Owl Crinkle Toy Refashion
It’s soft, it crinkles, and part of it is made from an old T Shirt. My love for owls is growing so it was only a matter of time before I created an owl softie toy. To create this owl, I had my handy, dandy husband draft up a template for me to trace, based on my sketch. The light blue material was cut from an old T Shirt (I love a good refashion). Instead of sewing the wings down to the body, I kept the inside edge loose so that little hands could be slipped into the “pockets” that are created by the wings. I used a soft, fleece fabric for the outside of the wings to give a nice tactile feel. There is a contrasting fabric on the inside of the wings and backside of the owl. I chose to create the nose and eyes out of felt (instead of buttons or googly eyes) to avoid choking hazards. Lastly, babies LOVE anything that crinkles. So, I cut up a diaper wipes bag and plastic cereal liner to add the crinkle affect. For the stuffing, I used a loose fill for the owl body and a batting liner for the wings.
And when we are done with the toy… It gets the touchdown football slam!
Star Wars Finger Puppets
Let’s be honest… Who doesn’t love Star Wars!
This gift was probably catered more towards the parents than the kids, but what a great way to get both involved! This is a great way to polish those hand embroidery skills. All you need is some felt and embroidery floss! All of the characters were whipstitched around the edges. Most of the other stitching was a standard running stitch. For R2D2, I used both running stitches and back stitches. I had the most difficulties with Chewbacca. I ended up using both dark brown and a glossy, light brown embroidery floss to create highlights and texture for his hair.
They can even go on little toes!
Tilly and Tommy Elephant
Now that Halloween is over it’s officially time to start thinking about the holiday season! Last year I decided to make several Christmas gifts, in lieu of purchasing. There is this personal connection and satisfaction that can only be felt when you’ve invested time and care into creating something with your own hands.
What I discovered last year is that making gifts takes a lot of time! I generally allow a couple of months to complete the gifts. So, now is the time to get started!
Two of my favorite gifts that I made last year were boy / girl elephants inspired by the Tilly and Tommy Elephant pattern created by RetroMama found Here.
They are a modern take on the traditional stuffed elephant with the clean, simple lines and non-traditional fabric patterns.
They are perfect for little hands to cuddle with or little heads to lay on!
Reusable Sandwich Bag
I hate the idea of using wasteful plastic baggies everyday for lunches so I decided to make my own reusable sandwich bag! I did not want any plastic involved in these bags so I decided to use unbleached muslin as the basis.
At first my husband had some concerns about using these bags:
Question: “Um, won’t it get all gross since it’s not plastic?”
Answer: “Nope. There are lots of things that can go in these bags that are not liquid based - sandwiches, chips, carrots, etc. And they are washable. If the bag gets a little mayo on it, just throw it in the wash.”
Question: “It’s a breathable fabric. Isn’t the bread going to get stale.”
Answer: “Yikes, I hadn’t thought about that. Let’s try it out and see what happens.”
Well, we tested the bag and it worked great. The reusable bag was kept inside of his larger lunch bag and the sandwich stayed nice and fresh.
I made this bag a generous size so that we could get a nice sized, full flavor sandwich into it. I plan on making smaller versions for snack packs.
Tutorial:
Small piece of sturdy, unbleached muslin (approximately “8 x 16.5”)
Orange thread
White thread
Orange & green embroidery floss
7” strip of 3/4” wide sew-on velcro
Embroidery needle
Sewing machine
Directions:
Cut 2 rectangles from the muslin - (1) 8” x 7 1/2” & (1) 8” x 9”.
Press both pieces.
Take the smaller rectangle and zig-zag stitch (or serge) one end with white thread.
Next, take that same edge and fold over (towards the wrong side) to create a 1/2” hem.
Press and stitch to hem with white thread.
Take this rectangular piece and sketch a design on the right side of the fabric with pencil or removable marking pen. The hemmed edge will be the top side.
Hand embroider the design. For the carrot design I used 3 strands of floss to outline the carrot and 2 strands for the detail work inside the carrot, along with the roots and stems. To create a continuous line I used a back stitch.
Once the embroidery is complete, lay the 2 pieces of muslin, wrong side together, aligning the bottom edge. The hemmed edge is the top edge.
Align the velcro so that the 2 pieces will lock together once the top flap has been folded over. Mark, pin, and sew velcro to both pieces of fabric with white thread. The velcro should fit on the right side of the embroidered piece and the wrong side of the back piece.
Now, align the two pieces wrong side together, once again, and pin.
Top stitch using a zig-zag stitch around all 4 sides with the orange thread.
Voila! You are Done!
Refashion Round-Up
In honor of my first refashion post last week, I thought I would share some of my favorite refashion tutorials from other bloggers!
Enjoy!
Made By Lex Button Up Refashion
Madison Avenue Dress Refashion
Ruffles and Roses Crafts T Refashion
Nightgown to Scarf Refashion
This is my first refashion ever! I am happy to join the bandwagon! I had a nightgown that I received as a wedding gift years ago. It was very comfortable, but not a particularly good pattern for such an item. So, I decided to give it a better life! As a scarf, it is an excellent pattern!
This project was a lot of trial and error and a lot of lessons learned. Typically with an infinity scarf you are working with lengths of 60” fabric. I had very few large pieces of fabric to work with so I had to do a bit of patchwork. Instead of creating a traditional infinity scarf with one large loop that is wrapped around the neck several times, I decided to make one short loop that was extra wide to give a similar bunching affect. I chose an off white satin material for the back.
Here is a great tutorial for creating infinity scarves.
Below are my Before and After Shots …
