Another Fabric Box

Yet another fabric box.... this one uses cereal box cardboard inside for stiffener. This idea is from the book, Sunday Morning Quilts.  The authors' quilted the outside of their example, unlike mine. A cute labeling system is just a square of clear plastic sewn on with a walking foot. The cereal box pieces are inserted before sewing up one inside bottom edge. The box is very stable. Cutaway handles would not work in this application.

Pretty Curtain for Ugly Storage

Here is my back door coat rack and ugly storage.

















And here it is after adding a curtain gathered on a tension rod.

I repurposed, from Salvation Army, a pair of white linen pants and a cream linen skirt for banding at the edges. Still ugly and unorganized under there, but now everyone does not have to see it!

Repurposed Suede Jacket as Seat Cover

I found a use for yet another 49 cent item from Salvation Army. This seat cover is cut from the back of a suede jacket which had three seams, but looks good on the chair. Since the jacket had soiling at the cuffs and collar, as well as a ticket showing it was just dry cleaned, it couldn't have been worn. Hmm, I have a red suede jacket in my closet in the same condition...

Fabric Cube Bin

This fabric storage bin is made from two blouses bought at the Salvation Army.  It is the same as the burlap coffee bag ones in a previous blog about the book, Reinvention. The back inside wall is from a blouse front with a pocket.

I stitched 1/4" up each outside corner seam after constructing, using the Garnet Hill inspiration, for greater strength as these are just lightweight cotton fabrics, but with the cotton batting inside, they stand up fairly well.

My plans are to make three coordinating bins to put under a low table in a bedroom.

Free Prints from Library of Congress

This picture was downloaded from the Library of Congress website.  After seeing an idea in Martha Stewart Living's April 2013 issue, I made sure a picture could actually be printed from the website.

The magazine's idea was to have clipboards mounted on your wall to which you can display a changing display, whether it be art from a website or your children's art. They had three rows of three clipboards with black and white architectural images.  It is suggested to use cardstock; I used what I had on hand-a notebook divider.

Reversible Purse

Reversible purse is in Sew the Perfect Bag from SewNews, which I checked out from the library.

All the fabrics are recycled linen. The floral print was a skirt, the light blue was a pair of pants, and the green, a jacket. The buttons were on another jacket. Of course, all were gathered at my Salvation Army for $.49 each.

The purse requires 4 pieces that measure 28" X 18.5" in a triangle shape with the ends chopped off. Since using deconstructed garments, I had to seam two pieces together. I modified the the book's instructions and added a pocket on two sides in this seam. Cut two squares for each pocket, sew to each piece so they are opposite each other, then, when sewing the seam, at the pocket square, pivot, sew around the pocket, pivot back to the seam, and continue. Better instructions for adding a pocket are at a Modicum of Ingenuity blog. Thanks, Jessica.

Play Time Fun With Cake Slices

Grandaughter, Ady, wanted to pretend to be a bakery owner and sell slices of cake to me. So I made a strawberry frosted cake from scrap fabric and stuffed it.  The slice was a bit rounded at that point.  Later I found some foam laying around the house that I cut and stacked and made into firmer foundations and made lemon, blueberry, and grape (!) per Ady's instructions, and redid the strawberry.
Buttons, beading embellishments, and most of the fabric were all from my Salvation Army $.49 Saturday specials.  These make safe play things and are fun to create.

Instructions: Draw a circle using a plate on the foam and divide into eight pieces, use a box cutter to score and gradually slice thru to make the pieces. Use the pieces to trace on each piece of fabric and add a 1/4" seam allowance while cutting out. The white or chocolate cake part can be just one long piece.  Sew the two frosting pieces together first, then attach the cake, sewing up the back, across the top on one side, then the other, and down the other side. pivoting at each corner. Then sew only one side of a brown bottom piece to one side of the cake. Insert the foam (if stacked, glue together), then slip stitch closed the remaining seam.