Earth Day shirt

What do you get when you take a skirt your husband accidentally bleached* and add leftover fabric???

an EARTH DAY SHIRT!

This skirt is the first thing I made with my new sewing machine - made a top to match. Wore it once, then it met a rag soaked in bleach. I've had it sitting in my scrap pile trying to figure out if I wanted to try to fix it (huge patch?? tie dye??). Along comes Earth Day and I decide the time has come to give this skirt new life...

I wanted to cut out a map, but knew it would be too difficult to cut the fabric with all those curves. I used fabric stiffener to make the green fabric stiff (obviously....). I was then able to cut the intricate map much easier w/o having to worry about fraying. (I just print out a globe and used it as my template.)

I looked all over for a picture with both North America and Australia, but one couldn't be found. So he got just North and South America. I added the "heart" and "r" to make it an "Earth Lover" shirt.

Close-up of the intricate work. It was actually easy to cut once stiff and the applique sewing wasn't that hard (as long as I took my time).

Big Earth Day hug to you!

(shirt made using 90-minute shirt pattern from Made)

COST: free

all material on hand/repurposed


*(we never use bleach, but DieselBaby had a nosebleed one night. a HORRIBLE nosebleed. All over the bed. In our fully furnished apartment. We tried everything to get the blood out. We had to resort to bleach to get the blood out of the mattress. DieselBaby and I left the house during prime fume time.)


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cheap pattern storage

I realize it isn't rocket science....

Recently, I have been drafting my own patterns for DieselBaby and myself. The papers were becoming a bit unruly and I needed some way to corral them. Out of desperation, I reached for an empty cereal box on it's way to the recycling area.

I folded all the little pattern pieces inside a large piece and tucked it in the box...instant "organization" On the outside piece, I wrote what the pattern was for so I could grab at a glance. In the future, I might pick up some manila envelopes to slip all the pieces into.

I could have taken the "classy" route and covered the cereal box with pretty papers. I've done that with some boxes for DieselBaby's color books. I was desperate (for organization). lazy. and cheap.

I opted not to cut one side down like a magazine holder. I feel like it hold the papers in better.

Reminds me of my old drafting days in college.

If I get a few projects going at the same time, I could use a box per project. Putting the pattern, fabric pieces and notions in the box. Then I could just grab the box and start working instead of trying to hunt down all the parts of the project.

Bowling anyone?

Reduce, REUSE, recycle

Been saving up 2L Diet Coke bottles for a bit.

Ok, not really saving, I just hadn't gotten to the recycler for a while. (and sadly it did not take me long to get this many bottles. i love Diet Coke) I need to get a Soda Stream...

This weekend, I lined the bottles up and.....STRIKE! We bowled.
I originally thought tennis balls would be best, but our soccer ball had the best knocking power.

I've thought about spray painting these. I should also rinse them out (made evident by the above picture) and glue on the caps. Nice little choking hazards...

Sorry...no action shots. We were having a blast bowling. I did more setting of the "pins" than actual bowling, but fun none-the-less.

preview

Just a little preview of some upcoming posts.

(don't judge the cereal. We were desperate for cereal one nite and the only thing open was the market downstairs. We paid thru the nose for our yummy nutty cereal.)

Love this fabric. It actually a home decor fabric but I had a vision

...

Little Bunny Foo-Foo

Originally when I made my Peeps garland, I planned on sewing right sides together, turning and top stitching. Halfway thru bunny #1 I realized that would take me for freakin' ever. Nevermind that I was so engrossed in thought that I forgot to leave space to actually turn the bunny right-side out.

On to bunny #2. This time I left enough room to turn, but didn't have the energy to go press the bunny then top-stitch x 9 (well 8 at this point). So I abandoned the turned and top-stitch idea. I decided just to sew the two layers together and leave the fraying edges.

Bunny #2 has now become a hand puppet for DieselBaby. He loves playing with it. Hopping all over. He wanted to take it for "show and tell" but I'm not sure Bunny #2 would stand up to all those kiddos....

Stenciling DieselMonkey style...

What do you do when you have a white t-shirt with a stain,

a big wall sticker, and some paint?

A cute little shirt for DieselBaby!

The elephant sticker outline was used with a circle placed for the eye. The "E" was made by putting a sticker on the shirt and putting a square around it with cellotape. I cut up a kitchen sponge and applied a mixture of grey and silver paint. Once the paint was dry, I used black to detail the ear, legs, and tail.

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Shirt facelift

I don't know about you, but I have a few shirts in my closet that I don't wear b/c they are not flattering. Boxy. Drab.

I decided to give some a facelift...









Voila....shirt that fits and makes me feel feminine.

I was able to give 3 shirts a facelife during one episode of "What Not to Wear". Appropriate, no?

from scraps to...

Pretties....

I made 2 slits on the bottom fabric to slip the barrette thru.

easy peasy gift...

I think I'll do this again next year. It will be interesting to see how DieselBaby's hand grows through the years.

Office supplies + too much time =

Look familiar?