I recently spent almost three days in my laundry room, sorting, cutting, pressing, folding and organizing my fabric scraps! I tried to be ruthless...but you never know when you might need a less-than-one-inch square of black fabric for an "eye" in a character applique...or that tiny piece of paisley for a flower petal!
Anyway, I got everything packed in containers in a manner that I can hopefully understand and utilize...and I even created a basket of "big" pieces with specific projects in mind. Now I have a LOT of projects! And yes, I previously had a LOT of projects, but now I really REALLY do!*lol*
One of the pieces in my "project" basket was the body of a ladies knit shirt in hues of emerald green, aqua, and white in a "peace sign" motif." I had made the sleeves of this shirt into leggings for my niece Zola about a month ago. Now it was time to use the rest to make a dress or top. I had aqua knit scraps and a new pattern for a toddler t-shirt that I had downloaded for free on the Internet. So I made a "yoke" out of the aqua, gathered the green print to it, and voila... I had a dress to go with the leggings!
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| Before...the large piece of fabric and a few scraps. |
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| After...a dress with contrast yoke and bow trim...fit for a princess! |
Next on my list of projects was a really cute red patterned ladies knit top I purchased at the thrift store for $1. I thought the pattern would make interesting leggings. But I couldn't stop there! I used virtually every piece of that shirt to create leggings, a jumper with floral rosette accents, and even a hair "scrunchie" from the neckband! I went through my button jar and found three darling heart-shaped buttons to accent the little rosettes. And here are the "before" and "after" pictures... including one of Zola's mother sent me of her modeling the new outfit!
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| Before - the basic long-sleeved tee. |
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| After... leggings, a top and a scrunchie! |
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| This was pretty much all that was left! |
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| She loves it!!! Isn't she darling?! |
I couldn't leave out the boys this week! So I took a flannel shirt that belonged to my husband (one that had shrunk in the wash so that the sleeves were too short) and created pajama pants for the boys. I wish I had remembered to take a "before" picture of the shirt, but I think you'll get the idea. It was your basic button-down. And BTW...I saved the buttons for another project (well, except for the two I used to mark the fronts of the pj pants!). I turned the sleeves into pants for Nathan, and the body of the shirt into pants for Timothy...complete with front pocket (the chest pocket)! I left the cuffs on the baby's pants. They can be turned up now...and turned down later for extra length! We really don't waste anything around here if we can help it! I added a few flannel scraps to my stash...you just never know what they might be handy for later!
Each of these projects took me a few hours to complete... time well spent to clothe the kiddos and recycle old items. I think a velour shirt is next...we're still having cold, icy weather, so the warmer fabrics seem appropriate. But I have my "spring stash" ready...and maybe by then my "project" basket will be a little less full!
