Category Archives: Recycled materials

Embroidered Hearts

Posted in Boston, Holiday, Recycled materials, Sewing, Stuff to make by

Before we kick into full valentine production at my house, cutting and decorating paper hearts for my kid’s multidinous classmates (maybe this is the best argument for keeping class sizes small), I thought I’d sneak in a little stitching.

It all started with this freebie download for bear and bunny dolls  from wee wonderfuls. I stitched bunny, but not bear because . . .

 . . . I was taken by the urge to create these lumpy little stuffed embroidered hearts! 

I had hoped they’d be reminiscent of these embroidered birds,  but alas, not quite. I learned that it’s really hard to turn small shapes right side out after sewing. Also that I haven’t mastered sewing perfect curves on my machine. And the elusive invisible stitch? I keep trying . . .  

But I did my messy best and enjoyed the embroidery. I used muslin for the front and for the back, scraps of printed cotton and denim and (pink!) cordoroy from recycled pants. The heart paper is from Paper Source in Cambridge. Happy Valentine’s Day, friends!

Darling Clementine, Part 2

Posted in Boston, Recycled materials, Sewing, Stuff to make by

OK, for Part 2 of the Darling Clementine Project, I thought I would sew a groovy vintage-y oilcloth liner for a clementine crate. I thought this print with oranges would be perfect:Green Oranges OilclothYou can order it at http://www.warmbiscuit.com. But I decided to take my chances and buy a yard of whatever was in stock at the nearby Tags Ace Hardware. (Not many hardware stores carry oilcloth–only those in yuppie strongholds like Porter Square in Cambridge, Mass.) Anyway, I chose the only fruit-themed print they had: red cherries on white.

I decided that it would be better to build up the clementine crate with bass wood strips (from my local craft store). That way, the liner would have an edge to fold over and it wouldn’t obscure the Darling Clementine graphic on the side of the box. I tried stapling the wood strips first, then hammering in brads, but the wood corners of the box were surprising strong. So, I used wood glue, which worked well.

Sewing the liner went pretty quickly (except getting the tension right for the oilcloth). For complete, step-by-step directions, a downloadable pdf is here: Darling Clementine Project.

 

Not sure what I’m going to store in it: clementines, maybe?

Doll’s bed

Posted in Kids, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

My daughter got a new American Girl doll for Christmas, so a new bed was needed for the dormitory. A free weekend, a sturdy box, and some left over fabric, and Eve soon had a cozy bed of her own. We started with box from a new pair of boots, and added some foam-core board to the top to make it the right length. (Bonus: the bed opens up to store dolls’ shoes, socks, accessories, and a few musical instruments.)

My daughter chose the fabrics she wanted to use from my scrap box. To make the bed skirt, I attached three panels of red cotton/linen to a rectangle of muslin in a simple box shape. I made a mattress out of plain white cotton with cotton batting.  Same for the pillow, but I tore up the batting to make it more fluffy. Then, my daughter, who was given an embroidery kit from my granny, embroidered the pillow case–all by herself!

Finally, the quilt was really quick to make. My daughter wanted one fabric for the top, so I pieced together a few scraps to make a rectangle, and then used white for the backing. Rather than binding the quilt, I sewed regular seams and just turned it inside out. I also tried quilter’s knots to quilt the layers together, for the first time. All around, we’re pretty pleased with how this turned out–without spending a penny!

Have you made anything for American Girls? We’d love to hear about your excuses to play with your kids’ toys!

Darling Clementine, Part 1

Posted in Kids, Paper, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

With winter, come clementines.  With clementines, come crates–those somewhat sturdy, little boxes, so handy for stashing screwdrivers and stowing socks. They are perfect as they are, but this year, I’m dreaming up new incarnations for them. So consider this Part 1 of the Darling Clementine Project.

My first idea was to make a miniature school desk for my friend’s daughter Addie, who has set up an entire educational system for her American Girl dolls in her attic. And a desk made from a crate is the kind of Depression Era utility that Kit Kittredge would approve of!

I cut a piece of cardboard to fit the bottom of the crate and covered the cardboard with wood grain contact paper. I adhered it with wood glue and let it sit overnight under the weight of Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past (meaning the emotional weight of my guilt in having never read it, plus its actual weight–but really, any heavy book will do). Then I cut a section out of the crate with an X-acto knife, to make room for Kit to sit. I added a couple of props (fake apple, mini composition book).

     

I like how the crate markings show on the ends. And here you can see the cut I made in one side.

Please share what you do with your clementine crates. Photos welcome!

postscript: Addie in her Doll School!

Bugs from recycled bits

Posted in Kids, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

Here’s a mantra to repeat to yourself when doing crafts with kids: process, not product. It will turn you into the craft whisperer. Especially if your child (like mine) swirls paints and blends play dough until each art work takes on the brackish hue and glurpy consistency of a murky bog.

Making bugs from bits collected from the recycling bin ended up to be a good project for everyone in my house, plus some friends. And the end results (not that I would be so superficial as to care, dear craft whisperer) were kind of cute. Plastic milk caps, bread tags, paper clips, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, ribbon, and scraps of paper turned into an pleasant infestation of creepy crawlies.