Sweaters Into Mittens Project

Last week, my husband came home one day and asked me if I had received a call from the school secretary.  They had a little girl show up to school with very cold little fingers because she didn't have any gloves or mittens, and he thought that would be something our new ministry, "Yesh Tikvah Ministries", could help with.  I thought that was a great idea, too, and immediately went shopping for some little gloves and mittens to donate to the school.  Believe it or not, I couldn't find mittens at all, but only gloves.  I think mittens work so much better for small children.  They are so much easier for adults to help them put on, and they keep their little fingers warmer than gloves do.  So I had an idea.  We can make mittens out of old sweaters!

So, instead of shopping for mittens, I hit the thrift shops in search of sweaters to make mittens out of.  One of the shops was having a half off sale, so I bought a pile of sweaters!

And I started making mittens.

This has evolved into an entire project at Yesh Tikvah Ministries!  Over the next few weeks, we are collecting unwanted sweaters and making them into mittens. After winter break, we will be donating the mittens to the schools in our area to be given to the children who need them.

You can help us with this project!  If you have an unwanted sweater in your closet, you can donate it to us and we'll make mittens out of it.  Depending on the size of the sweater, we can get 3 or more pairs of mittens out of one sweater.  If you live in our area, we can come and pick up your sweaters, or if you live far away, you can mail them to us.  

You can email us at yeshtikvahministries@yeshtikvah.org to arrange a pick-up or to get our mailing address.

New Design: Feedsack Coin Purses

 Well, I did it. I could hardly bear it, but I finally cut into my little collection of feedsack fabric!

Feedsack fabric is from the 1930s and 40s era, when flour, sugar, seeds, rice, fertilizer, and feed were packaged in brightly printed cloth bags. The prudent housewife would save these bags and make useful and beautiful things out of them, like dresses, quilts, and aprons.  The sacks came in many different prints and colors, and ladies would save them up and even trade them to get just the right prints for just the right project.

If you look carefully, you can sometimes find feedsacks in thrift and antique shops. If you know what you're looking for, you can easily identify them by the look and feel of the fabric, and by the little holes along the edges where they were previously stitched into sacks.

I have found several of these lovely sacks, and I've started my own collection. I decided that, besides looking pretty, they were doing me no good just sitting on the shelf, and I want to share them with others. They needed to be made into something useful. So, here's what I've made with them so far for my etsy shop:

I thought coin purses would be appropriate. You can now carry your own pennies in a little piece of history from a time when saving pennies was an important part of daily life.

And they're cute on the inside, too!

Denim Skirt Re-Do for the Summer of No Pants

About a week ago I finally finished my last project for the Summer of No Pants, even though the challenge was to make four new things to wear before the summer actually started.  A camping trip and miscellaneous other things got in the way of finishing the sewing part of the challenge on time, but I have been successful doing the wearing part of it.  Since we returned from our camping trip, I've worn a skirt or a dress every day!

So, for this last project I decided to give a denim skirt a makeover. I bought this skirt for 85 cents at a thrift shop. I bought it with the intent to use the fabric for making tote bags, but I wanted a new denim skirt and I thought it had possibility. Here's the result:

Before, it was way too big, and WAY too long.  This thing reached my ankles, and I am 5'9"! 

Now it falls just above the knee.  I love the unfinished edges, the pockets, and the flower detail.



I also modified my t-shirt dress a little bit.  The neckline was choking me, and just didn't look right, so I made it into a scoop neck and added matching trim to the neckline and sleeves.  I made my own bias tape for the first time.  Making bias tape was so easy, I'm not sure why I haven't done it before! 

I think it's even cuter now!

T-Shirt Dress for the Summer of No Pants



For my third project for the Summer of No Pants, I decided to make a t-shirt dress.  I wanted something that would go together a lot easier and faster than the last project  I did.  I used a striped t-shirt and a green sheet for this dress.  I shortened the sleeves on the shirt a little bit and cut it off at the place where I wanted the skirt to attach.  I measured the bottom of the shirt and doubled that measurement for the waist of the skirt front and back pieces, and cut out those pieces in an A-line shape.  Then I cut out some pockets, sewed the pockets and skirt together, gathered the top of the skirt, sewed it to the top, and made a sash.  Cute, quick, and comfortable dress!

UPDATE:  The neck on this dress was too high for my taste...it didn't look right and it bothered me.  I felt like I was choking!  So I made some bias tape from what I had left of the green sheet, cut down the neckline, and finished it with the bias tape.  I also added bias tape to the sleeve edges.  Here's the result:

Little Lambs

I made these sweet little lambs for my daughters as Passover gifts. I made them from a vintage baby blanket I found at a thrift shop and pink felt, using the "Lambkin" pattern I found here.  My first attempt was a complete failure, because I tried to use the baby blanket fabric for the whole lamb, and it was too thick.  So, I tried pink felt for the underside, and that worked much better. Unlike real Passover lambs, they are not perfect, but I think they turned out pretty cute!

Sewing Studio in Progress

I'm so excited! At last I have a much needed sewing studio! We decided to re-do the guest room so I could have a space to work other than the dining room table, and daughter number one could have a bigger bed. So we moved the big bed into her room, and her single bed into the new studio, so there is still a place for a guest to sleep if we need it. I pushed it into the corner and propped up some pillows to get the day bed effect. Then, I moved out the big antique mirror above the dresser, and moved in a hutch from the attic. It was a strange brown color, so I painted it white. Now I have a cute storage area for my fabric. I love the way the fabric looks all stacked up on the shelves. For my work table, I am using an old interior door from our house. The doors in our house are beautiful, and I've been saving this one especially for a table. I set it on the two nightstands that were in the guest room (also from the attic in the previous form of a dressing table), and voila! A cute, shabby chic table, and it's the perfect size for my needs. Now I just need to get a big piece of glass for the top of my table, and my sewing studio will be complete.

Another great vintage remake!

I found this great pink and yellow floral fabric in the form of a vintage bedspread. It reminded me of a pillowcase I had when I was a little girl. (Does that mean I'm vintage???) It was only $2.50, and I just HAD to buy it! I thought about it for a long time before I finally decided to make this baby bag set, which I think turned out so adorable. I even made a cute little dog to go with it :)

I still have a lot of this fabric left. Hmmmm, what shall I do with it?

Pantsuit Transformed

This is the latest item I listed in my Etsy shop: a tote bag made from repurposed jeans and a flowery fabric from a vintage pantsuit. I was searching the racks at Goodwill for interesting fabric, and I came across an extremely outdated, unfashionable three piece pantsuit. It was a pair of pants with an elastic waistband, a very large vest with gold buttons on the pockets, and a pair of shorts, again with the elastic waistband. I had to have it! I could just picture the huge blue and purple flowers made into cute, fun purses and bags. I checked the tag, and the fabric was 100% cotton, and it was in perfect condition. I don't think the owner of this suit ever wore it at all. Maybe she re-thought her fashion choice? Good news for me. So far I've made three bags from it, and I have fabric left for more. My husband was with me when I purchased the pantsuit, and he felt the need to explain to the check-out clerk, "She isn't going to wear this. She's going to use the fabric to make some purses." She replied with, " I wasn't going to say anything. I've seen it all here!" I think she may have thought it was for HIM! Poor guy. Maybe I won't make him come along on my next shopping trip.

I wish I had a picture of the pantsuit before I cut it up, but here's one of another purse made with the fabric: