Pillowcases become Little Girl Dresses

Well, these are the last two little girl dresses I made out of pillowcases and by now I had got the drill down fast. First I dyed the pillowcases and after drying cut the fabric. Cutting is simple as I'm just snipping off the top about 6 inches so I can make the ribbon that goes through the neckline casing. Then I cut out the armholes and use those pieces to make the top stitched pockets on the front of each dress. Since these were one seam pillowcases, I put that seam down the back and angle seamed the sides so the dress would flare a bit at the bottom. Then I stitched on embellishments -- in this case some silver ribbon made from a hem I'd hacked off another dress. The yellow lace was left over from a table cloth I'd cut up another time (as it was all torn up except for the lace bits). Then I do the neck casing, about an inch and a half and then, after making the ribbon for the casing, I thread it through and make a bow for the shoulder.
I think I've now got the drill down to about 45 minutes per dress (not including the time to dye and wash and dry). There's tons of tutorials on Pinterest and in various blogs if you need a pattern for making these, just search away!
While I'm sewing these, I stay praying for the girls that will hopefully receive these. I think about how the dress will go with their personality and fit them properly (so I put a size label on them--you can see the white tag hanging off the pocket).
So these were given to Church of the Redeemer in Bowie, MD This church has a ministry where they deliver these to a non-profit that then packs off the dresses and other items to orphanages in various parts of the world.   So once again, I was happy to re-use and recycle some pillow slips and put them to a good use.  

Old Towel Turned Into Kitchen Apron

Well, I haven't put much up here lately as I've been really busy busting through the fabric pile and finishing several big scale sewing projects. One of the smaller, quicker projects was a re-cycle or re-use of part of a green towel that got frayed out on one end and was really raggedy and headed for the landfill. But no, I just had to turned the untorn half into something useful. So I hacked off the torn up part and made it into an apron using some left-over green bias tape to make the ties more interesting and to bind the pocket. I always put pockets on my aprons for cell phone or keys or candy or something.  I've already used this green towel apron a lot, hence the stain on it already! But it's totally washable as it's an old towel!

Old Light Bulbs Become Christmas Decorations

I'd accumulated some old light bulbs that I didn't want to put in the trash and hadn't found my way over to the recycling center, so I decided to turn them into Christmas ornaments. A quick couple of sprays with the silver spray paint and then I glued on some ribbon as a way to hang them and eh voila, nine light bulbs have a new use. Now I didn't finish them before Christmas so they didn't make it to our Christmas tree this year, but I'll be storing them away for next year with the other glass baubles and will hang them then.  Over the year I may think about adding other decorative elements to these, such as gluing on some shapes in bright colors or putting red or green strips of ribbon on them or some white snowflakey things...... well I've got 11 months to think about this.  Just glad to explore re-use of used light bulbs!

Wreath Made of old Rags and Fabric Scraps

This wreath is made completely out of scrap materials, including the frame made of twisted wires braided together. I tied on loads of ribbons made from little pieces of fabric left over from other sewing projects. For instance, since I've lost about 25 pounds in weight over the past 18 months and gone from a size 10 to a size 4 (!), I've had to take in the side seams on many dresses, tops and blouses over these past two seasons. In some cases, there are hems I've had to cut off also as skirts have gotten shorter lately or I've had to hack and trim to make things proportional. Other fabric pieces are just left-overs from some other sewing projects as I bust through my fabric stash making pillows, blankets, cloths, bags, table napkins, and children's clothes.  I don't even hem or finish the scraps for this wreath, I just make sure they are long enough to at least knot once around the wire frame. Now it's finished this wreath is hanging up in the kitchen but I'm thinking of putting it on the front door later in December as the colors seem kind of wintry.  I suppose I could add some Christmassy things to it -- maybe some shiny silver baubles I recently made by spray painting used light bulbs, or a big red ribbon -- but I'll think about that. But it's nice to make use of some fabric bits that would otherwise have ended up in landfill. And I can still keep tying bits of fabric over what's already here and change it's colors that way.  Sort of a continuous wreathing project..... And I move it around a bit.  This week it's hanging on the back of the kitchen door.

Easy Peasy Pencil Pen Scissor Holder

This little project took me almost no time at all, except for the paint drying part. It starts with a nuts can -- cashews, peanuts, mixed nuts come in this packaging. Once you've eaten the nuts (!) rinse and dry out the can. Take off the plastic lid and spray paint the can with whatever leftover colored paint you have. I used the apple green left over from some other projects. While the paint is drying, punch half a dozen slits in the plastic lid with a scissors blade and then cut across them to make X-shaped openings into which you will push pens, pencils, scissors, etc.   Once the paint is dry, you can decorate the outside of the can however you like -- in this case I had some gold-colored duct tape (an amazing product you should snap up every time you see it on sale in the Dollar Store or a hardware store).  I then weighted the can with some stones and put the lid on it and stuck in the pens and pencils.  Hey presto change, another item kept out of the landfill and made useful in my kitchen through recycling and re-use.

Man-Made Birds' Nests

I stumbled past this tree filled with man-made bird's nests in the 1700 block of First Street NW recently. I was quite taken aback by the creativity! They seem to made of bits of old wood, guttering, wire and nails and painted crazy patchwork style. I stood a while snapping away and then saw a little bird climbing out and up its "chimney"! I think it might have been one of those little chickadees you see around here. I know it wasn't a sparrow as I'm sure they only make their own homes of twigs.  Awesome! There were at least half of dozen of these and I think most of them were in use.  They look like places that it would be hard for cats or squirrels to get into.  I just love it when people find new uses for discarded or leftover things and put them into creative re-use.  It's just so inspiring! Now about those bits of ole wood piled up in my basement....and those half-used cans of paint...