clothing mods and greenery

i’ve been doing some mending: replacing lost buttons, patching small holes, re-stitching hems. y’know, the basics. just keeping the wardrobe in decent repair so i don’t have to buy anything new.

a couple of weeks ago i decided to modify a pajama top that i’ve never really loved. silly me, i neglected to take a picture of the top for a “before” shot, so just imagine the pink and red lobster print with a 3″ ruffle around the bottom, and that’s the “before”:

i pieced together some fabrics that were hanging out in my stash, and made the skirt portion of my new housedress.

the green embroidered panels in front and back are leftover linen from a pair of pants i made a couple years ago. the hippo print is from ikea, and the firefly print was sent to me by a friend in chicago.

in other news, the window-ledge garden seems to be coming along nicely.

i think i may be able to harvest some of the micro greens pretty soon:

and the basil is looking and smelling good:

and there’s cilantro popping up!

and the lettuce/arugula/spinach planter is going crazy, too:

my husband brought home a copy of The Dirt-Cheap Green Thumb for me a couple weeks ago, and it’s been an interesting, informative read. it’s making me want a yard, so i can dig my hands in the dirt on a much larger scale…

06 may

it’s about time for another set of reusable menstrual pads.

some are for me, some more for friends. i have a lot more pieces to cut out.

i wish i had more of the mermaid flannel. it was only a small remnant when i started… maybe i should’ve found some yardage to purchase instead of just a piece.

repurposed art

i bought these two prints at michael’s several years ago, on super-clearance sale:

they’re 7.75″ X 9.75″ and printed on 5/8″ thick particle board. i figured they’d be good for hanging in the kitchen, in the big blank spot over the sink. and they were, until i got bored of them. plus my husband thinks they’re creepy, and i guess i can see his point. instead of giving them to the SalArmy or Goodwill, i thought i’d repurpose the boards.

first, i covered them with several layers of acrylic paint. first red, then bright pink, then red again, allowing each layer to dry between applications. once the last red layer was dry, i rubbed some black paint all over the boards, wiping off more from the middle than the edges.

i pored through my files trying to find the right images to add to the boards and finally settled on copies of a Dover clip art illustration of a tomato. i colored each copy with acrylic paint, wiping off the excess before it was dry.

i pulled a couple of pages from an old Childcraft encyclopedia (published in 1964) and cut the words into ovals, which i glued to the boards with Yes! paste. i love that stuff. on top of that, i pasted a slightly larger oval of pattern tissue. and on top of that, the tomatoes. on the right-hand bottom corner of each board, i stenciled a letter using a white china marker. two coats of varnish followed.

this one taught me about chopsticks:

and this one taught me about haggis and Robert Burns:

here they are in the kitchen, hanging below the clock on the wall over the sink.

not only was i crafty this weekend, but i got in a fair amount of recycling with this project.

tiny choices

if you’re interested in doing things that have a positive impact on your (our!) environment, please join me in visiting Tiny Choices. it’s a great resource for the small day-to-day decisions you can make that can help green your life.

this has been a public service announcement. thank you for your support.

more of “being green”

keeping in line with my last post, i’m doing some more crafting that involves lessening my impact on the earth.

it’s all about re-usable cloth menstrual pads. i originally found some excellent directions here and tweaked them to fit my own needs along the way. i get flannel on sale or even cheaper in the remnant bins and place my template on the fabric to use every bit available.

here’s a stack of cut-out pieces ready to be sewn:

the liners are four layers thick, and the outer part is just one layer. i usually serge them using four threads, but this time, i’m trying it out with just three.

buying a snap/eyelet tool was one of the best craft-related investments i’ve made. and getting it for half off at Joann didn’t hurt, either.

and the finished result (viewed from the underside):

guess i’d better go back and finish up the rest, so i can package them up and ship them to some friends.

it IS easy being green

the older i get, the more i notice how much waste there is in this world. or maybe it’s not that i’m just now noticing the waste, but caring about it a lot more. we bring our own bags along when we go grocery shopping, and i keep thinking i need to make more bags so we can take them when we go to places like target or the hardware store. all those darn plastic bags add up. i made this bag about a year and a half ago:

it’s made of Target bags that i cut into strips and crocheted together. i wish i would’ve kept count of how many bags i used, since that’s the first question people tend to ask when they see the bag.

i’m in the midst of making more grocery bags and just completed this one yesterday:

the cotton fabric is pretty sturdy, but not quite as sturdy as a nice heavy canvas. the webbing has been sitting in my stash a lot longer than the fabric – i recall purchasing the webbing at REI back in 1991. i’m not sure how i can tell people “i’m not a packrat” with straight face. well, at least i finally found a use for the stuff!

with all this grocery-bag making, i started thinking about the plastic produce bags i use when i shop at my local Whole Foods market. i re-use them, but they tend not to hold up very well after a few uses, especially if i’m buying a lot of root vegetables. goodness knows i sure loves me some beets.

a few days ago, i finally got a round to googling directions for making reusable produce bags. i found these instructions, which are really great. i used them as a jumping-off point, since i wanted to use what i already had on hand, and i wanted to keep the weight of the bags down as much as possible. i like my Whole Foods market, but i don’t want to pay extra for my already-pricey produce by using bags that have too many bells and whistles.

i started out with some cheap-o nylon tulle.

you can find this stuff at Joann (or another similar chain store) for about $1.30 a yard (or less if you have a 40% off coupon!). it comes in loads of colors.

i experimented with sizes and decided that cutting out two 12.5″ X 12.5″ pieces for each bag would work best for my needs.

i pulled out my serger and strung some wooly nylon thread onto the upper looper. i set the machine for a narrow rolled-hem stitch. i wasn’t going for neatness with these bags, but for whatever would hold up under heavy usage. i serged each of the tops, then placed one piece atop the other and serged the sides and the bottom. easy-peasy.

i knotted the ends and secured each corner with a drop of Fray Check. i then folded the top over and sewed a drawstring through the two thicknesses of fabric using a rounded needle and single strand of crochet thread. i cut the thread, leaving a couple of inches play on each end, then knotted the ends together.

voila! the finished produce bag.

and the bag in action:

i’m glad i had some tulle in a light shade – that should make it easy for the grocery clerks to ring up my produce.

of course, i had to make a bag using some lace i’d purchased a couple of halloweens ago…

that should be fun to take to the store. i’ll fill it with all the produce a good pirate could eat… like ARRRtichokes, ARRRugula and pARRRsley.

[OK, you can stop rolling your eyes at my bad pirate joke now!]

all told, i have 5 produce bags, and i’m planning on making a few more. then i’ll be on to my next project, which also involves a reduction in landfill waste.