Bed Sheets- the Most Versatile Household Item?

I love using materials for purposes other than what they were intended for; being green, recycling, that whole thing. One of the most versatile household materials in my opinion is sheet fabric. I love using sheets for things other than bedding. Sheets are great because you can get a lot of fabric for cheap, they come in tons of different patterns, and they are easy to work with (if your lucky you can reuse the factory seam = less sewing!)

I thought I'd do a little round up of fun projects using bedsheets:

1. Curtains! The length is usually spot on, not a lot of sewing involved, lots of fun patterns! I used sheets for curtains in my home as well.

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2. Duvet Cover. Hey why not? They are about the same size as a duvet and way less expensive! Martha Stewart shows us how! Thanks Martha~

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3. Basket Liners. I saw this tutorial and thought old sheets could be used to make these- so cute!

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4. Bunting. These are so easy to make! If you have some old sheet laying around or see some at the thrift store this is the perfect project for them.

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5. A Fun Skirt. Funky old sheets at the thrift store turned into a bold skirt!

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6. Whimsicle Shower Curtain. Price of fancy shower curtains getting you down? How about making your own!

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7. Braided Rug. Got a lot of sheets (and time on your hands)? How about making your own rug out of old sheets.

8. Embellishments. Want to spruce up your current bed linens (or anything for that matter)? Why not cut up some old sheets and give them a new life?

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9. Pajama Pants. You can make PJ's to match your bedding!

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10. And last but certainly not the least; the ever popular Toga out of a sheet. Would not have made it through my college days without this. ;)

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Another thing I like to use sheets for is art canvases. I buy white ones at the thrift store, use some Gesso or white paint and paint away! I made these paintings for Con-Man's Nursery when he was a tiny baby:

So there you have it- will you think twice about passing up old sheets at the thrift store? And what really got me started thinking of this post is this sneak peak of an upcoming project:

It's something I'm making for Con-Man's room! Any guesses at to what it's going to be?

What's the most creative thing you've used sheets for?

Quick Redo for the New Year

First project of the new year! Hooray!! 


Do you remember this chair I rescued from the trash a few months ago?

It looks a lot better than when first I found it. I had redone it to sell on consignment in a store here in town. My other pieces have sold but not this chair. Wah Wah....

Is it because of the fabric? Is it because she is a lonely single lady with out a mate? It could be any number of things but I set about remedying the two reasons above. New year new look for this little lady.

Enter this Lonely Single Guy I found at the Salvation Army this weekend:

Hey! Looks pretty similar to Single Lady up above! I snatched it up for $6 and set to work. I've been dragging around this fabric remnant I found at Ikea for only $1 (Score!) months and months- time to finally use it.

After a little deconstruction and a new coat of crisp white paint for both chairs we now have this!

There was barely enough fabric to cover both chairs, I had to use a solid black fabric to cover the rear of the seat backs. I like how they turned out. I like the way the bold large print fabric looks on the small scale chairs. It's more my style; whereas before I was trying to use a fabric I thought would appeal the more people. I was probably wrong since no one bought the original chair in the first place.

Not bad for a total of ~$8 for both chairs (first one was free!). Now that they're a couple hopefully someone one will take them home and they will live happily ever after!

Sorry for the short post but I've been compiling ideas and images for Con-Man's room. I'm so excited and I can't wait to show you next week!!!

Coming through in a Clutch

I was planning on using my new welder but some other projects took precedence. First, my sister's wedding was this past weekend! I was the Matron of Honor so I naturally had to get a bridesmaid dress. We had to have the dress hemmed and at the suggestion of my mom I asked them to save the leftover fabric for me; thinking I could turn it into a purse to match the dress. I thought this would be a quick project to get my creative juices flowing.

There was quite a bit of leftover grey silk fabric but not quite enough for the type of purse I had in mind. I remembered some leftover fabric I had from some chairs I had reupholstered and thought I could use that as the lining. So my purse could be sophisticated on the outside and funky on the inside. ;) Once I had gathered all my fabric I measured my wallet to get an approximate size for the purse. It was about 4" x 7" so I needed my fabric to be 5" x 8" wide for the seams and for any little mistakes I might make along the way.

Since the leftover fabric was odd cut out shapes (long thin strips about 5" tall) I had to cut and sew 3 together to get the size I needed for the outer portion. The above picture is after I has sewn the 3 together.

For the lining I cut one solid piece from my leftover upholstery fabric. I added a credit card pocket for convenience. I simply traced one of my credit cards, cut the fabric piece out, and centered it on the lining.

Then I sewed the silk and lining pieces together. It was looking a bit flimsy so I slipped some lightweight cardboard from the back of a spiral notebook in between them before I sewed it closed. I had to cut 3 pieces to size- one for the front, one for the back, and one for the flap.

Before I put the cardboard in the purse I had glued some magnets to the cardboard to act as a closer.

To finish it off I used a pin I had for decoration. It fit perfectly with the theme of the wedding which was in New Orleans. The purse matched my dress perfectly and I think I will use it again! It only took 2 nights after work to finish it up (most of that time was spent trying to remember how to use my sewing machine!). Now I'm tempted to hit up thrift stores and Marshalls to get old dresses and cut them up for this purpose!

It matched the bridesmaid dresses perfectly!

You could even do this with an old bridesmaid or prom dress you have laying around. Maybe you could use the fabric to make pillow covers or a clutch like this.

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