Craftings: Tie Bracelets

So I had a ton of tie ends (the skinny tails), left over from making a tie skirt¹ a couple years ago.  I figured I could put them to good use, and finally decided I could make little cuff bracelets out of them and some cute vintage buttons I inherited from my mom and grandmother's sewing collection.

I measured them on my wrist, folded over the not-pointy end and stiched it closed.  Matched a button to each tie, then sewed a buttonhole on the pointy end.  Boy, it's been a while since I machine-stitched (okay, any stitch) a buttonhole, and wow did I really suck at it.  This is one of the later (and better) ones.  Ugh.

On my wrist!

A fleet of them!  (I have three others that aren't pictured because I did them on an earlier night and they were already in my jewelry drawer)

I made a couple double-length ones that could be chokers, or doubled up on the wrist.  Doesn't this one look so academic? :)

¹ Todd Oldham taught me how, in, like 1993.

Craftings: Cardboard Star Wreath

So I've been on quite the crafting binges lately.  And a lot of them have involved reuse of otherwise unused objects.  Partly because of thrift, and partly because we live on an island now, and I'm a lot more sensitive to our waste these days.  Not that I wasn't before, but when you live on a very small pinpoint in the middle of the sea from which our garbage gets shipped, anything I can do to recycle or upcycle seems prudent.  Anyhow, I saw a how-to online for cardboard 3-D stars (which will be perfect for Christmas cards later this year - we'd already recycled a ton we'd saved before we moved).  So I took a cereal box and pizza box that otherwise would have gone in the recycling bin, grabbed my x-acto knife, and got to work!

Then I painted my stars a silvery sage green, plus an extra pearly coat on the smaller stars.

Some I left cardboard-colored, scored, and folded them into 3-dimensional stars. 

Then I grabbed a nasty wire hanger (you know, the cheapy ones that your dry-cleaning comes back on - blech), fashioned it into a circle, bent the top back into a loop, and then hot-glued the crap out of it on the back.

Stuck the 3-d stars on top of the flat green ones, making sure to gob them with hot glue wherever they touched the stars under them.

Close-up of the bottom.

On the door!  There's a sheer shimmery ribbon that matches it quite well that's looped around the top where the hook is - but I may take it off.  Haven't decided.

Craftings: Stained Skirt Reclamation

About a year ago, I bought a lovely basic grey skirt.  Knee-length, goes with lots, fits well.  So you can understand my dismay when, on the second or third wear, I stained it by sitting on a sharpie or pen or something.  Well, I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it, even though there was a big black stain on the caboose, so I set it aside, figuring I could wear it with long jackets or sweaters or something.  Which was maybe once. I mean, I didn't know what exactly I could do to cover it without the covering looking worse than the stain itself, you know?  But I figured I could come up with something when I had more time and ambition.

The original stain.  Mid-project, from underneath. :(

Then, I held a bridal shower which left me with hundreds of surplus buttons.  Perfect!

And unemployment leaves me with plenty of time!  Perfect! (well, perfect for crafting, at least...)

So, I parsed out all they grey, black, and pearly buttons.  Stuck one over the stain, and then started sewing more on, randomly.  And kept sewing - I wanted a thicker covering of buttons at the bottom hem, tapering up towards the waist.

The back, with stain now cleverly hidden.

Things I Underestimated About This Project:

1. The amount of time required.  I didn't sew each button more than 2 or 3 loops, but each one is individually knotted, and that takes a while.  This was a 3-evening project!  I didn't anticipate it taking more than a night.
2. The forethought required in achieving a "random" pattern.  It was hard to scatter buttons so that they weren't equidistant from their neighbors!  I had to keep shifting them and adjusting before sewing them down.
3. The weight of all those added buttons.  This skirt weighs close to a pound now!

Extra buttons sewn into the lining for those I will invariably lose!

My reclaimed skirt!  From the front.

Craftings: T-Shirt Refashioning

So I've been addicted, in my unemployment, to pinterest, where in a 5-minute span, I can grow my project-list exponentially.  But, I now have time for all the projects I've accumulated for the past seven years!  So I've been doing a lot of crafting and DIY projects.

One recent obsession: refashioning t-shirts into new things.  I'm kicking myself for giving away so much of my clothing before we moved - I could do so much with them now! :(  Well, Goodwill has provided me with some cheap supplies!

I found some directions to make scarves/necklaces out of t-shirt jersey material.  I cut a bunch of strips/loops from t-shirts, stretched them so they roll up on themselves, and assembled.  What fun!

 Made this one because I loved a former colleague's combo of purple and lime she wore one day.

  Cut spirals out of t-shirts.  In retrospect, I'd have made them larger slash used a larger shirt, because this scarf is a little scrawny.

I was concerned that this one plays a little too 80s - but it actually looks kind of cute with a darker kelly green top and white skirt.

  Finger-knit braided bracelets - what a fun (and VERY instant-gratification) technique!.

 Chrysanthemum pin made from sleeve scraps.

  If I were to do this one over I'd have made it shorter and thicker.  But I did dye this one myself, and the pink shows a nice subtle variegation.  I also achieved this pink using black food coloring and boiling water. Pink was the only tone that stuck to the cotton.

  This one's going to a friend. :)

 This one, too. :)

 But this one I'm keeping.  To me, it's very oceany.  And makes good use of a bunch of surplus buttons!  It's a hybrid scarf-necklace (scarflace?  ew, no) made of long loops doubled-up on themselves.  But I've worn it so it cascades a little more.

There are more t-shirt projects coming, as soon as I can get back to a thrift shop!