Easy Art and Updated Storage

I adore this idea from Nesting Place blog today.  Wrapping shoe boxes with paper, fabric, etc. to make art.

Here's the picture from Nesting Place:

 

houzz

Love that!

This weekend I did something similar - not to make art but to update some ugly storage on our desk.  Months ago I took a cardboard box and covered it with masking tape, hoping that it would just be a nice, unnoticeable beige.  It looked like this:

Not the best.  And why I chose to write in such big letters in the middle of the box is beyond me.  Though it used to be oriented a different way so the words weren't sideways.

So I turned it into this:

Here are my steps to updated storage:

1.  Cut out a piece of scrapbook paper so that it is approximately 1 inch larger on each side than the box top.  Glue on to top of box using Tacky glue.  Put extra glue on all four sides, approximately one inch from the top.

2.  Fold down extra paper so that it sticks to sides.  Repeat on the bottom.

3.  Put glue on one side of box.

4.  Cut out piece of scrapbook paper so that it is the exact dimension of the side that is glue and lay over glue, smoothing it down.  Repeat on all four sides.

Much better!

Tutorial: Sweater Scarf

For my mother-in-law's birthday I made her a scarf from one of my husband's old sweaters and one of his old t-shirts.  We thought she would enjoy the sentimental value of a "hug" from 5 hours away!

I considered making an infinity scarf using this tutorial from Vixen Made, but ended up just using the idea of a two-sided scarf since I thought it'd be too bulky made from a sweater.

 Here are my steps:

1.  Cut long strips of sweater material - the width should be equal to the width you'd like the scarf to be (plus a seam allowance).  Mine were 6 inches wide.  The strips should add up to the length you'd like the scarf to be with a couple inches extra for overlap.

I planned on using the bottom of the sweater for the ends of the scarf, to take advantage of the texture.  After cutting out two strips I realized that the scarf wasn't going to be long enough, so I cut two more strips out (but only ended up using one).  Then I evened up the strips by laying the thinnest over the widest and cutting off the extra.

2)  Pin the strips of sweater together.  I had three strips so I put the shortest in the middle and the longer two (which had the textured ends) on the sides.  I put the middle strip right-side up, then laid the side strips on it right-side down with raw edges touching.  Since my sweater is striped, I had to fuss with where I attached them a bit so that the stripes would be even all the way down the scarf.

Sew strips together using a half-inch seam allowance.  Trim extra fabric and finish seams with a zig-zag stitch.

3)  Cut out strips that are equivalent width and length to sweater pieces from second fabric (I used an old t-shirt).

Repeat pinning process and sew seams together.

Finish seams with zig-zag stitch and iron flat to reduce bulk.

4.  Place fabric and sweater strips together, right-sides facing.

5.  Pin strips together.

 6.  Sew along one short side and both long sides using a straight stitch.  Then finish seams with a zig-zag stitch.

6.  Turn scarf right-side out.

7.  Iron scarf flat.  Pin open end closed, tucking raw edges under.  Sew around all four sides of scarf using a 1/4 " seam allowance.  I used matching thread on the sweater side and contrasting thread on the t-shirt side.

8.  Admire scarf!

Tutorial: Refitting a t-shirt collar

I've mentioned a few times that my husband and I are big thrift store shoppers.  The prices are just unbeatable!  We especially like finding t-shirts at thrift stores because they can be so funny sometimes. 

One of our recent favorites had a picture of a cyclist and "Senior Olympics, To Participate is to Win" on the front.  So true and so funny.

The only problem with these t-shirts is that sometimes they just don't fit right.  Especially at the neck.  My husband does not like his collars to be stretched out and loose or super tight.  So I got to work trying to figure out a way to make them fit better.

Here are the steps that I use to make a too-snug collar looser:

1.  Turn shirt wrong-side-out and using a seam ripper, separate the collar from the shirt in the front.  Turn it right-side-out and it should look like this:

2.  Fold collar over so that the raw edges are touching.  It should look like this:

3.  Determine how much more room is needed in the front of the collar.  I typically need to add 1 inch for my husband.  With collar flipped down and raw edges touching, pull the middle front of the collar down 1 inch (or your predetermined distance) and pin it in place.  It will look like it does above, with extra shirt sticking out behind the collar.  Then pin the collar down on the sides as well, making a gradual slope to your center pin.  The collar should still be flipped down at this point.  If you want to try it on before sewing the collar in place use safety pins.

4.  Cut off the extra fabric that is sticking up above the raw edge of the collar (this will be 1 inch in the middle, sloping to smaller amounts on the side).

Super fuzzy picture, but you get the idea!

5.  Sew the collar in place (I used a 1/4" margin) using a straight stitch and then finish the raw edges with a zig-zag stitch or a serger.  Since all of the stitches will be on the inside of the shirt you can use any thread you have on hand - it doesn't have to match because it won't show.

Yup, this is a different shirt.  I was sewing a lot of them!

Warning:  I broke my needle by sewing over a safety pin!  This has never happened to me with straight pins before and it was a little scary!  Thankfully my machine came with extra needles.  I don't think I'll try sewing over safety pins again.

6.  Flip collar up and admire your work!

Patching Jeans

I bought my favorite pair of jeans last winter at Kohl's for $20.  They are Mudd brand and they are awesome.  Dark, soft denim, skinny leg, perfect for wearing when I ride my horse.   I've worn them almost every time I've ridden over the past year - hundreds of times.  But a couple weeks ago I noticed a problem - I had worn big holes along the inseam where they come in contact with the saddle.

Having never patched jeans before I wasn't too confident I would be able to do it.  So I wore them with the holes for another few rides - but the holes grew and it was time to stop wearing them in public.

Thankfully I had some strips of denim that my husband had cut off of the bottom of his jeans a while back (we are pretty short people) in my scrap stash.  Not sure what I was doing, I plunged in.

 

I turned the jeans inside-out and pinned a long strip of denim on each leg's inseam.  The hole doesn't look too big in the picture but the jeans were worn very thin surrounding the hole and I wanted the denim strip to cover all the thin spots.  I didn't worry about the denim strip overlapping any seams of the pants when I pinned it on.  I decided that I wanted even more coverage so I added more strips for a total of two on each inseam. 

Then I sewed around the perimeter of each strip using a zig-zag stitch.

The hardest part was figuring out how to access all the spots I needed to sew - it took a lot of reorienting my jeans on the machine and I stuck myself with quite a few pins, but all in all it wasn't too hard.  I just sort of winged it. Here's what it looked like when I was done sewing (and cutting off the excess denim over the seams).

Inside-out

The only difference on the outside is the stitches (you can see the darker blue denim through where the holes used to be)! Oh, and now you can't see through my pants =)

Right-side out

I read that you need a special needle to sew denim and was a little worried that I would break the needle that came in my machine but I didn't have any problems.  I was glad to not have to spend extra money on a new needle!  Originally I thought I might need to put another patch of t-shirt fabric over the denim so that I didn't get any rubs on my legs when riding, but I tested them out and they were really comfortable!  Success!  I wonder how many more hundreds of rides I can get out of these jeans...