Men's Shirt Repurposed

My Monday Metamporphis is a men's shirt that I picked up last week at "The Goodwheel" (as my 6 year old calls it). It is a men's shirt, Calvin Klein, nice blue pin stripe. Worn just enough to be comfy - but totally free of any yuckiness. I almost raided my husband's closet to do this - but I was pretty sure that as soon as I did that - he'd ask for the shirt that I had re-made.

So - here are some before shots...



Laying - waiting for me to make it pretty.



I tried it on and marked the sides where I wanted to taper it. I still wanted it to hang on me and be long...but I did not want it big and boxy. The picture below shows a line that runs from about three quarters down the arm, under the arm and down the side - tapering in some at the waiste. I folded the shirt in half and marked the other side accordingly.

I was not too uptight about precision here because I knew it was still going to be loose and a bit oversized. A cm here or there is not going to show for this project.




The material that was cut off the sides became cute ruffles on the front. Ruffles are hot right now - you know that, right? :)

Voila. My new shirt (I had to edit off my head because I hadn't done my hair- yes, I'm that vain). I always wear my creations around my little sis soon after I finish them and see if she compliments them - if so, I know that it was a success! This one got a compliment. Yay!

Check out other way cooler projects!

Thrifty Thursday Find

I'm sharing for the Thrifty Thursday's post at Tales from Bloggeritaville. This was another snag from the Salvation Army store a couple weeks ago. The same place I got the wine rack. I think it was $3? It is something we actually needed in our downstairs powder room, although I wasn't at all crazy or about the color or the bird. Sorry - nothing against birds... I'm just not into "country"... I like more cottage, eclectic, shabby chic type stuff. Sometimes there is a fine line... but this little bird crossed the line for me.



But, some paint and my FIRST attempt with Mod Podge - made all the difference!





I love it - and our puppy hasn't even seemed to be too excited over the TP and magazines that are within his reach. Let's hope it stays that way.

This is the picture that hangs above it. It's a little print I got in Japan years ago when I lived there for a time. I think it looks lovely with the new magazine stand.

A quick Before and After

Editing to Link up to a Goodwill Party Post! Scroll down to the old banguet chair!

I've been doing some improvements to my work area (I mainly work here... but am organizing and making changes that will allow me to do more of my sewing and craft stuff up here too - as opposed to the dining room table). Here are some pics of what I did this week. I've had fun - but, like all projects, the starting is more fun that the finishing for some reason.

An old filing cabinet in the garage. Ugly.

A $3.99 chair from the Goodwill store. Ugly.

The space - I know this looks like a holy mess... but I had pulled everything out of it's place and had a huge pile of fabric scraps, etc.


Ta-Da! - My little workspace. I just use a laptop, so I will be able to easily move it and set up my sewing machine. So far - I'm loving it! Note the chair and filing cabinet - so much better, huh?!

Compartmentalizing

Containers... my kids love containers. My son especially has a room filled with little bags, packs, boxes, whatever - places to put things. Are all kids like this?

This one I made for him before he was born, awww. I had a short-lived basket making hobby. Very short lived.









This extra-special one was given to him by his aunt (it contains more containers!)


This is a Red Sox cup he confiscated to keep Happy Meal toys in.


And here we have a treasure chest that he and Daddy made together, it holds... what else? Some treasures!


And is it just kids? I think not. Especially those of us who sew or craft - we're always needing new compartments and containers for our threads, beads, buttons, needles, and more. So - lately I'm trying to reuse instead of buying new containers every time the fancy strikes. Here is a wooden compartmentalized tray that originally had little horses in it - now used for sewing supplies. All I had to do was redecorate the top and it fits right in with my eclectic group of supplies.




And finally, here is plastic cookie container (not sure where all those cookies went...ahem) now divided (cut and used some plastic ribbon holders that I didn't need to make dividers) and holding my clothing tags!



Both of these reused items were decorated using just a glue gun and some on hand supplies. And a note on glue guns - KIDS love these. I know it is not something you can let your child play with on their own... but my five year old has his own and is allowed to get it out when I'm working on sewing and crafts and work along side me. His favorite thing is to glue buttons together to make cool little sculptures. We get bags of mixed buttons at craft stores and it has provided hours of entertainment and creativity!

And if you are in need of some fancy containers but don't have any left over cookie boxes- how about looking here? Etsy Container Search. ;) These are actually a bunch of decorative boxes for different uses - but they're great and I'm sure just the tip of the iceberg on Etsy!

More Revamping, Reusing, Recycling

How do you demonstrate to your children the concept of waste reduction? I know most of us talk about recycling plastic bags and bottles, etc. ~ but what about less obvious ways? The outfit I posted in the last post is a flimsy example...but it is a way I reused something that could have just been stuck away in a box until next year, or even thrown out. After I posted it - I started thinking about how else I am being resourceful and creatively reusing, revamping or recycling items in our every day lives. The best way we can teach our children is to lead by example.


In that spirit - here are a few other projects around the house that are getting us thinking about revamping, reusing and recycling!

• I just went through my daughter's closet. We are very lucky to have two nieces each a little older than my daughter. We get LOTS of hand-me downs. Most of her other clothes I make (I know, this will probably only fly until she's about 9 or 10). But, with good care many of the clothes still have life in them when the third child has outgrown them. We sorted together (which is fun and spurs memories and talks of how much she has grown) and came up with a box of clothes to donate to our American Vets and a box to take to an upcoming consignment sale. We talked about donations and giving to others and also about working hard to save and make money. (Side note... the sorting of the styles, sizes, seasons of clothing was actually a great activity for my five year old to take part in too. Categorizing is right up his developmental alley.)

• Next, I am cleaning and revamping my office and sewing supply area. This is a CHORE. Our current space in the house is not exactly an ideal setup for my sewing... however, with some creativity and using what I already had on hand - I've made some great progress. I'll post before and after pictures. One of my favorite things... I used a little wooden horse stable toy that my daughter doesn't use to store a lot of my tiny items for sewing. I tried to entice my son into sorting all my pins and buttons and such for me, but he drew the line.

• The cleaning of all my sewing items resulted in the discovery of some t-shirts that I had started to use for my little Guatemala tops I make (yes, that beauty is my daughter;) ) and then found that they ran too small for the size I needed. So, instead of throwing them out - I have used them for the basis of a new spring outfit! I kept hanging on to them thinking I needed to just get rid of them... and then it hit my that I could rework them into something really cute! Pictures coming soon!

Some other every day ways we try to reuse...

• Save all egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls - this make great craft basis'.
• Buy the reusable grocery totes! If you haven't done it yet - do it - or make one. They're easy. Or just search on Etsy... here, I'll get you started!
• Refill water bottles - or just buy a big pitcher.
• Save cardboard boxes. They make great forts, cages... the possibilities are endless.
  

So, please share...how are you demonstrating to your kids the art of finding new uses or even just re-uses for old things?