How To Make Fun Recycled Sweater Produce Pillows
Posted Sep 24, 08 -Filed Under "Green" Living ideas, Crafts, Home Décor, MYO Gifts, Party Favors, Sewing, reuse sweaters | 1 Comment
Don’t be limited by the designs I have here. Have fun! Be creative!
For detailed instructions including ball stencils, check out my post called How To Make Fun Recycled Sweater Beach Ball Pillows.
Be creative and design your own leaves or use the Leaf Stencils for Produce Pillows
To make the leaves on these clever pillows you will need to score a wool sweater from a thrift store, friend or yard sale. It is not uncommon for people to accidentally felt their sweaters by machine washing with warm or hot water. During the felting processes, the sweater will shrink; thus, they end up at donation spots. Sweaters with a hole or stain can easily be worked around. Another good idea is to use an old army green wool blanket. I didn’t use it for any of these leaves but it works great.
Felting Wool Sweaters
You can intentionally felt old sweaters by putting it in the washing machine and wash with hot water and detergent. Not much to it.
Delicious looking Red Apple Pillow
To make an apple pillow, you will need a red sweater or a T-shirt, a scrap piece of a brown sweater and a small piece of a green felted wool sweater. Follow the general instruction on how to make a beach ball pillow only sew on a green leaf cut from the wool sweater. Felting instructions above.
Vine-Ripe Tomato Pillow
To make a tomato pillow, you will need a tomato red sweater or a T-shirt, and a few small pieces of a green felted wool sweater. I used a very thin red sweater. Follow the general instruction on how to make a beach ball pillow then sew on three green leaves cut from the wool sweater. Felting instructions above.
Berry Blue Blueberry Pillow
To make an blueberry pillow, you will need a blue sweater or a T-shirt, a scrap piece of the blue sweater for the top circle and a piece of a blue felted wool sweater. Follow the general instruction on how to make a beach ball pillow only sew the circle on top of the felted piece as in the picture. Felting instructions above.
Autumn Pumpkin
To make a pumpkin pillow, you will need an orange sweater or a T-shirt, a scrap piece of a brown sweater and a small piece of a green felted wool sweater. Follow the general instruction on how to make a beach ball pillow only sew on a green leaf cut from the wool sweater. Felting instructions above.
Orange Grove Pillow
To make an orange pumpkin pillow, you will need an orange sweater or a T-shirt, a scrap piece of a brown sweater and a small piece of a green felted wool sweater. Follow the general instruction on how to make a beach ball pillow only sew on a green leaf cut from the wool sweater. Felting instructions above.
How To Make Fun Recycled Sweater Beach Ball Pillows
Posted Aug 28, 08 -Filed Under Crafts, MYO Gifts, Party Favors, Sewing, Uncategorized, reuse sweaters | Leave a Comment
I made a whole bunch of these pillows; they make great gifts!
Using the right sweaters you can create a pillow with a nautical or patriotic look.
How-to:
1. Set aside unwanted or damaged sweaters in desired color(s). Keep in mind that thinner sweaters are easier to sew.
2. Print out the ball stencil that I made and use it to make your own stencil out of a cereal box or other scrap cardboard. Large Ball Stencil -Small Ball Stencil
3. Use your stencil, a rotary cutter, and a cutting matt to cut out the pieces of the ball. If you don’t have a rotary cutter yet, trace the stencil and use fabric scissors to cut them out. You will need 6 pieces per pillow. In addition, you will need two small circles: one for the top and one for the bottom. I just free hand cut the circles two at a time so they are the same size. Alternatively you can trace a small glass or other small round circular item. Keep in mind that the circles have to be bigger than the desired finished size because the raw edges are turned under.
4. Lay out the pieces in a flower shape to help you visualize the pattern and to see how the colors look together. I suggest you find 3 colors that look nice together and then cut 2 pieces of each color or pick 6 colors one piece of each color.
5. Stack the pieces in the pattern order of your choice. Take the first two and sew (right sides together) along one side leaving about ¼ inch seam. Then sew the next piece on and the next until all 6 pieces are together. Don’t bother to place pins because sweater fabric is so stretchy and each piece might stretch a different amount. Also don’t worry if you have a bit of a hole on the top and bottom of your ball because these spots will be covered up by the circles.
6.Sew up the last seam (ball should still be inside out) leaving about 3.5 inches un-sewed.
7.Turn your ball right-side out and add stuffing through the hole you left.
8.The last part is to hand-sew the stuffing hole closed and hand-sew the “buttons” on the top and bottom. Turn under the raw edge as you sew along.
Recycled Sweater and/or T-Shirt Pennant Swags
Posted May 31, 08 -Filed Under Crafts, Home Décor, Party Décor, Sewing | 5 Comments
Front view
Back view
Pennant swags strung between poles.
Liven up a birthday party, beach party, or child’s room with these easy to make pennant swags!
How-to: Gather some thin sweaters and/or t-shirts in lively colors. Make yourself a triangle stencil out of an old cereal box or whatever. My triangles were 7 ¼ inches along the top edge and about 8 ¾ inches along the sides. You can make your triangles bigger if you prefer. The easiest way to make all your triangles is to use a rotary cutter. Using one is not necessary but sure is fast. Unlike the rotary cutter, when using scissors, you will need to trace your stencil before cutting. I liked to use the hemmed bottom edge of a shirt as the top edge of the pennants. I think it gives it a little bit more of a finished look to the swags. Work around any stains or worn places. Lay out your shirt flat on a cutting mat. You will be cutting two triangles at a time. After cutting out all the triangles, arrange them in the order you would like. You can be creative here. Next use a sewing machine to make one long running stitch attaching the pennants to the ribbon. Leave room at each end of your ribbon to make a loop or leave enough extra ribbon for trying.When using outside, I tie them to bamboo poles.
Jeans Recycled Into Durable Pillow Covers
Posted Mar 30, 08 -Filed Under Home Décor, Sewing | Leave a Comment
Fabric sewed together to form a long strip.
View of pillowcase inside-out.
Detail of the flap and the snaps.
These jean pillows also look good on my fading denim couch.
Casual comfort for your bed. If you are ambitious, a recycled jean duvet cover would look fantastic too! A duvet cover is just like an extra large pillow case.
Here is a quick guide to making durable recycled jean pillow covers.
First collect old jeans. Don’t worry if there are holes in the knees or frayed bottoms, you can work around those areas.
Second, you will need to cut the jeans into strips. I made a stencil four inches wide out of cardboard. It doesn’t matter how long. I traced the stencil on the jeans, making the strips as long as I could. Slide your stencil up or down to lengthen or shorten the strip.
You can choose to make your strips wider or narrower, whatever works for the jeans you are salvaging and the design you wish to make.
Next, sew the strips together end to end to form a long strip. This method results in a random pattern and allows you to get the most out of your fabric strips (reduces waste).
Then, figure out how big you would like your pillow cover. At this point you should consider whether to have the stripes go up and down or across. Cut the strips to length, remember to leave extra for seam-allowances- a half inch for each side is good (width) and add about 4 or so inches extra so you can fold the fabric over forming a flap (length). Sew your strips together to make two rectangles (the top and bottom of your pillow),
Last, simply sew your pillow pieces right sides together. Leave one side open. Finish that edge (fold over and sew). Try it on your pillow, use extra fabric to make a flap. Add snaps.
E-mail with your questions or comments.
Imaginative Children’s Costumes Made Of Unwanted Sweaters
Posted Jan 30, 08 -Filed Under Children's Crafts, Halloween, Sewing | Leave a Comment
Seven year old designer, Jade, modeling her latest creation.
Children will have a blast creating their own costumes out of unwanted sweaters. Jade made this super fun Dude-A-Wild Thing costume by cutting up sweaters. When she had things just the way she wanted them, she hand-sewed the pieces back together. Even the eye is made from cut up sweater fabric. She got her costume inspiration from a stuffed creature I made from sweaters. My inspiration ironically was from her. When she was smaller she would always draw charming critters that she called Dude-A-Bobs.
This is another great way to encourage your children to use their creativity and to learn to sew. If the stitching isn’t perfect, not a problem!
Children’s Apron Made From Recycled Dress
Posted Jan 13, 08 -Filed Under Children's Crafts, Sewing | Leave a Comment
My ten year old daughter had an idea to reuse a dress that she outgrew. She wanted to make it into an apron for cooking, messy art projects, or whatever. She cut up the center back and then used a sewing machine to finish the raw edges. Ideally you would choose an old dress that already had some sort of tie in the back. Otherwise, you could be creative and cut something from another dress or use a ribbon. This would make an excellent beginner sewing project with unlimited variations.