Refashionista Day 3: Another "Instead" Project

Today's project by Suzannah from  Adventures in Dressmaking was indeed very cool. She took an underused skirt and transformed it into a pillow. Check out her tutorial. I didn't really need a pillow, but I did have a project I've been meaning to get to. So I'm refashioning along to the beat of my own drum again today. Thanks, Suzannah and Cheri of course, for the inspiration.

We bought a piano a while back and have great intentions for learning how to play it. We even have some piano books with simple songs and theory and whatnot to help us in our endeavor. We just had nowhere to put said books. Then I found that one of those milk boxes from Costco was actually just the right size to tuck under the piano and hold all our books. It just wasn't very pretty. Case in point:

So, I grabbed some fabric I'd bought a long time ago (oddly enough, I originally thought I'd make pillows out of it), some Heat'n'Bond, and my trusty iron and went to town. I like using Heat'n'Bond cuz it's easy, fast, and I get crisper results than I ever do with Mod Podge. I am just bad at gluing I guess. Anyway, here's the box now:

Here it is a little closer:

Much prettier, don't you think? Of course, when you start with a cardboard milk box it's not hard.

Refashionista Day 2: In Which I Do Not Follow the Schedule

Well, the refashionista event was never really about "refashioning along" and doing all the projects, but I was sort of planning to do that anyway. But, well, so much for plans--today's tutorial was for a (very cute) little girl's dress, and I just have my one little dude. So, it didn't "hit me where I live" so to speak. (What does that mean, anyway? If someone hit me where I lived I think I'd feel violated... anyway...). I still wanted to do a little refashioning, so I decided to dive into a simple little project I've been meaning to try for a while. Make It and Love It has a great little tutorial for repurposing a short-sleeved shirt into a long-sleeved one. It's getting chilly around these parts, and I thought it would be great to get Isaac's wardrobe ready for winter.

So, I took his my favorite of his shirts and took it from this:

To this:

Hurray! I'm so grateful for all these awesome ladies who take all the time to create things and then go the extra mile and share it with the whole internet. What a great time to be alive, eh?

Oh, and here's a picture of yesterday's scarf, in action. Oh, and me. I'm in it.

Refashionista Day 1: Fun with Disney

I was excited to see that Disney from Ruffles and Stuff would kick off the Refashionista Event at I Am Momma. I love her blog and adore her style. I've been meaning to try one of her projects for forever... well, actually I did one - I made a version of her Birds on a Wire that is admired all the time by visitors to my home. I can't claim the credit for the creativity, but at least the sticks came from my yard. :) Anyway, I've never tried one of her clothing refashions - until now!

I'm not usually a scarf girl*, but I loved the unique look of the one that Disney created. I've got a soft spot for buttons . . . and pockets. Anyway, I was very tempted to run out to Dollar Tree and see if I could grab the same scarves she used and just make a duplicate. But then I decided that since refashioning is all about using what you have and making something great out of just regular old something, I decided to shuffle through my scraps. I found some fleece and some felt and ta da! Here's what I came up with:

I thought it turned out pretty cute. Sorry for the not so great picture - it's ten o'clock at night after all, and we don't have the best lighting in the craft room. Maybe I'll get some pictures of me wearing it tomorrow. We'll see.

Anyway, so looking forward to seeing what else comes up in this Refashionista event. Maybe this is just the thing I needed to take me from dreaming/planning to doing.

*I feel an urge to explain, for some reason: I love scarves in theory. They keep your neck warm, but they're removable for when your neck gets too hot. Versatile. But, for some reason I never seem to want to wear one. I think this one may change that. :) Happy.

And a side note: as I was finishing up, my husband turned from his Civilization game and asked, "So what are you doing anyway?" After I explained and showed him my cute scarf, he said, "Oh great! That'll help me with my whole Peter Bishop look." If any of you are Fringe watchers, maybe you'll have the same giggle that we shared over that. Peter Bishop - always seems to be wearing a scarf  and always seems to have his hands in his pockets. This look would totally simplify things for him. But, while I think my version is possibly manly enough, this baby is totally mine. Sorry, Husby.

Refashioning Along

Yeah, so... this blog sort of died before it was really alive. But here I am to try to resurrect it again.

Cheri over at I Am Momma Hear Me Roar is doing a Refashionista event, with guest bloggers and her creative self posting daily tutorials for refashioning. I have decided I'd like to refashion along, so at least this week there will be posts of my adventures :)


Head over to I Am Momma to learn more about it!

Tie Onesie

I've been meaning to do this one for a while, and learning to use my new machine's applique stitch was just the motivation I needed. I used this tutorial from Crap I've Made to make an applique tie onesie for the wee guy. Here's the handsome model himself:








By the way, there is enough fabric in a charm square to complete this project. This project could also be done without sewing, if you trusted the iron-on stuff.

Nursing Cover

I used this tutorial from Sew Much Ado, modifying it just a bit, to make a cute nursing cover for my sister, who just had a baby girl. This was such an easy project, and one I hope my sis will get a lot of use out of.


What I did to modify it was just instead of cutting one 28" by 40" rectangle for the main part, I cut a 22" by 36" rectangle and added a 6" by 36" rectangle along the bottom. (Why 36"? Well, because I only bought one yard of fabric and that's how long the longest part of the fabric was - gotta go with what you got.) I then sewed a piece of coordinating trim on the seam. Easy peasy.

Notebook and Crayon Roll

I love looking at tutorials online. I love that people take the time and go to the effort to not only think up something crafty, but also to painstakingly outline how to do it for others. I usually just look at these tutorials and say "Hmm, someday I gotta try that." But I'm trying to get past the planning and on to the doing.
Luckily for me this goal fits in well with one of the resolutions I made at the new year - to remember birthdays. So, fortunately or unfortunately depending on personal opinions of homemade gifts, friends and family will have their birthdays remembered with my crafty explorations.
First up, my lovely niece turned 5 this year, and it turns out she has a love of art and drawing, so I thought it would be a perfect time to try these two tutorials:

CraftyPod's super simple way to cover a composition book

Skip to My Lou's crayon roll tutorial

And here's how I did:



I heard that the gift went over well, so I think it was a success. Yay for simple projects!

I also tried my hand at felt food. This was not as easy, and while I don't think the end result was all that spectacular, the birthday girl enjoyed it, so that's all that matters.