Reuse, Recycle, Rediscover!

If you've been reading the blog for any length of time, you will know that I have a special place in my heart for recycling/upcycling. Not because I have a Scrooge style clamp on my wallet, but because I hate to throw things away. Pretty much everything can be reborn if you have enough time and inspiration. Sometimes it even creates something better than the original!

This was certainly true with my last project. I set out with a mission to find my youngest child some new pyjamas. The problem being he has the most sensitive skin and everything from labels to seams irritate him. So I needed a very gentle solution. I began with the wonderful Oliver & S pattern for their Bedtime Story Pyjamas, unfortunately this is out of print now, but you can still purchase (stocks permitting) from some stores, I got mine from Saints & Pinners.

Next I moved onto fabric choices. I knew I wanted Flannel/brushed cotton, but I couldn't find any I liked in this country. The US puts us to shame when it comes to selections of this fabric. So I began raiding my stores and found two plain white flannel sheets from when my son was a baby. They were beautifully soft from washing and I had just the right amount. But I thought he might look like he was doing baby karate if I made them in white. Enter Dylon! I had a box of Purple washing machine dye left over from a previous project, so I set about dying the sheets. The results couldn't have been better (unfortunately I forgot to take a pic).

Next came the cutting and sewing, this pattern really is easy and before long I had these amazingly soft, label and side seam free pyjamas! My son adores them and wants to wear them all the time, I will certainly be making a second set soon, I may even treat myself to some imported flannel so I can use a cute fabric pattern.

Happy New Year!

The festive season seems to have whirled by as usual and here we find ourselves in a brand new year! I can't say that I've made any resolutions, I learnt many years ago that just because I decided something at new year, it didn't make me any more likely to stick to it. But new year always feels like a fresh start, time to rethink or restart. My house is often the lucky recipient of new paintwork or rearranged furniture at this time of year for that very reason.

But first on my agenda this year has been the beginning of a big sort out. I'm something of a hoarder so this is always a mammoth task. But in my usual spirit of reusing/recycling I like taking something new and giving it new life. This time it was an old ripped pair of jeans. The denim had got to that stage where it was lovely and soft to the touch, so even though the jeans were no more we couldn't resist using the fabric again. Above is my new needle case, finally I will have organised needles!

My daughter also got a new skirt (seen above) and bag (her name will be sewn on in due course). The bag is a particularly whimsical one as it's made out of the old jeans pocket.




Never one to leave someone out my son also got a new bag (again name to follow). He is going to keep some of his character cards in here. So happy child as he has a new bag and happy Mummy as his cards are kept together :)

I hope the new year begins the start of fun times for all of you as well.

Simple Upcycling Tutorial

It's that time of year now when we all unpack our hats and scarves. But sometimes you just don't like them as much as you did last year. Maybe you have a new coat or hairstyle, maybe you just fancy something new. Whatever the reason you shouldn't just bin last years wares, instead you should up/recycle them into something stylish and new. Here I'm bringing you one really simple and quick way to turn a plain hat and scarf into a gorgeous new item.

What You'll Need

Hat
Scarf
Buttons
Sewing Needle & Thread

 

Step 1

To be truly economical you should raid your button stash. If you don't have any buttons then take a look through your clothes, are there any you were planning to get rid of and could borrow the buttons from? How about making your own (see my previous tutorial here for instructions) or buy some.

Personally I like the buttons to be different sizes, styles and shapes. From a design point of view odd numbers always look better so keep that in mind.

Step 2

Arrange your buttons on the hat until your pleased with the effect, then sew them on. I sewed mine slightly to one side.





Step 3

Repeat the previous step on your scarf.

Step 4

Enjoy your brand new creations!! It really is as quick, simple and cheap as that!

Reuse, Recycle and Enjoy!

I was recently given two old pieces of furniture from Ikea. The owner was going to take them to the tip but I like to try and recycle things when I can and this furniture fitted into my house just not with it's present look. They had been unfinished bare wood treated with a clear wax, although they still felt quite rough to the touch. I would love to show you the before pics but unfortunately I didn't remember to take any.

I sanded them and then finished the tops with a darker briwax. I painted the bases white with paint tester pots. Finally came the fun stage where I got to play about with designs. I have accumulated quite a lot of decorative paper when in Italy and decided to finally put it to use, it always seemed too special for wrapping presents and then being thrown away. For the first cupboard I decided to cut out really simple house shapes from a variety of Venetian papers. I arranged the pieces in a design I liked and this is the end result.

For the second cupboard I cut out street scenes from paper bought in Florence. Each side had a different scene upon it.

The pictures were stuck on with PVA glue and then varnished afterwards with a quick drying matt varnish. Once this was dry I sanded it with very fine paper. I washed off the dust and varnished again. I did this process another four times until I could hardly feel where the paper pieces were.

These are now two very useful items that cost hardly anything to refurbish, mainly some time.