Creative upcycling: sewing an apron out of gently used material

Now how cute are these aprons???  I was in apron mode earlier this summer because I wanted some pretty aprons for my girls and myself and possibly to make as gifts.  I was perusing through the thrift store and saw this fabric and it immediately struck me that it would be so pretty as aprons. But this was not regular fabric; it came in a much different form, but I got inspired because of the pretty print and lace.  Here is what it looked like when I bought it:

That's right!  It's a dust ruffle.  Dust ruffles are perfect to make aprons because they don't get much wear and tear, plus they have beautiful prints.  The tag said $6.99, but lucky me it was the color tag that was 50% off so I got this material for $3.50.  I made the three aprons you saw above, plus I have enough to make 3-4 more.  That is an amazing savings.  All I did was cut the print material that shows from the flat sheet portion that goes between the two mattresses.  I made a simple continuous tie and sewed that on.  In the first picture you can see I made one that was double...it's so pretty that way that I got to thinking how cute this would be to make little girl skirts as well.  Really, the possibilities are endless!  You could even make some pretty valances for your windows.

Speaking of valances, here's what I used to make adorable aprons for two of my nieces.

It is actually a valance, but I thought the print was sooooo sweet and would be perfect for little girls. What I like about using these gently used fabrics to make aprons is that most of your seams are already in place.  I am no seamstress...I can quilt, but putting in lace and ruffles is not something I am good at so why not get it already in place? Here's what it looks like on my sweet niece:

I made this at home so I didn't have a size reference when we visited on vacation, but it just fits her.  I made another one for her younger sister and that one she'll have plenty of room to grow in.  These are just some ideas on how to think outside the box when you need to make something.  Fabric is so expensive so why not look at garage sales and thrift stores or even your own home for inspiration.  I would love to hear what you are upcycling!  Be blessed and be inspired!

Delicious Recycling

Stick a spoon in me because this is just delicious!!!!!!!!  Saw on another blog post about these cans at Target.  Well, they are so graphic and have such fun colors that I had to get a set.  For $0.75 a can, not only did I get soup, I got the best colored pencil holders around.  I just washed out the cans, being careful of the labels, and dried them out well.  I couldn't help it...and my youngest daughter was so excited that she organized by color group according to the labels and was so inspired that she just had to go color something.  Love it!  May you find inspiration in a can!

Recycled Jean Quilt is Finished!!!

So much has been going on the last two weeks that I don't even know where to start!  I will keep this post to this quilt.  I had worked on getting it quilted and I really had to hurry because I have a daughter who was entering an apron in the county fair (that is going to be a whole other post!).  I hate having to recalibrate the machine because it took me forever to switch everything over to sew on the denim.  But lo and behold, it is finished!!!!  This is our summer picnic quilt.

There are six of us in the family and every one of us has jeans in this quilt.  The sweltering heat made it really uncomfortable to sew this behemoth!!!  It weighs about seven pounds and I was sweating while I was quilting it on my machine. At one point, I had to go outside with my machine and set up in the shade because it was over 85 degrees...in my house!!!!  I like how it turned out...because I used some stretchy jeans, some of the corners do not match perfectly...OH WELL!!!  This is one of those workhorse kind of quilts so I'm not too worried about the imperfections...that's the whole point of this quilt.  It's all been recycled and getting new life.  

The quilt laid out in the driveway.

Detail of the center...again from jeans we had! (sorry, bad picture)

I hope you are all having a productive summer.  I can finally check one project off my list!  How about you???  Blessings to you, and may you keep cool in this heat!!!

Recycling in the Suburban Homestead Garden

I haven't been posting much because of all the spring preparations.  It's been nothing but seedling and seed-starting "carnage" around here.  There are a lot of ways to recycle common household items that would normally get thrown away to use in seed-starting.  Here are some things I do:

I reuse disposable aluminum cooking containers.  Whether I do bulk cooking or acquire them through friends after an event, I have plenty to use for my seedlings.  The aluminum helps reflect the sun's warmth and light.  I start my heat-loving plants, like squashes, this way.  In the middle tray are my sunflowers.  I've never started sunflowers early before.  However, this year, I really want some bohemoths that grow 16 feet tall so I'm going to see if this works.  What do I do with the sunflowers now?  It's still a bit early for them and we've had tons of rain so I gave them each their own cozy little greenhouse.

That's right--more recycling!  These are two liter soda bottles that I've been collecting and cut up to house my seedlings right in the ground.  If it gets too warm, I can unscrew the lid or take the whole thing off.  This will keep the soil around them warm until they can get established and the air temperature finally warms up around here!  It's supposed to be near 75-80 this weekend so I'll be sure to pop these off so they don't get fried.  (You can do this with virtually any large plastic container you have:  milk jugs, juice containers, etc.)

When you're out shopping and checking out clearance items, look at things that you can use more than once.  I was out a couple of weeks ago and they had Easter candy on clearance.  Look at this container:

These were filled with delicious gummie candies for $0.20 each.  I was not interested in the candy (although we all loved them); it was the container I wanted!  It's perfect for soaking seeds--you can use both the lid and bottom for this.

Here are some Morning Glories ready to go out.  (Remember to nick their hard seed coat before you soak.)  These were the perfect size so I soaked all my morning glories and sweet peas this way!  Perfect containers--plus, I can save seeds in these later in the summer.  Here's another scenario:  you're shopping and you get the family a rotisserie chicken for dinner.  Cook up that carcass for stock, and don't throw out the plastic container the chicken came in.  It is perfect for housing those little peat pots and comes with it's own lid!

Back to two-liter soda bottles:  here's a pumpkin I started early.  I cut the two-liter bottle two-thirds of the way up, and then I use the top by inverting it to keep the greenhouse effect.  Once it's warm enough, you won't need the lid and you can transplant.  

Again, you can use pretty much any plastic container you have around.  I also use yogurt cups for seedlings, and in some of the pictures I have plastic cups that I fill with seed starting medium.  I put most things under lights in my basement, but I have quickly run out of room and one of my lights has blown out (argh!).  So, I am trying to get things rotated through as fast as I can to get them out in the garden.  The weather is still a bit shaky around here, but I am trying to keep up the best I can.  My whole point of this post is to show that there are so many things we can recycle to suit our purposes.  I hope this inspires you to get planting or get creative.  

I'd love to hear some of the innovative ways you start your seeds.  Until next time, happy gardening!

Blessings to you!