Seek and Find Jar

Posted on April 5, 2010 by sewtheday

About a year ago at a friend’s birthday dinner, I saw a really neat seek and find tube.  It was a long plastic tube filled with rice and small, mostly plastic, objects….a dinosaur, a button, a  fish… etc.

After seeing Lil Fish Studio’s post today, (Not) Button  Monday, it reminded me that I wanted to make one of these.  Little bit was too young for such a thing at the time that I saw it, but I think it would be fun for him now.

I spent a little bit of time collecting little objects from around the house, some ordinary like a quarter, others were a little more unique.

In a Jar of buttons I found several colored beads, an old sewing machine knob, and of course buttons.

Among other things I  included a couple of old rabies vaccination tags, bits of colored ribbon, a cuff link, a hair clip, some foreign coins, some clothing tags, and 2 bells.

I used an empty clean peanut jar and filled it almost full with rice and layered in the items.

My husband rolled it around on the deck for a while to give it a good mix.

This is a really neat way to use little found objects that are collecting dust around the house.  The Jar was sitting in my garage waiting to go to the recycle center…. now it has a new function. :)
Posted in craft, Little Bit, Reclaimed, repurpose, reuse, toddler | 5 Comments

Bunnies for the Basket

Posted on March 31, 2010 by sewtheday

Here are the results of 2 of the many great bunny tutorials I’ve seen this past week. With Little Bit’s Easter basket to fill I figured these would be perfect.

I found The Purl Bee’s finger puppet bunny tutorial through Lil Fish Studios.  Lil Fish also used recycled wool for her bunnies!

They work up really quick!  I made this one this afternoon.
He was made from leftover felted cashmere sweater scraps.  I made a little cashmere scrap tail for him, instead of a pompom.  I used wool yarn for the nose, eyes, and hand sewing the body.  I didn’t change anything about the pattern, as it is perfect just the way it is!

Tutorial 2 is one I just happened upon after seeing a different bunny that my cousin was making.  I went to the site where she got her pattern and found this one by accident.  It is called RevoluzZzionary Easter Bunny, but I just call it Lovey Bunny because of it’s heart.


I worked on this one during 2 evenings.  I changed a couple of things about this pattern to suit what I wanted it to look like.  I added the ear and tail applique to give it a little something extra.  I also changed the shape across the bottom.  The pattern calls for it to be straight across, but as I was beginning to stitch up the bottom after stuffing I altered it to look a little more like feet.
I used a wool yarn for the eyes, nose, and all the applique stitching.  Lovey Bunny’s body and appliques are recycled cashmere sweaters!
















I used the really small  left over scraps from cashmere sweaters and Wool yarn bits to stuff Lovey Bunny…. here he is getting stuffed.


Here are a couple of more pictures of Puppet Bunny and Lovey Bunny contemplating their new existence and the thought of being loved by a 19 month old in a few days. 

I like to think they are practicing for hide-and-go-seek!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Here we come!
Posted in cashmere, craft, fabric, hand sewing, holidays, Little Bit, Reclaimed, repurpose, reuse, sewing, sweater, toddler, Tutorial, up-cycle, wool, Yarn | 3 Comments

Little Apron for Little Bit

Posted on March 30, 2010 by sewtheday

I’ve finally finished Little Bit’s apron.  It has been sitting unfinished since January.  A combination of school and travels left it by the way side… but now it’s finished in time to be tucked into his easter basket.

Today I basically started with the pieces in various forms.  I had the pocket and body cut out, and bias tape at the ready.  I had to go digging for the little d-rings, and found them hiding in my sewing table cubby.

I pinned the pocket to the front and sewed around the edges and reinforcing the seams at the corners.

After making the pieces for the ties and neck straps I pinned them to the back for placement so I’d have them in the right place when the binding went on.

Here is the finished apron after the binding and tie reinforcements where finished.

The turtle fabric was given to me by my Mother-in-Law and is a nice heavy cotton.  The green fabric I used for the binding  and pocket is M’liss, Wrapped in Love, that I got on clearance after Christmas. :)

Posted in cotton, craft, fabric, holidays, kitchen, Little Bit, sewing, toddler | 2 Comments

Hat With Ears

Posted on March 24, 2010 by sewtheday

I’ve had several people inquire about a pattern for B’s green hat since last week, so I have relocated the blog where I found the inspiration.   Chez Beeper Bebe   has this great hat tutorial!  So, check out Chez Beeper Bebe’s free tutorial and make your little one a hat!  I made mine with a little bit different shape and only single layer. I’ve also seen a similar hat pattern in Lotta Jansdotter’s great book Simple Sewing for Baby, with a scarf pattern for toddlers, if you prefer using pattern books.

Posted in cashmere, hats, sewing, wool | 2 Comments

Cashmere Makes Yummy Hats!

Posted on March 22, 2010 by sewtheday




I’ve been Sweatering….

That is… scouring local secondhand shops for usable wool, cashmere, and wool blend sweaters….  Here is a picture of the yummy colors of cashmere sweaters I’ve reclaimed.

Last week I set to making baby hats.  Here are a few that were made from the blue and pink sweaters.  I still have a good bit left to use!

I also made a toddler sized hat for Little Bit to wear on St. Patrick’s day from the light green cashmere.  It is sooooo soft and yummy!  It will be great for those cold snaps March seems to throw out.















































If you are interested in Reclaiming wool sweaters for felting, sewing, or crafting… please visit www.EcoWoolies.artfire.com for a wide selection of sweaters to upcycle, reuse, and love!
Posted in baby, cashmere, fabric, hats, Reclaimed, repurpose, reuse, sewing, sweater, toddler, up-cycle | Leave a comment

Adventures in Reclaiming Yarn

Posted on March 15, 2010 by sewtheday



Since the beginning of my journey into recycled wool sweaters, I’ve been looking for the perfect sweater to frog.  Finding a nice weight wool sweater, that hasn’t been felted, feels nice, had good frogging seams, and that wasn’t full of holes has been a challenge.  I finally found one worthy of the time it takes to do this undertaking.

I finally found this!  A big light blue, super soft, 75% Merino, 25% Angora blend!



After taking apart the sweater at all the seams, and finding a knotted mess of threads under the V neck section, I finally got down to frogging and found the yarn to be 2 ply.















I tipped over a chair and used the 4 legs to unwind the yarn around.  I unwound the back section of sweater first.  
















Little Bit thought the yarn was very yummy and kept laying his face on it and touching it…. so soft!









After all the yarn was frogged I tied it up with some acrylic yarn to keep it all together for washing and drying.


This is before washing.










After washing and during drying/hanging.


I used some water bottles to weigh down the yarn to stretch it out and help get the kink out.






It is all finished now and I weighed it and have about 240 grams of yummy yarn to play with.













Posted in Reclaimed, reuse, sweater, wool, Yarn | Leave a comment

A Month

Posted on March 5, 2010 by sewtheday

What a month it has been.  I left Kentucky on February 8th to go to New Orleans to visit my family.  I had intended to stay about a week there which, after smashing my car ended up being more of a month.  I did manage to get around to visiting with a lot of family, so that is good.   The car is fixed finally and I’ve begun the trek northward.  I’m visiting more family along the way home and should be back home on Sunday.  I’m very ready to get back home and get back to some serious sewing.

What I did on my unintentional extended vacation… heh.

I hemmed a curtain that was dragging on the ground.  With the left over fabric, I made a matching draft dodger for the front door.  I stuffed the draft dodger with plastic grocery bags for volume and dried beans for weight.  I think it came out great and there was no fabric waste!

I did a couple of minor clothing fixes… a button here and a hook and eye there.  I also zigzagged a set of place mats and runner that like to unravel themselves in the laundry.

I bought flannel fabric for making baby blankets.

Mardi Gras day was nice and sunny.  So Little Bit only wore is hat for a little while then I put it in the stroller.  Someone made off with my son’s hat. :(  I had brought that same yarn with me so I set to making him a replacement.  It is almost exactly the same as the first one, but it is a little shorter in length and I started in purple instead of green.  It still looks super cute on him though!

I found a nice little yarn shop in Metairie and got my hands on some black and gold wool.  I made a tester black and gold striped hat with 2 pompoms, 3-6 month size and a pair of booties, 0-3 month size.  The booties also have little poms.

I also made quite a few crochet cotton rounds and developed a new pattern for a soap saver! I made one for my mom, and kept one for me!

I might get a couple of pictures up later…. but I need to find the camera first.

Posted in craft, crochet, fabric, flannel, hats, repurpose, sewing, up-cycle, wool | Leave a comment

Resweater Giveaway

Posted on February 6, 2010 by sewtheday

Resweater is doing a Good Karma Giveaway!  It is easy to play, fun, and you get a chance to win a sweater too!  Hooray for Good Karma!

Post your favorite item from her shop to enter.
Mine is this… Cashmere…. mmmmm.

Posted in blog, giveaway, sweater, wool | Leave a comment

3 Pointed Hat – Crochet

Posted on February 5, 2010 by sewtheday

Mardi Gras is coming and we are going down to visit my family in New Orleans.  Naturally Bennett needed a purple, green and gold hat.  It took a while to find the right colors of yarn, in the same weight, in wool, but I finally found some nice yarn at a local micro yarn shop. I like being able to support a local shop.

Bennett certainly had a good time.

I was having a hard time finding a free pattern for a three point hat, or a jester hat that would suit, so I started experimenting.  Here is the hat about half way through… trying on for size.

Later the same night after a few more rows and learning to make pom poms…. here is what the finished hat looks like.

And here he is trying it out for the first time!  It came out a little big, but that just means it will last a while.  The wool is quite a bit stretchier than the cotton I used on his elfin hat so he’ll be able to wear it for a long time.

I also tried out my experimental pattern in cotton in a two pointed style… making the points into little “ears.”   It came out in a 3-6 month size.  So now I can go up or down from there to figure out what I’d need for sizing.

I just finished another tester of my pattern in Wool.  It also came out in the 3-6 month size range, but because of the smaller gauge of the wool yarn, it has more rows and stitches around.

I’m thinking of writing this up as a pattern… something I’ve never done before.  We’ll have to wait and see.










Posted in baby, cotton, craft, crochet, hats, toddler, wool | Leave a comment

Dryer Balls

Posted on February 1, 2010 by sewtheday
After getting the idea from Resweater, I finally got around to making dryer balls.
Here are the “naked” wrappped up balls of Wool scraps with some strips added to some to make them more round.  They are about 2 ounces each.

The finished balls have a covering from other sweater scraps big enough to cut the oval-ish pieces.  The pattern called for 6 of the cover pieces, but I found that to be too much, so I used 5.
They weigh about 3 ounces.

Posted in fabric, hand sewing, repurpose, reuse, sewing, sweater, up-cycle, wool | Leave a comment