delia creates

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Recycle Bin

In honor of earth day I thought I would do some recycling today...recycling of old crafts I have made that is!

Most of these haven’t been featured on my blog but are from my family blog, and are recycled or re-purposing projects. I also just realized that they are ALL sewing projects pretty much. I apologize to you non-sewers. There is a non-sewing project for tomorrow.

This one is an exception to everything I just said. :) It has been featured on my blog and it only requires a good pair of scissors! This is a head band made from the sleeve of an men’s t-shirt. Quick how to here.
 A boy’s tie made from an old men’s tie. Find the tutorial here.
I took a men’s Old Navy shirt made of jersey material that was too small for my husband and shirred like crazy….all around the neck line, at the cuff of the sleeves, a crazy diagnonal at the bottom. I just shirred a bit, tried it on, shirred some more, and repeated the process until I liked how it fit.
The sock monkey tutorial is easy and fun. Go here for the how to. I used two old wool socks instead of two women’s knit socks. This made it take a little bit longer because it unravels and frays easily once you cut into it, but I think the results are worth it. I used an old pair of socks so I also had to mend them before beginning.
I cut the button section off an old men’s dress shirt plus about 8 or so inches. I then hemmed the raw edge, sewed the two pieces together and ruffled it 2-3 times straight down the middle with elastic thread.
So one of these is semi- recycled but the other two definitely are. The jersey skirt is made from an old men’s t-shirt. I cut the sleeves and neckline out and sewed up the sides of the skirt. I then cut the skirt into three straight pieces and sewed them back together with the raw edges out before adding an elastic waist to the top.
The middle skirt is a Walmart clearance find that I added ruffled jersey to the bottom. The jersey was leftover from a scarf I made. So kind of a stretch…but kind of re-purposed.
The brown skirt was just made from ill-fitting pants. I cut open the pants at the inside seams. I cut off the bottom to the length I wanted the skirt, sewed the back close, and then added a panel (from the bottom portion I cut off) in the middle.
This ruffled garland is made from an old bed sheet…featured on my blog here.

Just cut or rip a strip or two. Sew strips together if you have multiple ones. Then ruffle with a gathering stitch and secure with a straight stitch. Easy, easy and pretty for many occasions. This has a double “green” effect. You can re-purpose an old bed sheet AND save paper by reusing this garland instead of using crepe paper which you usually have to throw away after each use.

I love re-purposed crafts. It is like making something from nothing, it is almost free, and you are wasting less. Can’t beat that!

Happy “green” crafting!

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Comments

  1. What a fabulous inspiring blog! Thanks so much for stopping by ours! we love our viewers and love finding more inspiring blogs like yours!
    Bon @ Drab to Fab

    Reply

  3. I really wish I could sew. No fair! I really love the fork idea though. If my lazy husband gets to work, maybe we'll actually have a garden this year. I also love the pictures of Reid with the baby girl headbands-and what do you know, he's smiling!

    Reply

  5. oh my gosh. just had to leave a comment because I have two posts coming up…one about gift wrapping and one with a very similar ruffled scarf! Just didn't want you to think I was ripping ideas off of your blog. Just thought it was too funny to come here and see your darling creations. :)
    Thanks for sharing Delia. I really do love your site. It's in my google reader!

    Reply

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