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| Summer sewing - staying cool? | Bear with us. We're trying another message board system. If you have an EZBoard account, you can use your user name and password from there. Otherwise, you can register for free and use the boards for free. It's taking us some time to get everything up to snuff and making it all pretty, so stop by the "Start here" board while things progress. You can also interact at the Frugal Sewing Blog. Another quilt has been finished and a new one started. Read the story of the "Patsy quilt" and see the photos as it unfolds.
Do you shop at Fabric.com? Well, Amazon.com buys Fabric.com. Not sure how tihs will affect us as fabric purchasers, but there you have it. What started as a small online outlet is now part of one of the biggest online sales fronts. Here is a portion of the letter that Fabric.com sent to its customers:
...........We have always thought of our customers as members of the Fabric.com family and so it is appropriate that we share with you a major milestone in our company's history. We are pleased to announce that Fabric.com has been purchased by Amazon.com, a global online retailer. We believe this milestone reflects our history of success in serving you, our customers, and that makes us very proud.
Allow me to share with you what the acquisition by Amazon means and, equally important, what it does not mean. What it does mean is that we will now have the resources to expand our inventory, and to more completely meet your needs. Over the next 12 months, we expect to increase the number of products we carry, and we will look to you for your thoughts on what that expanded inventory selection should include. It also means that we will have access to the best in customer service and order fulfillment technology, all to better serve you.
What the acquisition does NOT mean is a change in the people, the philosophy, or the business practices at Fabric.com. Your favorite products will still be available at www.fabric.com and our team and I will be here to serve you. Our overriding commitment to customer service will not change and the warm and friendly, family-oriented environment that we have created together, will not change.............
It will be interesting to see how this shakes down. We love shopping with Fabric.com and hope that it won't make any difference to us as consumers. Maybe even we'll get better pricing? You have any thoughts about this?
I found the most amazing website today - CareWear.org. They provide patterns, instructions, and other information about sewing for hospitals for children and their parents. There is much more on the site. Check it out if you're interested in giving back.
We're always on the lookout for ways to use old blue jeans. Imagine our surprise when we saw this - Making a planter out old blue jeans. How very cool!
Here are a couple of fun projects where you can restructure tee shirts. One is a tee shirt apron and the other is a tee shirt turned into a summer top. There are so many revisions you could make to update an old tee shirt. You can add a skirt and have a dress, reshape the collar, take off the sleeves, add trim and applique, and much more. Have fun with it!
Well, this is too good to keep in the news section of the site. It's something every visitor to this site already knows and probably has known for a long time. According to the Baltimore Sun, sewing is cool! It's about derned time the rest of the world caught up with that notion. It's not just clothing we've been sewing all this time, it's home decorating items, placemats, kids' stuff, and who knows what else. If you're like me, you will sew anything that doesn't move. Now to get the ball rolling and get people to realize that though sewing can be expensive if you shop in high end stores or make high end items, you can do your art frugally with some forethought and common sense. As any visitor to this site knows, I never throw away a pair of jeans without dissecting it first. I look at all items made of fabric as a potentially future "other" item! I could go on and on. I applaud the Baltimore Sun for throwing it out there. But as I said, we already knew it.
Have I mentioned how much I like the Instructables web site? Stop by there and do a search for "sew" or "sewing" and you'll be amazed how many easy sewing projects people have submitted. The site deems itself a show and tell site, and it most certainly is. There's hardly anything you'll be unable to find there. They offer a weekly newsletter that is fun to read too.
Something to keep your hands busy while the snow is on the ground. How about using up some of your old stash to make fabric covered light switch and outlet plates. Check out projects page. Scroll down to the bottom and you'll see the newest addition. Have some fun!
Something fun- a sewing word search puzzle. The words are up, down, diagonal, backwards, and some are easier to find than others. If you have to give up, there's an answer key too!
There are some nifty web sites out there with some pretty interesting ideas for frugal sewing and some of it can be used for gift giving. For instance:
- Convert an old sweater into a shrug or a skirt (I like the thought of using an old sweater as a shawl using the basics taught in this short video.
- Make a pair of slippers with an old towel and a little know-how and imagination.
- I've made plenty of tote bags out of scraps. Here's a simple page with instructions to make your own. Use it as a starting point. Once you've made one, you'll want to make more for groceries (get rid of those plastic bags!) and as gifts.
- Use old items to cover your Swiffer, or as this site calls it, "Hack Your Swiffer!"
- Make some baby bibs for your young friends. Free patterns in various sizes and styles. Basic bibs. You can also use our bib pattern. You already have what you need. Now go for it!
- Transform some fabric into a belt. This one's pretty easy!
- Sew a pet bed using fabrics you already have on hand.
- Last, but not least, make hand towels out of older large towels, and embellish them as you desire. We have an example on our site and here's another example using the same concepts.
The key - have fun. Look around in your stash and see what speaks to you. Use it and create whatever your heart desires. Enjoy gift giving this year without spening much if any money at all.
 My favorite jeans were dying! ---
I have a pair of jeans that I love. Unfortunately, the hems were getting raggedy and the seams are beginning to show some wear. Yesterday, I sat down with some 1/4" velvet trim and my sewing machine, cut off the old hem, turned them up, and trimmed them with the black velvet. I also ran zig zag stitches up the side and inside seams. I reinforeced the crotch seam from the inside, fixed the hole in one pocket, and breathed new life into old jeans. When they die again, I'll cut them up and use them for one more project, but for now, here are the results. Not too bad, eh? A friend told me they looked trendy. Imagine that.
Letters, we get letters!
Dear Frugal Sewing:
I have been looking for an online community to join to talk about sewing and living green, being frugal, making do with what I have on hand, learning more, seeing examples, and in general, some place to make some sewing friends. Do you have any suggestions?
Signed, Looking for a Freebie
Looking for a Freebie?
You're in luck. We have a wonderful, free message board system here. Just click on the link at the top of the page. Oh, and if you are one of the next 10 people to join and post, we'll send you a free gift. [PERK!] A free gift? Yep. All you have to do to get a free gift from FrugalSewing.com is to be part of the next 10 people to join the online community/message boards AND drop me a note telling me you've done so. When I contact you (make sure you leave me an E-mail address), we can arrange delivery of your gift. It's small, but it's free, and it's useful.
I think that's it....hidden gift for 10. Come and get em! UPDATE - We still have gifts to give away.
Do you have a sewing question? Contact us.
Make a purse or bag from old seatbelts! --- We saw this on a recycling blog we subscribe to. What a good idea - making bag out of seatbelts. The author uses new ones, but there are so many in junk cars all around the planet that you could get the materials for these for next to nothing. Talk about frugal sewing!
Please stop by our message boards. You can click above to join us. Free exchange of ideas and methods.
I found the coolest web site with instructions for how to make just about anything, including covered buttons (use up all those mismatching shank buttons you have!), skirts made out of ties and other funky stuff, and who knows what else. It's called Instructables.com and membership is free. I highly recommend you take a look.
The human sewing machine. Ever wonder how your sewing machine works? Check this out.
We added two photos of a quilt made from blocks purchased on eBay and fabrics on hand. Take a look by clicking the "What I'm Sewing" menu item on the left.
Learn how to make an applique bib. We uploaded a project today - Sponge Bob Square Pants bib using machine applique, recycled denim, and a bit of this and that. Click on the project in the menu to the left.
Read what not to do with WonderUnder on our Sewing Blog. Sewing in the news, frugal and otherwise. See the links on the left side of the page and the news archive page.
Sewing blogs, free sewing patterns for clothing and accessories, as well as charitable sewing opportunities listed on our links and resources page.
Working on a frugal sewing book via our sewing blog.
Recycling fabrics...Forever Blue Jeans
Baby bib using junk jeans - Over the weekend, I used a pair of my husbands old greasy jeans (tossed the greasy part), some old bandanas, and leftover or made bias tape, as well as a receiving blanket and an old pink towel that was in pretty good condition, and I made some baby bibs. I cut the bandanas to a) fit the collar edge of the bib and b) fold and stitch to make a pocket to catch crumbs and sundry items that may fall from the baby's mouth. I utliized a little Wonder Under for the appliques and satin stitched around them, later adding an unraveling solution to keep them intact. Then I added the bias around the neck, then the longer piece around the bib, leaving ties of a good length and tying them off. You can see the bibs here and make some of your own if you like. I happened to use a side seam as an accent by cutting the main bib from that area of the jeans. You can use denim without seams or even some other fabric. Have fun with something like this. There's nothing blue jeans can't do!
Consider old blue jeans - The knees, the pocket areas, and hems seem to wear out before anything else, but that leaves a lot of denim, zippers, belt loops, seams, and pockets to use for other things. You can cut the fly area out and stitch it onto a like cut area on the top of a sweatshirt and have a unique closure for your sweat shirt. Add pockets off the back of a pair of jeans and voila! - decorator sweatshirt. Seams can be woven into placemats. When you wash them, they get thready and look like you meant to do that. Pockets can be also used for small purses; used seams as your shoulder strap. Zippers can be recycled and reused. Belt loops can be reused and also can be woven. The legs of the jeans provide plenty of denim for clothing, doll clothes, placemats, curtains, pocketbooks, vests, quilts, and other items.
I never throw out a pair of jeans until I have deconstructed it and saved the parts I'll use again. I have friends that give me old jeans, adult and children sized, and I use them all. I'm currently working on a Cathedral Window project using denim and black and white fabrics and also finishing up a recycled denim jacket. In the past, I have made a denim and red/white/blue quilt, as well as jeans and other doll clothes. My next project is a bed cover using denim and some fabrics that were given to me. That quilt, when done, will have cost me nothing but time. (I'll use mismatched leftover spools of thread and an old purchased quilt as the batting and backing).
We'll post plenty of denim projects over time, but for now, there is a wonderful paperback book called Junk-Jeans Recycled by Luveta Nickels and Cheryl Bittner with lots and lots of ideas. You might find it at your local library. You can find it on eBay or at Half.com.
My Sewn Stuff
A photo gallery of stuff I've made over the years out of primarily recycled, reused, free, or otherwise frugal fabrics and notions. So, here you go, a gallery of my sewn items. I'm sure there are more out there somewhere, but this is what I have to share with you now. I'll gladly give you instructions for making any of these if you're interested. Just contact me.
Did you know....
...you can save money by sewing clothes, curtains and other home items, by using mindful creativity. Join your local Freecycle list for free sewing machines or fabrics, watch for local yard sales, and check your local thrift stores for fabrics and buttons you can reuse from ready-made garments. The public library is your friend when it comes to how-to books and basic project books. Share patterns with friends; children grow quickly, so your child's size may be what your neighbor's child was wearing last year. Pass along your sewing knowledge to others; it's too good to keep to yourself. As the old saying goes "each one teach one." Frugal sewing can most definitely be fun.
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Shopping on line
for frugal sewing items. |
Fabric.com - Good sales, long yards.
AllBrands.com - Sewing machines.
Buy.com - Sewing items.
JoAnn.com - Sewing stuff.
Get this handy bobbin winder for yourself or someone else. I plan on getting one for sure!
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Welcome to FrugalSewing.com - frugal sewing; recycle, reuse, reduce; & passing on the art of sewing via collaboration.
