did you buy that new?

Repurposing

So, Debbie emailed me and twisted my arm to get me to join this here marauding band of vintage avengers.  And really, how could I say no?  Because I've developed something of an obsession with turning cast-offs into something new.

Last year for Christmas, most of the females in my nearest/dearest circle got bags made of old sweaters.  Felted, cut, sewn, buttons added, straps affixed, bingo!  I had an enormous amount of fun finding the sweaters, figuring out the felting, and listening to the bags as they strove to emerge from the thrift shop sweaters turned into gnarled and matted shades of their former selves.  Yeah, the cellar was full of lint when I was done, but the tactile wonders of the felt are incomparable.  You want to try it?  You can find some instructions here.

I have plans for more felted goodness this year, and in fact, I am drooling over every last thing in this Threadbanger post. 

But I've also been dabbling in repurposing tee-shirts - turning them into baby hats and baby blankets. 

The other day, I was knee-deep in tee-shirt squares and engrossed with the sewing machine. My six-year-old niece was beside me, hovering and fussing about with spools and ribbon and yarn.  She got hot and took off her sweater, and said to me, pointedly, "that's my sweater, don't cut it up".

People, don't let me near your tee-shirts and sweaters.

Posted by Magpie

lo the humble tie

posted by Flutter

The single most versatile and uniquely male piece of the male wardrobe is the tie. Save the servers of both genders at Olive Garden that are forced to wear ties of questionable origin, ties are on this earth to serve but one purpose. To make men look great.

Or are they?

Long after ties have passed their life expectancy, they can be used for any number of repurposing. Bags, skirts, and pillows are among the many projects seen using ties. I have a new favorite, I've made this:

This is a starburst pattern, using old ties of every denomination from Hermes to Target brand. I found them on ebay, in thrift stores and in my fiance's closet. Purchasing this amount of silk for a quilt would have been 20 times the cost.

And it saves a tie. Really, isn't THAT what it's all about?

Vintage reworked

Posted by Jenny.

I adore all things vintage.  The smell, the feel, the idea that whatever I'm wearing is infused with so many memories.  That's why when I found this little dress at an antique convention I had to buy it for my three-year-old.  It's a 1950's  hand-made pillowcase that has been reworked into a child's dress.  The delicate cottony cloth of the pillowcase, the end product of a hundred gentle washings, is soft and tactile and perfect and almost makes me want to learn how to sew so that I could rescue all those gorgeous, lacey pillow-cases from thrift store bins and give them all a second life as a beautiful dress.  You know...almost.

But what I really want is for someone to make me a dress like that although it'd have to be out of a queen sized bed sheet to fit me and really?  Who would go around in a dress made out of a bedsheet?  *cough*