NOTE: FRUGAL SEWING IS CHANGING! We'll be moving to a new server soon. You'll know when it's done because the look and feel will be completely different. You'll have an opportunity to leave comments on new items, as well as have better access to our free projects. Keep an eye out....oh the times, they are a'changin.
If you're interested in sewing for our troops, we've found two good ideas thus far:
Soldiers Angles - Making blankets for our service people.
Operation Santa - Volunteers all over America making Christmas Stockings to be sent overseas.
Project - The recycled denim quilt is done and instructions written so you can make one of your own. Take a gander at our newest project.
Project - A Halloween doll quilt. There aren't instructions, but you can find Grandmother's Flower Garden instructions and English Piecing all over the internet. Just Google either of those two terms and you can do it too. As I mention on the photo page, a doll sized quilt is a good way to learn. The hexagons used in this quilt are 0.8" long on each edge. You can get hexagon graph paper on line as well; again, just Google "hexagon graph paper" and you'll come up with several easy to use pages.
Project - Hand towels out of older large towels, embellished as you desire.
Project - 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.
Please read the story of the "Patsy quilt" on the FrugalSewing.com blog. It's probably the nicest quilt I ever made. I followed frugal sewing principles and used materials I already had and it's so chock full of memories that it's 100% more valuable than one made of new fabrics. The story is in three parts on the blog; each is marked part 1, 2, and 3. Sometimes, sewing is a way to provide some closure for the person doing the sewing as well as the means to an end. I think that we need to honor our relatives who pass, and this is the way I honor my sister.
Read what not to do with WonderUnder on our Sewing Blog.
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.
Found another book to love! A great complication of ideas for using buttons, old ones, new ones, found ones, bought ones, collected ones. I'll be picking this book up for myself soon! Click the pic to purchase.
Welcome to FrugalSewing.com - frugal sewing; recycle, reuse, reduce; & passing on the art of sewing via collaboration.
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.
