What I've been up to

I've not posted on Recycled Sewing for a while , but thats not because I haven't been sewing.. I have! But its nothing different, only more chalk mats, cards and tea towel bag holders, so I thought I'd blog about all of my latest projects in one go.

I've decided to make matching recycled cards with the chalk mats I am selling, as they make great gifts. The cards are made from the same fabric as the chalk mats, usually pillowcases. It is a great way to use up scraps of the same fabric.




In addition to that, I've purchased some awesome Brazillian made vintage teatowels on eBay which are so cute I almost dont want to do anything except look at them, especially the bunny rabbits!



I have made two of them into plastic bag dispenser holders for Christmas gifts:



So thats what I've been doing, as well as refashioning some old vintage clothes, I am on the look out for more recycled sewing projects to do, so watch this space.

Tea Towel Bag Dispenser

I try not to collect plastic bags, but sometimes they end up in my house! I've seen tea towel plastic bag dispensers before, so thought I'd give it a go myself. This blog post is kind of a tutorial on how to make one..

You will need:

Tea Towel
Thread
Elastic
Bias Strip
Ribbon or similar

Take one thrifted tea towel. In this instance, a huge Fiji tourist tea towel! I've never been to Fiji, but thought it looked pretty! $2 in Salvos.


Firsty I cut, pinned and machine stitched some cream bias strip ($1 also from the same Salvos) along the bottom and top of the rear of the tea towel, importantly leaving a gap in between the bias strip, and leaving each side open:




Cut a piece of elastic about the size you want your opening to be at the bottom of the dispenser, the saftey pin is for threading it through the bias strip:



The ribbon is for the tie at the top of the dispenser, to hang in the cupboard/back of the kitchen door etc. Thread the ribbon through the top bias strip gap. I used a long piece of bias I found in one of my kitchen draws as the 'ribbon':


Now fold the teatowel exactly in half, and sew all the way down the far edge, but be careful not to sew the gap of the bias strip on the top or bottom:




Thread the elastic through the bottom bias strip gap, using the saftey pin, and then hand stitch the elastic closed:



And last of all, hand stitch the bottom closure shut so you dont see the elastic, but be careful not to catch the elastic with your needle, just sew the tea towel:


And voila, your new plastic bag dispenser, just what you've always wanted?! Pull the plastic bags out from the bottom, and put 'new' ones in the top:

Tea Towel Toy Bag

So I bought this cute little Gold Coast tourist tea towel from Salvos. Originally I thought about sewing it onto a skirt for a fashion item, but didn't really look right when I tried it, so what to do with this little thing?


Then I came accross Curly pops blog with a tutorial to make a drawstring tea towel bag, and thought that was a great idea.

We're off to the Gold Coast in November, so I made the tea towel into a drawstring toy bag for my son to keep him entertained on the flight. I have started to store some small toys in the bag that I have op-shopped, and will bring the bag out when we take off... hopefully that will keep him busy! How cute are the little lorikeets?

Vintage Tea Towel Sunhat

I'm really into vintage tea towels of late, having purchased a Gold Coast tourist tea towel from Salvos last week. I am going to make my tea towel into a bag, which I will blog about next (in the process of sewing!).

In the meantime, I have been searching for other things to make from vintage tea towels, and found this brilliant childrens sun hat on etsy, made by a Melbourne artisan sueneale. It is made from a Kakadu National Park vintage tea towel. Love those green and yellows with the frill necked lizard, ideal for an adventurous little boy!

USD$35 by sueneale.

Some people are so clever!