit and wasn't stained, but no skirt that matched it. I knew I needed to make another skirt.

It only took a 1/2 hour to cut the material and sew it together. It is a simple design.

I took her waist measurement and cut the top material to 1 1/2 times her waist measurement. You could just do that and cut it to the length you desire (plus hem), but I decided to make it a two tiered skirt so she would have more room to run. For the second tier, I took 1 1/2 times the measurement of the top piece of material. I then gathered the second tier and then sewed it to the top tier. I then sewed the entire side seam making sure I lined up the seam where the tiers are sewn together. I then hemmed the bottom and made a casing for the elastic at the top. Finally, I added the elastic.

Again, the material, thread, and elastic were all items I had "in stock". I love being able to clothe my family without spending a fortune or a lot of time.

Do you sew for yourself or your family? I would love to hear about some of your projects-comment below!

Another Sewing Day to Save Money

 I switched to using cloth menstrual pads about 3 years ago (you can read about why I did here). Up until this point, I have used purchased cloth pads. Well, as my girls grow older, there are more and more of us using cloth pads and while we've been able to work with what we have, I know there will come a point when we will need more.

I've been wanting to try making my own for at least a year, but I haven't really had much time. I tried a few trials that work, but not the best (they are only used if all the others are still in the washer or dryer). Since I have had more time and I need to use up scrap material anyway, I decided to give some a shot today.

For the two smaller ones, I used a free pattern off a facebook group for sewing cloth menstrual pads. The larger one I created my own template using a pad I already own. The larger size is great for overnight or postpartum.  All the material came out of our scrap bins (yes, I have two bins of just scraps!), the thread was all thread that has been given to me (and I was able to use up some almost empty spools), and the velcro was also given to me. I actually prefer snaps, but the velcro was faster to use and free. While I can't speak about how well they will work, they look like they will work better than the few I tried making in the past.

Sewing Day

My twins have been in need of a few clothing items due to just wearing out after being handed down a few times. I could just go to a thrift store and try to find things in their sizes, or I could use some of my abundant stash of material that has been given to us to make them a few items.

Jaina received a new skirt last month when one that Allyn made Tissa for her birthday was too big for Tissa (Allyn made another the correct size for Tissa), but she still needed a shirt to go with another skirt as the original shirt was too stained.

Excuse the not so great clarity as I used my iPad and
haven't learned how to take great pictures with it yet.

Martha needed more items. First, she had a dress that she didn't like wearing because the snaps would come undone very easily so I sewed the dress together up to the top four snaps. Second, she had a skirt that was made for another sister and handed down that was coming apart at one of the seams so I fixed that as well.

I don't know why this one is blurry.

The bottom 3-4 snaps would always come undone.

Next, we had a nice jumper that I had fixed the buttons on multiple times when an older sister wore it. I guess I did a good job the last time because instead of the button popping off, the jumper tore! I cut off the top part of the jumper and turned the bottom into a skirt for Martha.

Lastly, I made a dress for Martha as her favorite dress is on its last thread. It has been a favorite for three girls now and I have resewn the ties multiple times, fixed the zipper, and re-hemmed, but it is stained getting thin so it needs to go. Martha picked out the material, but I chose the pattern. The pattern I chose is the Pretty Peasant Dress by Squiggly Twigs Designs. It is the same pattern I used to make the shirt above for Jaina. I really like this pattern as it is simple to adapt to what material I have and the desires of my girls. Also, it is simple (and I've used it so much) that it is a quick sew.

She liked it so much she wanted to wear it today!

My  girls are now excited to have "new" clothes to wear. I'm excited because I didn't spend a dime (all thread, elastic, and ribbon we already had). I'm also excited to use some of our material stash as I really need to use it to make room for other things in the house.

I'm hoping to do more sewing this summer since we don't have a garden this year and I will have some extra time. I should get my girls busy helping me use of that stash of material, too. I also hope to either learn how to use the camera on my iPad better or borrow a camera from one of my girls (they have nicer cameras than I have!).