I loved how the sock yarn sleeve turned out. For my second try, I picked a yarn with lots of thick and thin weights. Not sure if I’m liking it as much. I’m going to try one more in worsted weight and then post the formula.
I wish I had taken a picture of the completed sleeve with my real camera. The yarn is so beautiful in real life. Alas, I’ve already gifted it. Plus, I promised myself not to stress over perfection. Moving on and trying to stay in the flow.
Last year I sewed a bunch of sleeves and wallets to give with gift cards. Since my sewing machine is still collecting dust, I decided this year to work on a crochet version.
I found a lot of cute patterns on Ravelry, both crochet and knit, but the ones I liked were written for a specific yarn weight. I want to use up little bits of leftovers for this project and don’t feel like dealing with gauge math for every single one.
So, I’m working on a formula, which I will share once I’ve got it figured out.
What are your favorite ways to give gift cards?
It occurred to me as I got dressed this morning that I never blogged about one of my favorite refashions: the hippie shirt. I love the look of these style tunics, but they’re not the most flattering for me. I really need a defined waist.
I refashioned this last year before I ever attempted to remove a sleeve from a shirt. I just used my 80s sweater method and took it in a little bit under the arms and around the waist.
Luckily this material was forgiving and it turned out pretty good. I’d like to do the same to some of my knit jersey shirts, but I think I’m going to have to take the sleeves apart to alter them. I plan to practice on a few of my thrifted shirts. Hopefully, I’ll have some success stories to post soon!
Ever since I started knitting socks, I’ve wanted to knit a pair for everyone in my family. There’s something about giving a gift of warmth, especially when it’s handmade, that I really like. I just don’t have time to make it happen, so I started to think of alternatives.
One day I was looking through Linen, Wool, Cotton and saw a pattern for socks using angora wool and I got an idea. I’ve got plenty of wool sweaters in my stash. Why not make a pair of socks out of that?
These are basically a tube with one rounded end. I didn’t felt the wool, but used my serger to enclose the raw edges. The cuff has a casing for elastic to help them stay up. The button is just for decoration.
I see more of these in my future. I’ll be looking for superwash or wool blend sweaters so they can be machine washed. I’m also thinking about stripes, fair isle and cables. The possibilities are endless!
alternatives: If you don’t have a serger, you could felt the sweaters first so the edges don’t unravel or try the zig zag stitch on your machine. Felted socks may be too thick to wear with shoes, but would make great slipper socks for lounging around.
These are great balls for playing indoors. I’ve made one for my daughter and a few for her friends. Everyone seems to love them. This one was a bit of a challenge when I realized that I didn’t have a lot of eight-year-old-boy-ish fabric in my stash. I grabbed a few men’s shirt sleeves that I had in my upcycle bin and I really like how the colors and patterns work together.
recycle: Remember all of the pillows I was making with men’s shirts? This was a great way to use the sleeves! Pattern is from the Purl Bee.
I knew I’d have to do some work on our trip to the beach and I had given my Timbuk2 bag to my husband when he got his new computer. He has made it clear that my Timbuk2 belongs to him now, so I had to come up with something else. I decided to sew my own laptop sleeve and bag. First, I started with the sleeve:
The fabric was an upholstery remnant that was already striped and quilted. I used some bias tape to enclose the raw edges before I sewed on the zipper and I serged the inside seams.
I love fabric that comes with the hard stuff already finished. No patchwork or quilting was needed for this project, but it looks kind of fancy, don’t you think?
stash: The remnant came from the east campus textile sale. Zipper and bias tape from the thrift store.
Not sure if this qualifies as a refashion or if it is more of an alteration. Do I need a new category?
Originally, I thought I’d take it in at the waist, but the front has a bunch of tiny little pleats. I was worried they might look funny if I altered the sides.
Instead, I just cut off the cuffs, which were too tight when buttoned. I used my rolled hemmer foot to finish the new edge. It worked great!
I never thought I’d be a fan of 3/4 sleeves, but I seem to keep making them, don’t I? I love the way this shirt looks and fits now.
refashion: Shirt was $2 a neighbor’s garage sale. I wasn’t planning on buying anything that day, but I couldn’t resist the little blue flowers.
My brother is very smart. He’s got one of those jobs where he can’t tell you what he does. I have a feeling I probably wouldn’t understand a lot of it if he could. He’s also working on his PhD. Both involve a lot of hard work and math. Two things that he can always use: pencils and caffeine.
If you’ve been reading my personal blog for awhile, you know that he went/goes to Virginia Tech. He never tires of Hokie-themed gifts. (I asked.) I figured what he needed these days was something for all of those pencils and caffeine. I made him a pencil case and tucked some extra mechanical pencils, lead and erasers inside. I also made him an adjustable coffee sleeve and sent him a big bag of his favorite tea.
recycle: I can’t believe I am still using up VT fabric scraps from a yard I purchased over a year ago. Denim was from a pair of jeans. (Freecycle is a great source for denim!) Fabric and button were from my stash. Elastic was a colored pony tail holder.
I must have been really tired when I wrote my last post because when I came home from my weekend away the coffee sleeve looked totally fine. Sometimes we just need a little distance from our work to give it some perspective.
I know April is all about showers, but I lately I have been obsessed with flowers, especially little crocheted ones. I’ve tried a few different patterns, but keep coming back to this one by Mimi. The stem is a simple chain stitch.
Would you like these little flowers for your cup of java?
How to enter: Mention this giveaway along with a link back here in a blog post, twitter update or facebook status and then leave a comment telling me you did so. If you don’t have any of the above (really? are you serious?), then leave a comment here and tell me what’s your favorite spring flower.
Since I didn’t get this post up until late on Monday, I’ll give everyone until Thursday, midnight CT to enter. Cool? Good luck and Happy Spring!
recycle: thrifted wool sweater sleeve, thrifted yarn
Yesterday I really wanted to sew, but I had so many things to do! I tried really hard to fit it in, but didn’t get a break until after Bella went to bed. By then I was really tired, but I wanted to work on this month’s coffee sleeve for a weekend giveaway.
I planned to use a blue sleeve that was already cut at the seams. I figured I could just resew the cuff, which worked fine. Then I went to trim my threads. Oops! Accidentally cut the sweater. Then I thought I could stitch up the hole, but I must have been really tired because it just wouldn’t close. Finally, I just gave up.
Some days are just not meant for sewing, I guess. Instead, I’ll share this great Whip Up article by Betz White on applique techniques. Appliques are great for refashioning clothes. They cover holes and stains. (Hmmm… maybe that’s just what my coffee sleeve needs!) They also can transform toddler clothes for reuse. Cover that little boy decal with a flower; hide the princess with a puppy.
In the meantime, I’ll get to work on the coffee sleeve giveaway for next week. Just gives you something to look forward to, right?