Baby Bibs

 Look at these cute baby bibs! 

 

I purchased the cross-stitching bibs from Jo-Ann Fabrics, but added scrap fabric to them instead.   

 

Elephants, hippos, monkeys, strawberries...oh my!

Kite Runner Curtains

I have yet to read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, but I am calling these curtains my kite runner curtains.  It's not because they have anything to do with the Aghan novel, but because the fabric reminds me of the cover.  Look behind the title.  It's as if the curtains are blowing in the wind with the kite.

A few weeks ago, I finished the Anthropolgie-inspired curtains for my friend's guest bedroom.  The windows in her bungalow are a unique size, which makes it difficult to find curtains that fit; therefore, she asked me to customize the curtains for her home. Well, these kite runner curtains - made with a brown, orange, and green batik fabric - are for her living room.

Anthropologie-inspired Curtains

My friend saw these hand-dyed batik curtains at Anthropologie for her guest bedroom, but you have to purchase each panel separately.  She would have needed four panels at $99/panel (ON SALE) which would have cost her $400 plus tax and shipping.  Instead of paying for the outrageously priced curtains, which would not have fit her uniquely sized bungalow windows anyway, she asked me to design them for her. 








We took a trip to Joann Fabrics with the Anthropologie picture on her ipad for inspiration.  She wanted blues and greens like the nearby ocean as well as batiks.  We selected four fabrics: a white paisley eyelet, grey batik, white cotton with rick-rack and ribbon, and sea foam green with circles.  All the material for both windows, metal clips, and rods to hang the curtains cost less than $50.  That's a huge difference from the $400 sale price. 

At the store, J. arranged the material - keeping the whites in between the batik and print. After several calculations I cut the various rectangular panels from about 9" to 5.5" and then sewed them together.  I finished the edges with a zig-zag stitch.  The final curtains are 42" wide x 40" long each.  They look beautiful in her beachy bedroom and are even more J. than the Anthro ones.

Upcycled Crayons

Upcycle your old crayons!  From this.....

To this.....

You will need: old, broken crayons, silicone muffin pan, cookie sheet, and a warm oven. 

We baked them at 230°F for 15 minutes and voilà! Brand new people crayons.  We waited for them to completely cool before popping the little people out.

Why not make crayons to spell your child's name, the students in your class, or give them as party favors!

NOTE - do not fill the crayons to the top of the muffin pan.  About three-quarters of the way seemed to work for us. We placed a cookie sheet under the muffin pan for good measure.  While this is a neat craft for kids, we did not make them with the children since the oven is hot and so is melted wax. 

Old Sweater Becomes New Cardigan

Old, purple, Banana Republic sweater

A few weeks ago on Pinterest, I saw a pin to make a 10-minute cardigan and then I saw it again this weekend.  Sunday night I told my boyfriend that I was going to clean my closet because I was creating an avalanche.  What he thought would take me thirty minutes, turned into an hour and a half project, but I found some old sweaters to reintroduce into my current wardrobe....by transforming them into cardigans.  

The 10-minute tutorial was very easy to follow and accurate.  I did not have 5/8" Heat n' Bond, so I used the roll I had and cut into 1/2" strips (close enough).  I used a zigzag stitch and sewed all the way up. (She said not to do this, but my thread was so dark that you couldn't see it anyway.  I will probably take her advice for the other sweaters.)  The material was very hard to sew and keep straight.  In the picture below, you can see that the sides are a bit wavy.  However, I didn't notice these imperfections when it was on and looked in the mirror.  

New cardigan

The cardigan took me longer than 10-minutes, not because of her directions, but because my thread was stale, kept breaking, and I had to re-thread my machine several times.  (Yes old thread gets stale and breaks easily and often.)  So, I do believe the cardigan would have been finished in the said time, if it wasn't for my thread.  I will be making more from the avalanche pile soon.