Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: Reusable Lavender Dryer Sachets

I occasionally indulge and purchase the Lavender Dryer Sachets from Trader Joe's.  They're quite pricey in my opinion, around $4 for a plastic packet of four.  I dislike the idea of tossing that plastic in the trash and the bags degrade so they're not infinitely reusable, despite the fact that the scent seems very long lasting.  I've also had one pop open in the dryer and found my lint trap overrun with the contents.  Luckily nothing overheated as a result of that incident. 

Recently I found myself wondering what I could do to prolong the life of the two sachets I had in my laundry area and decided I would try emptying the contents into some fabric scraps and seeing how long the scent lasts.  I can tell you that these two little sachets have been going for months now and still have a light, pleasant scent.  I find the lighter scent more pleasing, I don't want heavily scented clothing, it will give me a headache, but I like having a dryer sheet substitute, since I'd never put one of those in with my laundry.  Between my wonderful wool dryer balls and these sachets, we've got it all covered.

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: Cotton Baby Ball

I made this ball on a small round wood loom with two strands of Sugar 'n Cream yarn that had been in my stash for a few years.  The ball is filled with waste from my stuffing bag such as serger trimmings. Since the tiny bits would slip out of the open loom knit stitching I loaded it up into the foot of a no longer wearable pair of tights.  The end was tied off and I put a few stitches in the knot to be extra sure it won't open when some little sweetie chews on it.  It is fully washable and I'm proud to say it kept scraps and a bit of microfiber tights out of the waste stream.

This is a donation for Online-Angels.

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: UnPaper Towels

I haven't bought a roll of paper towels in years. Now don't let me give you the wrong impression - I can't seem to prevent my spouse from buying them for use in his car, but I have not brought a roll of paper towels into the house in probably five years, maybe more.

But instead of buying fabric to make UnPaper Towels with, I like to take the recycling approach. Surprise, surprise, huh? The sweet fall leaves fabric you see here used to be a pair of pajama pants. Yes, it's true, all our old pajamas become UnPaper Towels. It is hard to see in the photo, but the pile on the left is the reclaimed fabric after I cut out all the seams and ironed it flat. The pile on the right is the finished product, serged all around with wooly nylon. I use the serging process to make built in loops at each corner. I use those loops to secure the towels to the paper towel holder over my sink. The towels are in the same place everyone is used to them being. They work for all the same things, only they're much prettier and don't create waste. In fact, for quite some time they are keeping themselves out of the waste stream.

When they become too soiled they get put in the rag bag. Once there they can still be used many more times, until they do eventually get tossed in the trash. But even then I feel good about how much work I've done with them as UnPaper Towels and as rags.

Do you use UnPaper Towels? Do you make them or purchase them?

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: Eye Mask

Due to the hours I work, I find a sleep mask absolutely essential to getting all the rest I need. We have lots of them around the house as everyone has odd schedules here. This one was a freebie. The elastic slipped out of the seam in one spot, leaving me with only one band of elastic to keep it in place and a long, stringy tail to get tangled in my hair.



Why bother to repair a freebie when I have others? Because #1 it was free and #2 there is no reason for it to be in the landfill when a few hand stitches will make it good as new. Knowing hand sewing isn't easy for me (it makes my wrists hurt) you can see how important I think it is to keep your things in good repair and avoid adding to all the discarded trash on our planet.

Nap time!

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: Pink Floral Dress to Pink Floral Skirt

A few days ago my daughter, a size 0, cleaned out her closet and brought me this very pretty size 4 dress from H&M. It was destined for my charity box, knowing it would make some young girl happy to have something so pretty...until I noticed that it had a stain on the front. Also, she had melted the ribbon trim when she'd accidentally touched it with the iron. So now I knew it wasn't suitable for giving...sigh. What to do with it? The fabric was too pretty to let go. My daughter suggested grocery bags, but I hoped to see it have a second life as clothing.

Finally, I decided to remove the ribbon and separate the bodice from the skirt. I thought the skirt wide enough that I could make a summer top from it for myself, a size 16.

Once it was detached I slipped it over my head only to decide it was too snug around the top and made me look squished. But I did discover just how much give the fabric had and decided that with very little effort I could have a bright, new skirt.

All I had to do was iron down along the old fold line and sew a quick stitch all around the top. I can't believe how much stretch it has to it! I saved the usable parts of the ribbon - heaven knows I'm always looking for nice ribbon - in my ribbon stash box. I need to check with my daughter to see if she'd like the bodice as a summer top, otherwise I'm going to scavenge it to make a nice fabric bow to cover the stain. It falls very high on the skirt and I plan to wear a long shirt with this anyway so I will be able to get away with it regardless of whether she wants the bodice or not. If she doesn't, I'll also end up with a very long pink zipper. I'm thinking it might make a fun purse. We'll see.

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: Delicious Yarn From a Thrifted Sweater

I picked up this gorgeous alpaca/wool, name brand sweater at Salvation Army for $2.25. The moment I saw it I turned it inside out in order to gauge the possibility of unraveling it and was thrilled to find the right kind of seams. Yay!



The seams came apart like a dream! They'd been joined with a yarn of a slightly different color which meant it was simple to snip them free without concerning myself I would accidentally snip something I shouldn't.

As you can see, the added design element was 'sewn' on. I snipped off the knot shown in the photo above and easily pulled it out.



I thought the rest of the unraveling would go just as smoothly. Boy was I wrong. Not being a knitter I simply had no clue of the intricacies of putting together a patterned sweater. As you see above, the front panel is made up of three parts woven together. So it was frog one side, untwist from center yarn, frog center yarn, untwist from other side of yarn, frog second side, repeat. I won't lie, I thought that was tedious. Then I got to the arms/back, none of which had any design, but that didn't mean the parts were knit in a single panel either.

It took almost an entire morning and afternoon to unravel this sweater.




Here you can see the results. With the sweater being a men's large I sure did get a nice quantity of yarn. I'm hoping to get a double layer hat plus a single layer hat out of it. Just two days before I found this sweater to unravel hubby ruined his nice, heavy, double layer alpaca hat so he definitely needs a new one. I think I'll get started on this project today. Despite the frogging being so much work, the yarn is just gorgeous and I think it was worth all the effort.

Two Hats for Thursday

As always, for Online Angels.

These hats are in honor of my Angel friend Tracy and her beautiful Mom, who passed this week.

Betty worked long after most folks have retired, was a strong and loving lady. She certainly raised a wonderful woman, Tracy, who herself is a strong and loving mom.

The black yarn is soft, like a mom's loving touch, and is recycled from a hat I made my own mom. The body of the hat is very thick and warm, protecting a little one's head from being cold or bumped, just like Betty - strong and present.

The variegated is a favorite yarn of mine. It makes me smile when I see it, just as Tracy brings joy and light to those around her.

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: Shoe Bags From Pant Legs

These were the legs of my daughter's old capri pants. The rest had been made into a purse long ago.

First, I cut them to a size suitable for my many pairs of work shoes.

I am on my feet all day long and change my shoes during the day - it's good for my feet to do so. That means I have three pairs of shoes on hand at work plus whatever sneakers or boots I wore while commuting.

I don't want them getting beat up so I'd been meaning to make some bags for a while. When I was going through my stash for bag fabrics I came across these and knew they would not only work but look cute hanging on a hook as well.

The scraps I cut to make them the right length became booties you can see in last Thursday's post. So for one cut and two seams I've got the two pairs of shoes not on my feet set up with pretty little bags to protect them.

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: Grocery Bags

These were my Christmas gifts. I started with a goal of forty. Twenty were to go to our family holiday gathering and twenty to the folks in my daughter's office who have graciously cared for our animals during various emergencies this year. Then I got a little more ambitious and decided sixty would be better so folks might have more than one each. I went at it like a beast, cutting up clothing, sheets, curtains and remnants from my stash, assembling them in various stages without counting. The third photo shows an old guinea pig cage cover I'd sewn for our pets. We'd used it for a couple of years before switching to a different cage. I'd always wanted another project for this very pretty fabric to go to - this was definitely the one!

I wanted each to have a tag tied to it that identified what it came from - remnant, pajamas, curtain, etc. and since my daughter is the scrapbooker that was her contribution to the project. Well, that and tying and cutting all the threads which was one heck of a job! Her poor fingers.

When I finally finished sewing she had tagged and counted over 80!

I'm told they were enjoyed at her office for which I am glad. I wish I'd had more of an opportunity to sit down with folks who were going through them at our family Christmas. When one pink bag was described as being curtains from one of my parents' old places in Hollywood my brother, a big guy you wouldn't imagine wanting a pink bag, immediately spoke up for it. That was exactly what I had hoped for - to bring a little bit of fond memory to someone's day as they drop a loaf of bread into their bag...and to do some recycling and destashing.

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: Pink Trim Jeans Skirt

The decluttering of the attic continues.

In my latest find I came across a pair of jeans I once loved but which were put away when I hit size 28. They're tagged as a size 20, but the waist measures 17.5" across the back, making them a 35" waist. No before photo, sorry. I forgot. The jeans were that bleached, nearly-white denim from the 90's, with a strip of light pink braided fabric down the sides.

I snipped the legs off, partially picked out the front and back seams, then resewed them with a light pink thread that matches the side accents. I also sewed along the bottom so it will only fray up a little bit, then picked the tag off the back pocket. It was black and red - definitely didn't work with the pink.





Once it was completed I loved everything about it! Then I put it on.

Is size 20 a 35" waist? I wear 14/16 and they usually have a little give in the waist. Regardless, as you can see from the photos, the skirt I so lovingly remade from a well loved pair of jeans that were stored away for years makes me look like a walrus. :( It's a stretch denim & the jeans were clearly made to stretch attractively across the body of someone who has feminine hips, which I, sadly, do not. When they were jeans I wore them with a long shirt over them - the one I made the pink pillow from a few days ago - and clearly never noticed how bad they must have looked on me.

So - my bad luck is your good luck. Someone out there with a 35" waist and a beautiful feminine figure is going to receive this skirt to enjoy. I'll run this giveaway until 8pm Eastern US time, Thanksgiving Day (for those outside the US that's Thursday November 26th, when I'll have one of the guests at my family gathering pick a number from all the entries received.

To enter please comment below with your blog URL. If you don't have a blog of your own show me the URL of a blog you enjoy reading.

Choice of shipping method reserved. I am not a professional seamstress, skirt may or may not fit you, stand up to the durability of your laundry appliances (it has been washed twice on heavy duty with no problem), YMMV, etc. Risk of use of this item is with the winner, I shall not be liable for any damages, real or perceived, as a result of winning my friendly little drawing.

Enjoy folks!

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: More Pillows

Another project from the old pillows I pulled out of storage. I loved the shirt, but it was a 3X and no matter how I could picture modifying it to fit me now there was no option that would cut away the stain that was right on the front. Making a pillow cover did the trick. And of course there are the obligatory guinea pig pillows made from the sleeves and stuffed with scraps from other projects.


These took all of twenty minutes to put together. And for all my 'get rid of it now if you can't use it' I'm kind of glad I found this stashed in the attic. The colors are pretty and it makes me smile to look at the shirt. Finding a good use for it will let me smile at it some more.

Halloween Costume Accessories From Too Big Linen Outfit

I love dressing like a Pirate Wench whenever the opportunity arises. I've been trying to stick to period when I make new pieces and had been wanting to replace the stretch velvet accessories I had with some linen ones. While going through the attic I found an old Lord & Taylor linen outfit in size 26. I thought I might refashion it into a smaller size of the same outfit, but then the elastic let go when I picked it up and I decided to just rip into it and scavenge the fabric. Here it is before:


From that nice amount of fabric I made a head wrap, a belt that wraps around me three times generously with leftover still hanging to my knees, a pouch from the linen side of the pockets and the jacket drawstring, some long strips to secure my fake weapons and scope to my belt with, and a nice, long strip to wrap around my antiqued 'rum' bottle. Here they are folded up on my ironing board:



And here they are in action:


I had a great time wearing this, especially at work!

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: Pillows

I had some stuffing I cut out of a couple pillows that had lost their shape. Here it is with some fabric remnants from my stash:




Put them together, and well, here's the obvious:




Some cute little kid sized pillows that are now headed for my charity.

Crafting Between Household Chores

Having been away for five days last week my house is an even bigger disaster than usual, since I was the only one away for the bulk of that time. That means I'm spending my days off cleaning up after them and will have to put off for another week the tweaking I need to do to my Halloween costume and the hacking up of some sweaters that need to become shrugs to fill a gap in my wardrobe.

So here are three quick projects, knocked out in a few minutes each during breaks I needed to take in order to keep my sanity.




First up, a little bag for my clothespins. I, unfortunately, don't use an outdoor clothesline due to allergies but I do use clothespins with my drying rack and to close things like chip bags. So we don't have a large collection and with the bag not being stored outside pretty could take precedence to durable. You may recognize this remnant from the jeans to skirt refashion a little while back. This used up the last of the fabric, with the exception of a few small scraps that go into the box I send off to OA's quilter every so often.

This little bag is now hanging on the rod over my washer and is quite an improvement over the plastic bag you see next to it.




Next up a bouncy skirt from leftover giftwrap tulle and a bit of stash elastic. This will go into the box for my Christmas child. I look forward to giving a box of gifts to a child through OA each Christmas. I'm thinking I'm going to include some dress-up items this year and thought this would be a fun start.






Last up, a guinea pig pillow from a recently unearthed dishtowel that belonged to my mother-in-law. It is stuffed with the rest of the towel and scraps from my scrap bag.






Each little project was fun to make and a nice diversion from how cranky I am over lack of housekeeping cooperation.

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: Curtain to Grocery Bags

More from the ultra-soft 80's curtains Mom gave me. I used the bulk of them for pillowcases, put some parts not large enough for me to work with but large enough to be quilted with in the box where I collect fabric to send to the wonderful Karen who makes tons of quilts for OA and have made some grocery totes from the leftovers large enough to work for that purpose. One for Mom, one for me. Extras will be split between OA and Christmas giving.

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: My First Reverse Applique

I'm very excited about this adventure! So excited that as you can see there are two posts today and I took quite a few photos of this project. I wasn't able to decide which to use so you've got a Photobucket slideshow.

The white, short sleeve shirt was such a favorite of mine that around here it is known by name - Midvale School for the Gifted. It was saved in a drawer for (mumble, mumble) six years (mumble, mumble) because I loved it so much I knew I could eventually find a way to wear it again. Midvale had two major problems - it was a 2X, and praise God I am no longer a 2X, in addition to it having quite a few stains on it. The neckband was discolored from age. Funny enough, in the process of remaking these shirts I found that the back of the print is stained too but luckily it does not show through to the front. You can see that stain in the slideshow.

The second shirt is a Large and while I'm a large in Ladies' garments, I am apparently not a Large in Men's long sleeve t-shirts. So it is a little wide around the middle and the shoulders are too big. Being a plain, not well fitted shirt, it wasn't getting much wear. I wanted to resize the shoulders, but the sleeves, despite how large the shirt is, come just to my wrists. Because I am often very cold in the winter I need the length of the sleeves so until I have the patience to lengthen them while taking in the shirt overall, I'm going to leave it as it is. Due to said coldness I generally dress in quite a few layers so the extra space is good for the wintertime layering. When it starts to annoy me I'll adjust it some more.

There were two graphics on the shirt, the large main one on the chest, and a smaller one near the hem, front left. I like the look of shirts with a little graphic at top center back so I placed the smaller graphic there on the project shirt. The large graphic went back to the same place on the new shirt as it was on the original.

The color of the shirt to be appliqued said Frankenstein to me so I wanted to make a Frankensteiny stitch for the project. Good thing - because at first I forgot to change to a ball point needle. It was definitely looking Frankenstein-like by the time I figured it out. But I did eventually catch my error. Since I was going for Frankie anyway, I didn't pick too much of it out. The stitch is my machine's smallest straight stitch, layered next with the smallest zig zag and topped with the largest zig zag. On the front it is flawless. The back has remnants of my experimentation. If it begins to annoy me I'll pick more of the non-ball point needle stitch out.

In the true spirit of Waste Not Want Not, I made pillows for our guinea pigs out of the short sleeves from the white shirt and the panel I cut out from the green one in order to expose the applique. They're stuffed with the other leftover bits of the white shirt.

I love how it turned out and know I will wear it quite a bit now that chilly season has set in.

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: Bathmat Edition

As you can see from this photo, our bathmat had quite a large area that had turned to nothing more than strings. The towel next to it was fine, with the exception that the sides were unraveling. I can't remember where I saw the idea of a bathmat woven from towels but I knew these two items were destined to become one.

If anyone reading knows where I found my inspiration please comment, I want to credit the person whose idea it was originally.

Once I had all the strips cut I stitched them in place across one end horizontally and one vertically then wove them into each other, then began anchoring each strip down between the weaves. The first couple of rows I sewed without pinning. I started to get frustrated at the weave slipping out when I worked it in and out of my machine so I took to pinning it.

Then I got tired of pinning and repinning every time something shifted, so I went back to no pins. I felt like it was a lot of work for something so simple, but what it came down to was it was quite a task for my little quarter century old Kenmore. I love my machine dearly, it has been quite the workhorse but two or three thicknesses of fluffy towel and a thick bath mat are just too much to ask of it. I really need to learn more about heavy duty machines because I should eventually add one to my lineup.

As you can see from the photo, it is not quite perfect but it sure is nice. Thick, soft and will keep the tootsies warm this winter.

Two favorite things about this project:

How soft and pretty this turned out.

Hearing the following conversation going on in the living room:

(Phone Rings)

Kid: Hi Dad

(Pause)

Kid: She's in the office. (My sewing room is also the home office & library.)

(Pause)

Kid: Sewing a new bath rug out of the old bath rug and a towel.


Now, you probably have to love crafting as much as I do to be so pleased by this, or at least know how matter of factly she made the last statement as though her father should know if I was in there SOMETHING was being remade into something else.

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: Torn Loom Knitted Hat

I made this hat from some yarn I despise working with because my Mom asked me to. It was a battle to loom and Mom only got a few wears out of it before my lack of coordination with the yarn while constructing it caught up with her, snapping a stitch which obviously caused a big tear in the hat. I love Mom but there's no way I can battle this yarn sufficiently to make it a hat again.
As you can see I've frogged the hat, wound the bits into balls and have some left over that will go in my 'stuffing bag' which itself is a post for another day.

I plan to use the recycled yarn for the brim of a new hat for Mom, the bulk of which will be made with much friendlier to work with wool, as opposed to this synthetic chenille.

I Made It to Wardrobe Refashion!

On my 3rd try I finally made the cut! You can see my first post here!

The Pledge

I, Crunchysews, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! Signed, Crunchysews.

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday Two: Handle Cover

I recently cut up a pair of my hubby's retired Carhartts. This particular pair was denim, a rarity for him. Loving to repurpose jeans as much as I do, I thought I might make myself a skirt from the parts that weren't too stained. That notion was dashed, however, when I discovered these were from before he gained a few and I lost a few putting us both in the same waist measurement range. I may still make a half-apron out of the top, I'm not sure. In the meantime I created this little beauty.

What is it, you ask? I've prepared some slides with which to better illustrate. (Ten sci-fi nerd points to any person who identifies the reference.)





Once my hubby's tool pocket, this is now a handle cover for my beloved cast-iron cookware.

Unfortunately for me the serger I have, while quite the little workhorse, is not manufactured for heavy-duty use. This meant that while I could serge four layers of denim together, I could not serge over the grommet or top seam. While I would have liked to make the width a bit slimmer, the serger was going to have none of it. Knowing that trying to coax the desired seam out of it would only result in a costly repair bill at the Viking shop I instead serged together the strip you see in the photo. Slip it right inside the tool pocket and slip the pocket over the handle. It is plenty insulated for me.

Another feature I added was to leave a little spare fabric at the top so that it folds down in front of my fingers. No worries about reaching for the pot a little too far up the handle and burning my finger against the bowl of the pan.

Plus it is nice to have a reminder of hubby there while I'm cooking.