Repurpose Fabric from Salvation Army

Hurray for Fridays and Saturdays at my Salvation Army store!  Today, Friday, they had 5 items of clothing for $5.00 of purple tagged ones, which is this week's 50% off color. They have 5-6 tag colors which allows them to keep a piece of clothing about 6 weeks before sending to another store or whatever they do. And on Saturday, they reduce that color to $.49, and no minimum. Lately, I've been drawn to prints, thinking I could piece similar colors together for some project. I usually get natural fabrics; cotton, linen, wool, silk. Top of the pile is an orange silk top and skirt. Second from the top is a cotton panel print dress; love finding borders, too. Then a denim sheath dress with embroidered flowers, a linen skirt, 4 pairs of pants or skorts, and a long cotton dress.

One great find, I hope, is a long sleeveless linen dress from J Jill with the original $99.00 tag still attached. I will try to sell it on ebay in the spring, but if not, there is a lot of linen fabric to use for $1.00.

Who doesn't like to save money? Cottons in the fabric store run $4-10 a yard. My girlfriend makes fun of me, driving up to a goodwill store in my Mercedes. Or going on senior citizen day to get the senior discount. Hey, maybe that is WHY I can afford a Mercedes...ha-ha!

Small Felt & Fabric Dove with Bread

 Here is Mildred the Dove with Baguettes at Panera Bread after purchasing her loaves for her family. This is another project from the book, Little Birds, referenced in the post before this.

 It was such fun to craft this project using felt for most of it with cotton for the backs of the bird, wings, and the baguettes.

 The outline backstitch work reminds me of redwork that was popular with women in the early 1900's. I liked using just one thread of embroidery floss; seems to keep the illustrative quality easier to control.

Small strips of fabric were wrapped around wire, then inserted into her tummy and sewn shut.  A coating of Mod Podge or fabric glue keeps them from unraveling.

Penguin Toy

The book, Little Birds, has the most adorable birds to craft contributed by many different artists.  I chose Pikku, the penguin to make for my grandchild who likes to play Club Penguin online.  The interesting part of this project is the round piece of cardboard inside the bottom which was a little bit hard to handle. I like the fact that it can easily stand up.

Investing Your Money in Today's Market

Wow, I am reading Aftershock Investor.  Concerning your comfort and happiness, there is nothing more important than protecting your hard earned savings.  And this book is quite an eye opener.  It was just published late summer 2012, so is current, and I encourage all who stumble upon my blog to read this!  Request it from your library, as I did, or buy it now!

Essentially, it made no difference who won the election, as far as our economy goes. There is too much money being printed and we will all have to face the piper sooner (now) or later (next 3-4 years). This book talks about the bubbles that have already broken (real estate, etc) and the remaining two that will break soon.

There are recommendations on how to protect your money. I am still reading and just stopped to post this, as everyone needs to have this information.

Embellished Shirt

This was an experiment using an idea from Alabama Studio Style by Natalie Chanin.  There is a bleach spot on the lower part of the shirt, so when I looked at that book, I thought these appliqued circles might be a good way to put a design on the shirt while hiding the spot.  I like the spiral, the hand-stitching, and the general idea.  But am not sure it is attractive the way I placed them.  Perhaps I should put them all on the one side, but even then, not sure.

Matching Doll Clothing

Using Joan Hinds book, All Dolled Up, and the included patterns, I made one of my grandchildren a skirt and vest as well as a matching outfit for her American Doll.  The local Salvation Army store was where I found the jeans and plaid jumper that supplied the material used to make them.

Retro Hand Bag from Used Clothing

What fun to make a useful item from no longer useful clothing.

The center fabric is from a pair of capris from the local Salvation Army store bought when they were on clearance for $.49. Since the full fabric width needed could not be cut from one leg, the tiny green-checked fabric on the sides was from an old pair of culottes. The lining was also from the SA store and was a pair of homemade lounge pants. All I had to buy was a metal ring for the handle and a magnetic clasp. The lounge pants had patch pockets, so I utilized one for one side of the lining and made another to add to the other side, so there are 2 pockets inside. If I made again, I would add a pocket to the outside back.

This pattern was in a book from the library, and was called Retro Purse. I think the print fabric actually looks like something from the 40's; a kind of Hawaiian kitsch.

The three items of clothing before cutting.