Monday, June 24, 2013

The Magic that is Sewing...

Having a sewing machine is kind of like having a magic wand. You can create something out of almost nothing. Obviously you can say the about almost any craft, but with sewing you can go from zero to awesome literally in minutes. You don't need fancy fabric from the yardage store, although fabric shopping is a wonderful thing, you can take an article of clothing you already own and alter it to your style or just cut it up and create something new from the material. I have two "kids" (quotes because they are both over 20 and therefore technically adults) and they've outgrown tons of clothes over the years. Much of the clothing was given to younger kids in the family or donated to charity, but I've kept some too. Several totes worth, mostly t-shirts which are awesomely versatile for re-purposing. One of my fave projects is a super simple tote upgrade made by cutting out the t-shirt art and appliqueing it onto a canvas tote. Pretty much as easy as cutting and sewing straight lines, and with super cool results. 

Another neat thing I busted out on a whim was a mesh bag to hold soap scraps. My husband uses Ivory soap exclusively, and Ivory is a very airy, light bar of soap that wears out fast and as it gets small it breaks easily, so we end up with a lot of soap scraps. Of course, I could not bear to throw these scraps away, but they were a real bitch to use. I happened to have a roll of wide tulle ribbon, so one day I just whipped up a small pouch with an elastic opening and a loop to hang it up in the shower. It is as crude as hell and ugly, but it works so well that if we ran out of soap scraps I would cut up a new bar of soap just to put it in the bag. I don't know if it works so great because it's Ivory soap or what, but when you wash with it, the soap instantly foams up into an awesomely fluffy lather. I'm thinking of making some nice pretty ones to give as gifts.

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