ToteATee -- Fun & Easy

Latest experiment -- remember I design as I go -- turned out great. I wanted to make a bag that would have teen appeal, so I turned to tee shirts. This project was particularly hard for me, a perfectionist, because it entailed raw edges and nonprecise sewing. But it was so easy and fast and FUN! I've named it ToteATee. Cute, huh! I feel a tutorial coming on. Here's my first two bags. The first bag was made from a tee that had screen printing on the front and back, thus the two pics (drum and eye). The second bag (Love Thy Neighbor) has pockets inside. I took both bags to church to get a teen opinion, and I'm happy to say she thought they were sooooooo cute. Appears I'm on the right track.

REfashion

Here's one of my first attempts at refashioning clothing. I used a zip-front vest and a dress for its chiffon ruffly skirting, both of which were 50-cent items from a local thrift store, to make a fun dance top. Since I design as I go, there's a couple of oopsies, that probably I'm the only one who'll notice. But it turned out kind of cute.

MY FIRST JEAN PURSE - 8/3/2008

This is my first jean purse. I used a pair of little girl jeans in cute orange print and lined it with a bright green fabric from my stash, and even put in an inner zipper in the lining. I used Velcro as closures for main part of bag and outer pockets, and trimmed it with some cute sequin trim that I had bought a while ago. For a handle I used silver rings to make a chain by joining them together with an orange scarf that I have had in my closet for some time. I will construct the next one a bit differently for a neater look, but I am satisfied with the overall outcome. I thought I might give this to my granddaughter, but she's very conservative, so I will keep this one for me.

SOME "GREENERY" - 7/27/2008

One of my favorite easy serger projects is a head wrap. This one was for my granddaughter. It's made from a thrift towel which looked new. It's was a quick and easy project. This is a handy thing to have. Instead of wrapping your head in a towel and having it fall continually, this little wrap fits your head and has a little piece of elastic that the tail goes through which helps keep it in place.

Another green project was making note pads using paint chips as the covers. This too I gave to my granddaughter, when she was fixing to head off to school. I cut scrap paper (paper with printing on one side), so this is totally a recycling project. I had seen these on the internet and thought I'd give them a try. The ones I had seen used o-rings to keep the pads together. I used cuff links, which can be removed/replaced. Now they're refillable. So cool!