How to Make a Fairy Cottage - a Refashion

I loved making THIS fairy house so much, I've come up with another fairy abode I'm dubbing a "fairy cottage." This little cottage was made from a felted sweater sleeve (though feel free to just use felt).  With summer right around the corner, go ahead, cut off a wool sweater and shrink it to make this toy.  Join me in the fun and make one too!

Craft Supplies needed:  

• Felted wool sleeve cut from a sweater.
• 1 small container like a Gerber brand item
• Scissors
• Thread or glue
• Embroidery floss
• 1 button
• Light green felt scraps for leaves
• Dark green felt (9" x 9")
• 3 silk flowers
• 15 sequins
• 15 small clear beads
• Pins

How to make a fairy cottage:

1. Cut a sleeve from an old sweater.  If it's not felted, just rinse the wool sleeve in hot water and throw it in your drier.  
2. Cut openings from the container using the patterns found HERE.
3. Cut off the excess of the sleeve from the bottom of the container leaving 1/3" extra length to attach to the leaf base.
4. Cut the cuff of the sleeve into 3 equal pieces.  Make the edges of the cut pieces into points.
5. Using the downloaded patterns (see step 2), embroider the edge of 3 leaves and sew onto the ends of the cut-up cuffs.
6. Using the pattern, make a door as instructed HERE. See steps 8 and 11-14.
7. Cut netting about 1/2" larger than the window openings.  Sew the netting from the back side of the cottage close to the edge of the window.
8. With 3 strands of embroidery floss, embroider around the edges of the windows with a chain stitch and the edge of the door opening with a blanket stitch.

     9.  Make a closure across from where you want a door knob.  To make this,   Sew six strands of floss 3/8" apart and loop stitches all around the floss.  Then pull the tread tight.  Once the floss is covered with the tightly pulled loops, tie the thread off from the back side of the cottage.

     10.  Opposite the closure, sew on a button to the door.

     11.  Cut out the leaf foundation from two layers of felt and one of stiff interfacing.

     12.  Using a different colored green thread from the felt, sewing around the edge of the foundation, using a blanket stitch.  Use a blanket stitch to form the leave's shapes.  Then use a durable stretch stitch.  (This stitch gives the veins of the leaves more definition.)  To save time, I used my sewing machine for all this stitching.

    13.  Pull the sleeve over the container. Around the edges, using an epoxy, glue the cottage to the container.  

    14.  Now, the fun part, which to me is adding extra embroidered leaves and silk flowers to the cottage.  I sewed sequins onto the center of the flowers and secured them in place with small clear beads sewn on top of the sequins. Then I tucked and tacked down leaves as I played with my design.  If you don't want to sew the details down, you can simply glue these components onto your house.

This fairy cottage is so sweet and inviting. This toy can be used with welcome imaginative play or it can easily be turned into a night light by tucking in an LED light through the door's opening.  Please join me tomorrow at Nap Time Creations for more fairy fun.  xoxo Grandma

You also might like these posts:

FAIRY WINGS MAKEOVER

WHIMSICAL LITTLE FAIRIES

Linked at:  Nap Time Creations, AllFreeSewing

A Sunhat From Placemats - a Refashion

Summer is right around the corner and to protect that precious skin, try sewing up THIS free Petal Sunhat pattern designed by The Cottage Mama.  

I'm glad to report that this was an easy sewing project.  To add a lot of detail to the hat, I used two fabric embroidered placemats instead of regular yardage to cut the pattern from. Look at all that darling detail work on this placemat that I snatched for 50 cents each from a second hand store!

From each placemat, carefully center the pattern pieces over the center of the embroidery designs and cut out the pieces. 

You should be able to get three pattern pieces from each placemat. (The piece in the middle was plain white with no embroidered details.) 

I next unpicked some of the details that were too close to the edges as follows:

Then I followed the directions as stated with the pattern except for the part about where to leave the opening in the fabric to turn the hat.  I did not want to hand stitch along the scalloped edge of the hat.  Instead I left my opening to turn it on the side seams of the hat as shown below.

I also omitted the button from onto the top of the crown because I wanted my hat to be completely reversible. 

I liked this pattern so much I made two of these sunhats. 

If you need a cute sunhat, try this pattern and use a fabric placemat to make it look like you spent hours embroidering it when in fact you only spent half the time. xoxo Grandma

You also might like THIS post:

Summer Outfit with Reversible Hat

Linked to:  Threading My Way, Crafty Allie, Nap Time Creations, Diana Rambles, Creating my Way to Success
Featured on: and All Free Sewing

Summer Outfit with Reversible Hat

Recently, I made this reversible sunhat. Then Project Run and Play posted their May challenge pattern from Crafty Cupboard and it inspired me to make a top to go with the hat. I also decided that the outfit needed some capri length leggings to complete the outfit.  I love how summery this outfit turned out!

To the shirt front pattern, I added 3.25" to the center width of the shirt making the total width added to 6.5". Then I sewed from the wrong side of the fabric, six small 1/2" tuck pleats, three facing toward the center of the top. I added about 1" more in length to the little flutter sleeve too because I wanted the shirt to have a soft vintage feel.  

I accented the front of the shirt with three tiny heart buttons.  Instead of one color of buttons, I used soft yellow, golden and mint buttons. My granddaughter liked her little buttons.  According to my daughter, she did not like her sunhat.

 In the back, I used larger heart shaped dark mint and navy colored buttons.

After making the classic white, pleated top, I used fabric from some sleeves that I had cut out of an old shirt to make these capris.  The sleeves were leftover from a refashion I actually made for myself (if the weather gets warmer next week, I'll show you how this turned out).  When cutting out these capris, a time saving tip that I love is to use the original hem.

By using the hemming tip, these capri shorts only take about half an hour to make from start to finish, which was fantastic timing to tuck them into a box and get shipped off to my cute 18 month old granddaughter.  I used the free leggings pattern from Ellie Inspired.

The hardest part about this new format Project Run and Play has going on this year isn't completing the monthly projects in time, it's mailing them to one of my grandkids and getting them photographed in time. Boohoo to all of the grandmothers out there who have all of their grandchildren far, far away!  Every once in a while, I do so want to whine about this living arrangement.   

If you like this outfit, please go to this post & vote for XOXO Grandma: Summer Outfit with Reversible Hat. THANKS A BUNCH!  

You also might like this post:

A Sunhat From Placemats - a Refashion

Linked to:  Crafty Allie, Nap Time Creations, Threading Your Way, Diana Rambles

Making Good: How to Repair Wicker Furniture

This week, I'm part of a blog train hosted by Agatha Lee of Green Issues by Agy called Making Good.  Yesterday,  Vanessa  from SweetLeigh showed you how to repair glittery shoes and add more bling to them.

So, I know its hard to believe, but I haven't always had so much time to craft and create. At least not with fabric. Ages ago, I used to work for a high end furniture store that specialized in wicker and rattan. Because of that job, I have some beautiful pieces of wicker furniture in my home. Fast forward to last summer, and while grandchildren were visiting, a certain grandson, who will remain nameless, picked at an area of cracked wicker on one of my white wicker daybeds, even though I begged him to leave it alone. Sadly, he created a lovely hole right in the back of the daybed.  Luckily, pillows can cover this hole but when those pillows are removed, YIKES, it looks bad! 

While working for that particular wicker furniture store, I also used to help repair some of the pieces of wicker. After watching a refresher video on how to repair wicker furniture found HERE , I set about repairing that gaping hole in the daybed. 

You might wonder why even bother repairing a wicker daybed? Firstly, this daybed is beautiful and classic in design. Secondly, my biggest motivation is that my oldest daughter just purchased her first home. When I redecorated her, and her twin sister's, bedroom long after they moved out, we put one of these daybeds in our storage area.  Yes, I own two of these daybeds.  When cousins came to visit, we'd have a dormitory using the trundle beds, that were stored below these daybeds, filled with cute girls.  I told my oldest daughter that she could have her daybed for my granddaughter's new bedroom.  Needless to say, my daughter was delighted to get one of these beautiful bed frames.

The hardest part about this project was finding half round real wicker reeds to repair the hole in the back of the daybed. I had to order mine from a store I found online called Frank's Cane and Rush Supply.  I couldn't find a way to place the order online so on a Friday morning, I placed my order the old fashion way and called the company on the phone.  The owner answered & I gave him my order.  They have amazing service because I received my order three days later in Monday's mail.  YEA for fast service!  I've also learned that Amazon carries some wicker supplies.  Go HERE to get can cane.

Anyway, onto how I made that daybed good again: 

The first step was to soak the reeds in warm water for at least 30 minutes.  I soaked mine in the bathtub for several days... let's just say I may have forgotten about them.

Next, remove enough wet reeds to repair your wicker.

The size of reeds I purchased were a little larger than what I needed so using scissors, I cut the wet reeds down to the size of the original reeds.

Then working from the back of the daybed, I snipped off the existing wicker pieces so that they ended behind the horizontal reeds.  Then I started to weave the reeds in and out keeping the pattern as close as possible to the original weave.

This is what the front of the daybed looked like once I was finished weaving:

I let the wicker dry for several days. Then I laid down old towels in front of the area I was going to paint and behind that same area.  After shaking the can vigorously, I sprayed the wicker from the front of the wicker.  I had to repeat that process four times.  

Beware, the spray paint is super stinky so make sure when you spray, you do it on a nice, non-windy day with the windows wide open.  You don't want any wind to blow dust or particles onto what you're spay painting.

This is how that repaired wicker daybed looks - like new again!

I'm grateful I was challenged to repair something because now this daybed is finally ready to be passed onto the next generation of children in my life.

Tomorrow, please join Julia at Sum of Their Stories.  Julia lives in the United Kingdom and comes from a long line of crafty women.

Here's the schedule of bloggers that have joined together to bring you this series of posts about mending, just in case you want to hop over to their blogs and learn a ton!

WICKER REPAIR SUPPLIES ALSO AVALIBLE HERE:

This post is part of a blog train hosted by Agatha from Green Issues by Agy on "Making Good". What is repair, and why do we even bother to repair the things we have?  Some see repair as a way of reconnecting with our possessions as we extend their lives. Others see it as a form of creative potential and an avenue to express their craft.  The rewards for mending varies from feeling immense satisfaction to prolonging the life of the product. Follow the “Making Good” blog train this month and see what we have repaired and reconnected with. Have you mended anything today?

Linked to: Crafty Allie, Nap Time Creations, Totally Tutorials 

Turn an Embroidered Napkin Into a Yoke - a Refashion

I love it when I'm working on a creation and it inspires me to create something else. This very thing happened last week, I sewed up May's Project Run and Play project using a free pattern called Summer Chevrons Shirt by Crafty Cupboard and then shipped it off to one of my granddaughters. I'm hoping it arrives on time so I can show it to you by the end of the week.  After sewing that pattern, I had an idea that worked out wonderfully and I want to share it with you today. 

For my second attempt at creating that same pattern, I added a fun twist.  I have a lot of linen napkins that my sister-in-law inherited and then shared with me last fall.  She told me that she doesn't remember her mother ever using most of them and believes they were probably ones her mother inherited from her grandmother.  She challenged me to use them to create something instead of letting them sit in a drawer for another 60 plus years.

As I was looking at the yoke to the Summer Chevrons Shirt pattern, I started to wonder if I had a linen napkin that would be the right size to cut that yoke out of.  After trying the pattern onto three different linen napkins, I found one almost the right size.  

Here's how I used that embroidered napkin and turned it into a yoke: 

• Fold the napkin into fourths and pin the bottom, outside corner.
• Pin the yoke pattern in place remembering that you will not need to sew the shoulder seams so pin that pattern up a little higher on the fold.
• Cut out the neck opening.
• Unfold your yoke.  It's now ready to attach to the bodice pieces.

• Pin the bodice onto the yoke - the first photo shows these pieces from the back side.
• The second photo shows the pieces from the front side.
• From the front side, sew right above any embroidery attaching the yoke to the bodice.
• Pin on the interfacing and sew around the neckline.  
• Turn the interfacing to the wrong side and iron in place.  Fold under the seam allowances and pin in place.
• Now stitch the interfacing to the yoke from the right side of the fabric to keep any stitching lined up with any embroidery on the edges.

Then, I followed the rest of Crafty Cupboard's directions to complete this top. I hope this tutorial inspires you to see what you can do with a linen embroidered napkin or something else similar.  

To the bottom of the shirt, I added a little vintage looking off white lace, a bright pink ruffle and...topped the look off with some fun floral ribbon I found at Hobby Lobby. 

To the bodice, I added wonderful, almost flat, vintage buttons because I hate to think of thick buttons poking my little one in the back when she has to sit in her car seat.

This weekend, I get to spend time with one of my granddaughters and I'm planning on taking photos of her in this summer dress.  Since this post has to be up by Friday to be eligible for this sew-a-long, I'm hoping you will excuse this long-distance grandmother and enjoy the tutorial for now without photos of it on my little one.  

Here's one of the photos of the dress on this cutie.  If you notice it looks a little different, my daughter did not like the bright pink and asked me to add soft pink to the bottom.  Why didn't I ask her opinion first?

If you try this refashion, I hope you're as happy with your results as I was with mine.   xoxo Grandma

Refashioning Tips & Tricks

Earlier this week, I was asked to speak to a group of women from my church about refashioning.  Here's a few of the tips and tricks I shared with them that I thought you might find helpful as well. 

WHY REFASHION?

• It's saves money.
• It's environmentally friendly.
• It's fun to create an unused item into something new!
• Create original clothing.  Once I showed up at church and two other ladies had on the exact same dress that I had purchased in Florida.  I was sure my dress would be unique because I'd purchased it so far from home. While talking to the other ladies, we laughed about the fact that we had each purchased our dress in a different state!  If you refashion your clothing, I can almost guarantee that you'll never find yourself in this situation.
• Create an article of clothing that preserves the best features but changes it into something new & more fashionable.

REFASHIONING TIPS:

• Gather together the items you want to refashion and put the elements into a pile, include a photo or sketch of how you want the refashion to look like once it's complete.  

• Change the color of the item you want to refashion by using: fabric dye, tea staining, staining with coffee, tumeric, paint, bleach, Sharpie markers or stamping.

• Resize an article of clothing by making it smaller or larger.
• 
  
  

• Add a pocket, stitching (embroidery), additional fabric, or layer on lace.

• Transform one thing into something completely different.
• 
  
  

• Combine more than one item into a refashion.
•  Look at your fabric. What can it do? Is it stretchy?  See through? How does it drape? Is it heavy? How does it feel?  What kind of item would profit from these properties? 
• Reuse the best features of the garment you’re refashioning. Ask yourself the following two questions:  What don't like about the garment? What do you like about the garment?
• Always turn the garment wrong side out to re-size.
• Invest in a good seam ripper and sharp fabric scissors.

REFASHIONING TRICKS:

1. When possible, use the original hem of the garment (like in this Hand-me-down Blues Dress.)
2. If you're going to purchase something to refashion, buy the largest size possible.  You almost always spend the same about of money but you'll get more fabric.
   
3. Shrunken wool sweaters make great stuffed animals & baby pants (felted wool is very absorbent for baby clothing).  See HERE & HERE.
4. Have no fear, just hack away.  Mistakes can result in some amazing refashions not originally thought of. (per Karen Ellis of Rude Record)
5. Sometimes just changing the buttons on an old article of clothing can give it a pick-me up. (per Agatha Lee of Green Issues by Agy)
   
6. You can also add a fun pocket to give new life to an article of clothing.
7. Keep all scraps you've cut off the items you're refashioning until you’re completely done with the refashion.  You never know when a small piece of fabric might be needed.  
   
8. Sometimes, simply change the neckline will make your garment more wearable.      
9. Keep a lint roller near by, it'll help pull loose threads out of fabric and off you as you unpick and rip seams. 
   
10. Look for unusual sources for your fabric like, pillowcases (as pictured above), curtains, sheets and tablecloths. (per Amy Mayer of Sews n Bows)

Great blogs with fun refashions - Remember the old saying,  "A picture is worth a thousand words"?  Find refashionists that you enjoy and learn from what others have created. I've got quite a few refashion projects on my blog which I hope you'll check out HERE.  Four of my favorite blogs that feature refashioned projects are: 

•  Second Chances By Susan (Featuring really nice and modest refashioned clothing.)
•  Creating My Way to Success (Hundreds of links to refashioned clothing.)
• Refashionista (Funny and crazy before photos.)  
• At Second Street (Cute ideas for children's refashions.)

You might want to find other blogs that showcase their projects by searching Pinterest. For additional inspiration, I created a Refashion board HERE. Please feel free to join.  

It's still Spring which is a perfect time of year to clean out your closet and start having fun refashioning what you don't wear. If you have a tip or trick to refashioning that I didn't mention, please leave me a comment & I'll add it to this list.  xoxo Grandma

Linked to: Crafty Allie, Diana Rambles, Sustaining The Powers