Wedding Dress to Twin Blessing Blankets!

That's right. I have a friend who cut up her wedding dress so I could make her newborn twin girls blessing blankets. How sweet is that? She did the cutting up of the dress, not me. And she used the bleach pen on the stains, not me. Phew- I didn't mess it up, thank goodness.


We used the satin under skirt from the dress for the binding (cut into long strips and sewed together). We used the lace overlay for one side of the blanket. We used the pretty bottom lace for added interest on top of the lace side. We used white minky (not on the wedding dress) for the other side. You could see through the lace side but the minky fabric is double sided and fairly thick so it added bulk to the blanket. Then I found some white rosettes and used those to make the ties look nicer than white yarn. I tied all of the layers together in 9 places.

Then I doubled it all for the other blanket for baby #2!

They are meaningful, resourceful, and beautiful!

Library bag with card pocket

So today we went to the library to sign up for the summer reading program. My 4 year realized that he was the only kid who didn't have his own card. So we signed him up and he got his very own orange library card. He kept it in his pants pocket all the way home so he wouldn't lose it. At one point in the car he cried in panic, "I lost my card!" It's not a quiet cry either. But, we found it on his seat and he was good again. I thought that he could use a little pocket to keep his precious card in and hopefully not lose it. So I took my denim scraps from pants that I collect and fashioned a library bag with it's own card pocket on it just for him.


Quick tutorial:
1. Cut two equal pieces for front and back of bag- including a pocket from pants on one side. I had to piece a few different pieces to get it the size I wanted.
2. Cut two end pieces, the same height as the front and back and about 3 inches wide.
3. Cut a bottom piece, the same width as your side pieces and the same length as your front and back pieces.
(this is when you would personalize the front of the bag with a name if you are going to do so. I ironed my letters on with stitch witchery, then sewed them for durability.)
4. Sew pieces together in order: front to side, side to back, back to side, and side to front. It'll form a loop.
5. Turn inside out and sew the bottom piece on to all the pieces already forming a loop, pivoting the needle at the corners.
6. Turn inside out. Cut two strips about 3 inches wide and the same length as each other (about 12 inches).
7. Fold and press them in 1/2 inch on each long side and then fold them on top of each other to form the handles. Sew the long end together.
8. Position your handles on your bag the same width apart as each other on either side of the bag. Sew into place using a square or an X pattern.

Hopefully we can keep track of our books and our card the entire summer!

Leave a question if you want to try and make one but need help with the directions!

I posted on a few linky parties, listed on my side bar.

Holey jeans to cute shorts

Not just ordinary cut off jean shorts. I saw something in blog land a few weeks ago about adding a ruffle to the bottom of jean shorts. I have a couple of girls who I knew would love it, so I added it to my "I want to do" list in my head. The first day of summer vacation we cleaned out drawers and threw stuff away, put stuff in the laundry (who? my kids?), made a pile for donations, and a pile for mom to sew. I ended up with only two pairs of pants to add ruffles to. Here is how they turned out:


Here is an abbreviated tutorial:

1. Cut off pants above the holes in the knees.
2. Make two long strips of your fabric choice, about a yard long by 4 inches wide.
3. Sew the short ends together, forming a loop.
4. Fold the loop in half lengthwise so wrong sides are together.
5. Baste 3/8" inch on unfolded side of loop, leaving tails at the ends and not backstitching.
6. Pull up basting stitches so the long loop gathers itself.
7. Pin raw edges to the raw edges of the pant edge and pin so loop is same size as pant opening.
8. Sew.
9. Flip to the right side and press.
10. Top stitch close to the edge so you sew down the seam allowance on the inside.
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OR instead of gathering, you can make little folds in the long loop so it looks like little pleats, like I did on the darker pants in the pictures.

So don't throw away holey jeans if they still fit! Transform them.

I posted on a few linky parties. Check them out on my side bar.