Funky phoenix dungarees rising from the ashes of once beloved, worn out jeans. They whisper of summer campfires and long lost adventures in the patchwork kingdom of throwing caution to the wind.
Monthly Archives: February 2014
Spaghetti Yeti
The Spaghetti Yeti was made as a birthday present for a friend’s son. His shapes were born on some drawing paper which leapt off the page and into the sewing basket. He is a conspiracy of new wool felt and an old wool sweater stuffed with the innards of a discarded throw pillow.
Sharing at the Sew Darn Crafty linky party.
a Katwise-inspired sweatshirt
This sweatshirt was inspired by Katwise and her amazing creations. Katwise makes beautiful sweaters and sweater-coats from old wool sweaters. Around here wool sweaters are hard to come by, so I tried my hand at making a Katwise-style sweatshirt…out of old sweatshirts.
I think I’m in love…
In the back there is a longish elf hood (also inspired by Katwise).
If you’re interested, Katwise has a tutorial for her signature sweater style available in her etsy shop.
fairy dress
This is a project I made for my little girl out of an old favourite t-shirt of mine that doesn’t fit anymore. To begin, I traced a quick pattern from a dress that currently fits her, and placed it over my old t-shirt, centering it over the fairy graphic. The t-shirt was tiny enough that I was able to cut it in such a way that I could use the ribbing on the t-shirt neckline for the dress’ neckline too – score!
I wanted to make a pair of wings on the back of the dress to match the fairy’s wings in the graphic, so I started hunted for something blue. Finally I found a blue t-shirt with a swirly pattern from my thrift shop stash that was perfect.
After experimenting with paper wings on the back of the dress, I decided to use a butterfly-like pair and got to work cutting them out of the blue t-shirt and stitching them onto the back section of the dress. This probably sounds difficult and iron-intensive, but it really wasn’t. That’s why I love knits: they don’t fray but only curl a little so I feel free to swoop around and make rounded edges without worry of turning seams and getting them just so. I can really let my creative ideas lead the way without concern of fussy little things. I just stitched on those wings, putting seams where I imagined the veins would be and it turned out quite well.
Once the wings were stitched, it was time to sew the little dress together, add the arms, and watch my wee love flutter about the house.
an upcycling blog 