Rescuing Blemished Clothes

Ack, that sounds so serious!

This post has nothing to do with cleaning, let me tell you.  It has to do with having/finding a piece of clothing that is only one small stain (or ugly design) away from usability.  I should call it "Save That Shirt"!  LOL  This will open your eyes to keeping those cherished onesies, shirts, and pants that fell prey to spills.  Or, in my case, taking advantage of a super-affordable item that has a less-than-ideal picture on it.  Now I'm lamenting all the cute clothes I tossed that had stains or sports on them...and now I'm also spending more at Goodwill!  (Like that needed to happen...)

Figure out what design or picture you want on your item and sketch it out to get a feel for the size.  Caspian chose Plex, and fortunately settled for just his head.  He'd outgrown all of his light outerwear, and I found a great hoodie at our Habitat for Humanity ReStore for 50¢.  Well, it was great except for the yucky football screenprint on the chest.

Take some felt (on sale 8-for-$1) and some embroidery thread (which you probably already have) and, in my case, a button from my late grandmother-in-law's sewing stash.

Then make-over your hoodie!  Granted, I wouldn't have chosen a grey design for a grey hoodie, but I didn't have silver felt and Caspian wanted Plex, end of story.  :)   I positioned all my pieces, then Fabri-tac-ed the layers together and stitched each piece down before Fabri-tac-ing them down to the next piece.  I hand-sewed the button on (it's Caspian's favorite part).  At the end, I fray-checked all the threads and knots on the backside.  Can you find the feature I forgot to topstitch...?

Think of all the possibilities!  Coordinate a plain shirt to match a patterned skirt, personalize with monograms, the mind reels!  Felt is so inexpensive and user-friendly.  I was totally inspired and empowered by my IRL friend Andrea, who is a felt appliqué goddess.  Just look at this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and THIS, and oh my gosh THIS (I know, it's not felt, but wow).  You can do this with fleece too, which you also don't have to finish, or you can use regular fabric, which will fray.  For now, I'm sticking with felt.

Got plenty more in-progress pics to come!

Rescuing Blemished Clothes

Ack, that sounds so serious!

This post has nothing to do with cleaning, let me tell you.  It has to do with having/finding a piece of clothing that is only one small stain (or ugly design) away from usability.  This will open your eyes to keeping those cherished onesies, shirts, and pants that fell prey to spills.  Or, in my case, taking advantage of a super-affordable item that has a less-than-ideal picture on it.

Figure out what design or picture you want on your item.  Caspian chose Plex, and fortunately settled for just his head.  He needed some light outerwear that fit, and I found a great hoodie at our Habitat for Humanity ReStore for 50¢.  Well, it was great, except for the yucky football screenprint on the chest.

Take some felt and some embroidery thread (which you probably already have) and, in my case, a button from my grandmother-in-law's sewing stash.

Then make-over your hoodie!  Granted, I wouldn't have chosen a grey design for a grey hoodie, but I didn't have silver felt and Caspian wanted Plex, end of story.  :)

Got plenty more in-progress pics to come!

Ultimate Crayon Roll, purse-sized beta: part 1 (fear)

Crayon rolls have been on my mind.

Unfortunately, I  am a control freak  am very picky  have high personal standards when it comes to my own craft projects.

That "high standard" is otherwise known as "fear"...or "perfectionist's paralysis."  I am so afraid of messing up my carefully-chosen-and-irreplaceably-precious materials, I never get started.

Which is why, for example, the bazillion dollars worth of scrapbooking materials I carefully handpicked while I was pregnant with Caspian is still in its cellophane wrapping.  Pregnant with my 4½ year-old, Caspian.  Still in its unopened cellophane wrapping.  Over 4½ years later.  (Admit it: some of you just had a mental image of storming my house to rescue my neglected Creative Memories cardstock.)

But technically, "perfectionist's paralysis" isn't quite the issue here.  The fear in this instance stems from something I'll call..."my sewing machine."

I've always aspired to sew, but it just seemed so involved.  Bobbins and threading and darts and seam allowances and stitch length and all the other big intimidating things that you veteran seamstresses are rolling your eyes at.  I received a Janome Sew Mini for Christmas 2009 and, prior to this month, used it exactly twice: to make a tissue holder for my purse and to put together my kids' Halloween costumes last year.  My house is still a work in progress — though it's getting MUCH better — so I have to use the kitchen table and living room desk whenever I need to sew and iron.  (Remember though, "whenever" means "twice in the last 14 months".) Since I know that eventually, when I get my act together, I'll have my craft desk to sew upon, I keep putting off sewing projects in the hope that I'll get my act together sooner rather than later.

The crayon roll, however, won't let me rest.

Here's how my train of thought has progressed in the last few weeks:

1. My kids have crayons.
2. Those crayons are in a box from IKEA.
3. I need that box to store something else.
4. I should make a crayon roll for my kids.
5. It would be great to make one with a denim exterior, for durability.
6. I should use my hubby's old jeans for that project.
7. I should make a practice roll first.
8. None of the roll tutorials have all the features I'm looking for.
9. I should make my own design.
10. I've only ever sewn 2 things and go all sweaty at the thought of patterns.
11. Can I do this?
12. Aaaauuuuggghhh!
13. I shouldn't use my sewing machine until I can get my craft desk unearthed.
14. Ooh, I found a Buzz Lightyear bed sheet that gives me inspiration for my design!
15. Now I really need to make a practice roll.
16. I'd better make a practice-practice roll, to get the hang of it before I try to get fancy.
17. Well, I'm going to get fancy anyway, but at least I can use "normal" materials on the first run-through.

Fast forward past my revolutionary sheet-using design to my practice-practice design, which is more traditional.  Well, except that I designed it to incorporate all the features I wanted in a crayon roll: 8 crayons only (for purse-carrying, which didn't exist in blogland tutorials), a flap to contain the crayons, decorative trim, elastic-and-button closure, AND (my proudest achievement) a custom pocket to hold a little notepad!  Why hasn't anyone else put in a notepad pocket?  My very own design out of my own little head — I'm so excited!  I am just astonished that what started as a pencil sketch in my home journal progressed into handwritten step-by-step directions that actually turned into a real thing...which looks like the original sketch!  It's like holding a little alien in your hand.  Is it really real?!

I can't believe I sewed this thing. And I designed a sewing project!  With seam allowances and top-stitching and pressing and interfacing and, and...  ((hyperventilating))   Okay...okay...I can do this.  I did this!  Wow.

The fabric is from the fat quarter wall at WalMart.  Caspian chose what he calls "red lava" as the main fabric.  The button is from my husband's deceased grandmother's sewing stash, which was given to our family.  The pocket was designed for a little spiral-topped notepad (or "handy dandy notebook", as it's called at our house), but I couldn't find ours for the life of me.  The one pictured is some freebie from a hotel.

The detailed tutorial and dimensions will follow.  You are welcome to make my Ultimate Crayon Rolls or gift them, but full credit AND a link back here must be directly attached, please.  I worked H-A-R-D on this design!   :D   Thanks!   As EllieG puts it, "Do not repost without linking back, do not alter or claim as your own.  Personal use only."