Upcycled tote bags

Upcycled tote bags

Jun 5, 2009 | sewing, swaps, thrifting

Last year, I participated in a swap, I believe it was an upcycled sewing swap. I think I had three swap partners, and so I sewed two tote bags and a zip pouch. I started out with an embroidered pillowcase and a twill skirt. I cut off strips of embroidery detail to...
Wool felt swirl-ey pincushion

Wool felt swirl-ey pincushion

May 14, 2008 | sewing, swaps, thrifting

For a swap I mailed last week I had to make a pincushion. I made it out of a thrifted Gap sweater that was slightly felted. I nested swirls of strips inside an (empty) can of blueberries from a muffin mix (a little bit wider and shorter than a tuna can). I wanted to...
Toddler pillow sewn from a vintage thrifted pillowcase

Toddler pillow sewn from a vintage thrifted pillowcase

Mar 3, 2008 | sewing, thrifting

I finished the toddler pillow I was making for Johanna out of a vintage pillowcase, also from Goodwill Outlet.It was pretty simple to make–I cut the pillowcase in half; I used one half for the pillow itself and one half for the pillowcase. For the pillow half, I...
Make a stuffed elephant out of a pair of socks

Make a stuffed elephant out of a pair of socks

Feb 28, 2008 | kids, sewing, thrifting

Today I finished the elephant I started yesterday from “Sock and Glove”. These things actually look a lot better in person than they do in the book. Johanna seized it immediately. She has been on a real elephant kick lately since she figured out how to...
Felted thrifted sweater pincushion

Felted thrifted sweater pincushion

Feb 28, 2008 | sewing, thrifting

I made a pincushion out of a felted sweater from Goodwill Outlet. It is very similar to the ones from “Warm Fuzzies”, but I wrapped the sleeve of the sweater around a cleaned (empty) can of bamboo shoots to give it some weight. I don’t know about...