Category Archives: Sewing

Take One Pair of Trousers

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I have a pair of ¾ length lightweight travel pants that I bought about 8 or 9 years ago.  I have been wearing them for some time with a patch just below one knee, however, the fabric around the patch has given way, too.  I love these trousers as they are really comfortable and have several deep pockets.

I decided to salvage what I could from them.  The latest buzzword seems to ‘upcycling’ but you could call it ‘refashioning’, ‘making do’ or just plain ‘thrift’.  I cut the lower legs off and was left with a pair of knee-length shorts which just needed hemming.  Since they are an existing garment I know that the fit and function of them will be perfect.

002The bottom of the legs had drawstrings so I removed them and they will be used for the drawstrings in two of the Christmas gift bags I am making as they match the material rather well.

003There were a couple of button tabs on the lower legs so I removed the buttons to add to my collection.

008All I had left was the lower leg pieces.

005So I cut them into strips to use for tying up plants in the garden.

006Here are my ‘new’ shorts and nothing else has been wasted.  I hope to get a few more years wear from them.

007I would love to hear your thrifty/upcycling stories.

New From Old

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A couple of weeks ago, in this post I outlined what I was planning to do to rejuvenate an old bed.

Firstly, I covered the mattress in plastic, using one of the heavy-duty bags that was packaging from the new mattresses.

I stitched it to fit using my sewing machine.  It was a bit awkward but I was happy with the result.  Here is a close-up of the stitching.

Then I trimmed the excess plastic and set to making the fabric cover.  I made it so that it fitted neatly and at the open end I made a velcro fastening.

2012-01-29 03Here it is on the bed and you can see the straps which go underneath to secure it.  I don’t want to find the mattress at the other end of the verandah after we have a storm.

2012-01-29 04The straps are elasticated so that they easily slip over the ends of the frame and hold the mattress snugly in position.

All I need now is some nice warm days to invite me out to use my new creation.

Make Do

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Last year we swapped the single bed in the sewing room for a new (to us) bed and trundle bed.  Miss O used to sleep in the single bed when she came to stay but once Izz was also sleeping in a bed we had to re-think the sleeping arrangements.  I was not prepared to give up what is primarily my sewing room to have 2 single beds available for occasional use so I had to think laterally.  Bunk beds were not an option due the young age of the children and the proximity to the window, so we opted for the single bed plus trundle.  We found it on Gumtree, in perfect condition and only $50.  We bought new foam mattresses and were very happy with the outcome.

The next question was what to do with the existing bed.  No-one I knew needed one and I could have advertised it on Freecycle but there was a degree of emotional attachment.  Sentimentality is the last thing a minimalist needs but this bed is one that my father made over 50 years ago and I was not keen to let it go.  However, it had to justify its existence in our lives.

We had an old day-bed which we had acquired from Freecycle about 10 years ago with the goal of restoring it for use on the long verandah – imagining lazy afternoons lying reading a book and listening to the birds in the shrubs nearby.  This was a great idea but one that was unlikely to happen due to the very poor condition of the timber.

Finally, we agreed that the day-bed could be dismantled for firewood except for the wire mesh base which The Duke has appropriated for use as a sieve.  The single bed which is quite narrow (750mm) will be a day bed.  It has been on the verandah for some months now, waiting for me to make a cover for the mattress.  Although it is undercover there can be rain blow in to that area so I had to consider how to manage this.

I decided to cover the mattress in vinyl which can be bought by the metre from Spotlight.  A few weeks ago I did some measuring and we went to Spotlight with intentions of buying the vinyl but I discovered that it would cost me about $120.  I gulped and wondered whether it was really worth spending that amount of money on something which was certainly not essential and was really a way of retaining something I did not want to part with.  So we went home and I looked for alternative ideas.

I found this heavy cotton bedspread (actually I have 2 of them) in the bottom of the linen cupboard.  I am going to use it to make a cover which can be removed for laundering.  This does not address the issue of the mattress getting wet so I found the large, heavy-duty plastic bags that were the packaging from the new mattresses we bought for the trundle beds.  I will make a cover for the mattress from one of these.  We will bring the mattress inside if bad weather is imminent but otherwise I will only have to wash the cover and the mattress will stay dry and clean thanks to the plastic cover.

This project will be completed with no extra cost.  The bed will have a new use and I don’t have to part with it just yet.  We may even put a headboard and footboard on the bed but in the meantime it will be perfectly functional.

I am looking forward to finishing this and enjoying some lazy afternoons.

Introducing…………

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My online ‘Made It’ store.  I have set this up in order to sell some of the things that I make.  They are products that fit ethically with my views on sustainability.  These include cloth table napkins, bags to store those pesky plastic bags so that they are available to re-use and food covers.

I will be adding more products over the coming days and weeks.  Re-useable sandwich wraps and snack bags will help to eliminate plastic wrap and single-use lunch bags.  There will be hand towels and in the future I hope to add dishcloths.

I will also have a range of children’s clothing which will be practical and long-lasting.

Here is the link to Viabelle Lane.  Please drop in and have a look.

Taking Time Out For Fun

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I did not post yesterday because I was spending the time with my precious family.  Miss O and Izz were here so we pulled out the Christmas tree and decorated it.  Here they are with the creation.

2011-12-11 01We went to look at the Christmas light displays last night and the wonder and delight on their faces was priceless.

I also took Miss O to the Carols at Twilight in Maleny.  Due to a terrific thunderstorm about an hour beforehand the occasion was relocated in the hall rather than the park.  Miss O could not believe her eyes and ears at the music and colour.  She sat entranced during the entire event.

This morning I helped the girls make a gift for Belle.  It is a string tin.

2011-12-11 02A coffee tin covered with pieces cut from a local magazine.  The paper is glued on, a hole punched in the lid and a ball of string inside.  I will finish the outside with some clear varnish to seal it and we have a practical gift that small hands can make (with a bit of help) at no cost apart from the ball of string.

2011-12-11 03I did the cutting but Miss O used the glue stick and placed the pictures.  Izz also did a couple with the glue stick.

We had a lot of fun working on this project together.

Do you have any suggestions for Christmas gift ideas for children to make?

Christmas, Birthdays, Anything……..

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The byline for this blog is ‘An organised, sustainable life’.  Perhaps you wonder where the link is between organisation and sustainability.  If you think about it, the connection is there every day in everything you do but never is it more obvious than in the lead up to celebratory events such as Christmas and birthdays.

Tomorrow we will be going to Miss O’s 4th birthday party and I have been planning and preparing her gift.  Here is a dress that I have made for her.

2011-11-26 01The fabric has been in my stash for a couple of years, the facings are scraps from a dress that had been unpicked, the buttons (originally used on a dress for Belle about 20 years ago) came out of the button jar and I bought 20cm of contrast fabric for the pockets.

We bought a wooden jigsaw puzzle from Amazen.  They have a shop at Montville, which is about 15 minutes drive from us.  The range of quality children’s toys and games in excellent.

2011-11-26 02I made a bag to store the puzzle pieces as it does not come in a box.

2011-11-26 03Once again, this was created entirely from scraps.  I think it looks really effective and hope it will be useful.

I wrapped the gift using recycled paper and ribbon that I have saved.  I made a card using some white card and an offcut of the paper.

2011-11-26 04Being organised means that you can easily locate items that have been stored for future use.  Equipment is easily accessible.  Planning ahead is essential if you do not want to be rushing to the shop and grabbing something at the last minute.

It is 4 weeks until Christmas so now is definitely the time  to think seriously about preparations for Christmas.  I have already tested a couple of recipes for things I am making as gifts.  Tomorrow I will start the ginger beer plant so that the finished product is ready for Christmas.  I will share the details of that in my next post.

Now I am off to make up a platter that we are taking to a ‘Christmas drinks and nibbles’ function this evening.  It will include balsamic dipping sauce from the recipe I posted the other day and guacamole made with our own avocadoes.  I made sure I picked some avocadoes earlier in the week so that they would be ripe for today.

What have you done to get organised for Christmas?  Will it minimise the last-minute rush and inevitable overspending that seem to go hand-in-hand?

Salad, Saving & Sewing

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I finally finished the summer pyjamas for Miss O.  Here is the top.

And the pants.

On Tuesday I went out to lunch with some of my work colleagues.  In the interests of both my waistline and my purse I opted to have the salad.  For $15 I had a full-sized plate of 3 different salads – noodle, green bean and Greek salads.  The flavours were delicious and it was a substantial meal.

After lunch I went to Lincraft to look for some buttons.  I have a piece of linen fabric that I bought a couple of years ago  and I want to make a summer top that buttons down the back so I wanted some really special buttons for it.  I used all the money I saved on my lunch and more when I bought 5 buttons for $2.82 each.

This is the fabric and buttons.  The fabric is pure linen with a pattern embroidered in gold thread.  I think the fabric was about $25 and the buttons were $14.  While this seems extravagant it is still much better value than buying a blouse of similar quality.

I will make the blouse when we get back from our holidays.

Crafting for a Reason

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When I read today’s post at Down to Earth I realised that much of it rang true for me.  None more so than this section where Rhonda writes:

“Many of the older readers here would know that I don’t consider craft to be a hobby. For me it’s part of my housework. I sew, mend and knit so we have good quality and long wearing scarves, cardigans, jumpers, hats, dishcloths, tablecloths and napkins. I see that as part of my homemaker’s work, not a hobby. Back in my great grandmothers’ day, making clothing and woollens for the family was part of almost every women’s home tasks. Somehow those tasks where either moved to become separate hobbies or were not done at all. They still hold an important place here, I still do all of them, still enjoy them, and they’re a part of my work.”

Any craft that I do is almost exclusively for practical purposes.  I remember being invited to join a patchwork group some years ago.  I probably could have been a bit more tactful but my response was along the lines of, “Why would you cut up perfectly good fabric so that you can sew it back together again?”  I also reminded my friend that I had had quite enough sewing to fill my days making clothes for all the members of my family.

I am appalled by the amount of time and money that is spent on useless and impractical craft materials such as patchwork fabric.  Patchwork evolved as a way of making use of every last bit of fabric, often being unpicked and re-made into other items.

Here are a couple of examples of making the most of scraps of material.

I made this bag last week using the facing from the hem of a dress.  You can read more about it here.  Scroll down towards the end of the post.

Here is a photo of Belle (in 1993) wearing a patchwork jacket I made using up scraps of sweatshirt fabric.  I sewed the scraps together to make a large piece of fabric and then cut the pattern pieces out as if it was a normal piece of fabric.

Do you do any practical crafts?

 

UFO’s

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I haven’t posted for a few days as I was determined to clear my sewing room of some of the unfinished projects.  Some of them were physically started and not completed and others were just in my imagination and not even started.

Anyway, here  are some of the finished items.

Shorts for Izz.

And a pair for Miss O.

This is another pair of shorts for Miss O using a different pattern.

This playsuit is one that I didn’t finish when Miss O was a baby (I did make 7 others) so it will be donated to charity.  Perhaps they will be able to use it in Christmas gifts.

A tiny blouse for my niece for her birthday.

And a pinafore to go with the blouse.  This is made from the leftovers of the pinafore I made for Miss O earlier in the year.

A summer blouse for myself.  I have had the material for 2.5 years and started making it last summer.  This is a tried and true pattern that I made from a purchased blouse.  I have made several using the same pattern.

This is not strictly something that I made.  I bought this dress for Miss O a few weeks ago at an op shop for $8.  It is ‘Fred Bare’ brand and in excellent condition.  There were a couple of small stains which were removed using Sard Wonder soap and a good wash.  The hemline is scalloped at the sideseams and had a facing which was pulling away in places.  I removed it a replaced it using plain fabric.  I salvaged the facing fabric and used some of it to make this matching shoulder bag.

It is a great feeling to have a collection of finished items ready for use rather than half-finished projects and fabric taking up space.

I still have several things to do including a pair of summer pyjamas for Miss O, dress for Belle and 2 polo shirts for The Duke.  I have drafted the pattern for the pyjamas from an old Enid Gilchrist pattern book and am about to start cutting them out.

What unfinished projects do you have?

Through a Child’s Eyes

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I mentioned yesterday that this simple living can be darned hard work – gardening, planting, harvesting, preserving, storing and cooking from scratch – not to mention the million and one other things that need to be done.

A sure-fire way to rejuvenate the enthusiasm is to see the ‘chores’ through the eyes of a child.  Our granddaughters stayed here this weekend and spending an hour or so in the backyard with them was a sheer delight.

2011-10-02 01Collecting the eggs.

2011-10-02 02Checking out the onion patch.

2011-10-02 03Splitting open beans to retrieve the seeds.

2011-10-02 04The excitement of finding a bean seed.  We will be letting them dry out and saving to replant.  We have also saved snow pea seeds.  Miss O had fun sorting the bean and pea seeds into separate containers.

2011-10-02 05Helping with the harvest.

There were lots of other things that did not get captured on film.  Pulling up the spent broccoli and cauliflower plants and dragging the up to the compost bin as well as pulling the old snow pea vine off the trellis.

Miss O helped me cook and we made a fruit slice with passionfruit icing as well as currant, orange and poppyseed muffins.  The girls took some muffins home to put in their lunchboxes for daycare tomorrow.

I also managed to get a little sewing done.  2 pairs of shorts are finished.  Here they are on the models.

2011-10-02 06And the second pair.

2011-10-02 07It is a pleasure to see the sheer delight on the faces of my grandchildren when they can help with the jobs we do every day.  I am reminded that what I am doing is ‘right’ and I look forward to sharing many more things as they get older.