Moving is No Fun, but Reusing Is!

So, I had to move my studio this past week. It had been located in Emma's bedroom (we had decided to co-sleep a few months ago, so we had a room that needed a new purpose). This past Wednesday, Emma decided she wanted to have her own bedroom back. I was sad, for a bunch of reasons.

The two biggest being that I slept better with her next to me (she has nightmares and with her next to me, I can sooth her instantly and she goes right back to sleep), and I had to give up my studio.

Now that I have had a taste of the good life, I can't live without a crafting space. The only available space we had left was our family room. It took us 2 days to get most of the stuff moved around.

Two torturous days of no crafting. Two days of having all my fabric laid out all nice and pretty on open shelves... Where I saw it every time I walked by... Where I could ogle all the cool patterns and textures... Where I could run my fingers over all the different textures...

Two days was my limit. I shoveled off my desk, dug out my sewing machine, and whipped up this fun little bag.

This bag started out as a wool sweater that I felted. It is almost like a raspberry color. The pocket on the front is from when I cut the neck of the sweater out. I liked the shape that I was left with so I used it for the pocket, tags and all :)

After that I made 2 baby blankets (that I have not taken pictures of), and this fun little pink and purple purse.


I actually remembered to take a before picture:

Sort of. I have plans to use the hood in a zipper hoodie sweater I want to make for Emma from bits and pieces of felted sweaters.

Anyway, I really had fun with this little bag. I even put Velcro in for a closure. I have to say though, I don't particularly care for the iron on Velcro. Maybe the felt was just to thick for it, but it didn't seem to want to stick the way I expected it to. Live and learn.

I do love how the buttons came out. I realized I needed to add something after taking this photo:


The stitching I used to secure the straps was screaming to be covered. Enter some buttons...


And a little repositioning...


And I love it :0)

Saturday's are typically my "day off". I get to get out of the house, all by myself. Sometimes I do family chores (Walmart run, groceries, etc.). Most Saturday's I do my own chores. You know, Joann Fabrics, Hobby Lobby, thrift stores, books stores, and the library.

Today was just Joann Fabrics and the library. One of the books I borrowed is called "Crafty Chica's Guide To Artful Sewing" by Kathy Cano-Murillo. Fun stuff!

Once I got home, I sat down and bored Jared (the hubby) with all the cool pictures of things I want to try. I marked pages with Post-it notes so I could easily find the projects that I want to try.

Then I picked one to start with. This one.


I first saw this while flipping through the book at the library and instantly thought about how cute that would look on Emma. And lucky for me, I already had a few shirts to choose from.

So, I set to work. It really didn't take very long, and you know, I didn't really follow the directions.

The first "finished" project came out a little too short, and I realized that the shirt was pretty much see through. So, I went back to my new studio, dug through my pile of cast off clothes, and found an adult tank top that we had already pilfered the collar from. It worked out perfectly as a liner and added the few inches that we needed.

But then I wasn't so happy with the amount of plain white that was showing.


So back to the studio. I just added some left over scraps to the bottom, stitched a few horizontal lines around the bottom, then cut between the stitches.


I like the little bit of white that peaks out now. Totally cute:) Oh, and Emma was so busy dancing while I was trying to take these photos, that they didn't come out so great for showing off the dress, but I can live with that.

I did eventually swap out the buttons for red ones, but that was after Emma was in bed, so I don't have a live model to work with, and this is definitely one of those clothing items that looks better on a person then on a hanger. But, here you go. Red buttons!

We like how the dress came out, and we think Boppa will get a kick out of seeing his old shirt in a new way :)

Well, that is about all for today. I am excited to see what tomorrow brings!

Oh, if you would like to see more pictures of what I have crafted in the last few days, you can check out my fan page on FB, here KaoticKrafter Fan Page

Hope you are having a great weekend!