Electrical wire hiding tubes!

I'm a bit fed up of messy electrical wires hanging around at the back of the TV, with the DVD, Playstation and digital TV top box... wires are everywhere.

I wrapped some christmas presents yesterday from last years wrapping paper, and had the tube leftover - what to do with it? I cut the long tube into smaller tubes, and machine stitched fabric scraps to the tubes to make them look a bit more attractive. And there we go, some pretty covers for electrical wires.









My pretty tubes are not perfect, because they don't fit all of the wires in one place, but it does look remarkably better than it did before.

Fabric 'pairs' game with pocket pouch

I am constantly thinking of my 'next' sewing project, what can I make next? Is craft an addiction? Sometimes I wonder.

On twitter, I found a link to a blog (naptimecrafters.blogspot.com) with a fantastic idea for a children's game, a matching game card reader, using felt and fabric. Do you remember playing 'pairs' with cards as a kid?



This inspired me to make my own from my stash of thrifted fabric. Now I don't have a lot of felt left, and I don't want to buy new, so I used what I had, and instead of cutting shapes, I had another idea using this childrens sheet I picked up from savers:


I bought this fabric as I thought the little animal squares would be great for pockets on my chalk mats. However, a lightbulb moment - why not use some of the squares in a fabric memory card game.

I used the same principle, cutting my fabric with pinking shears, but the remaining white felt I had left over in my stash I cut straight with scissors, and machine stitched together.

I got the check fabric free c/o freecycle. Has anyone used freecycle before? My friend put me onto it, people can post things up on online of things they no longer require, to see if someone else wants it. I got a box full of fabric from a lady that, sadly, no longer sews because her eyesight isn't so good.

I had a slight hiccup, the edges of the check fabric still frayed even though they were cut with pinking shears, so what to do? I remember reading about using hairspray or nail polish to prevent fray, so thats what I used. Having said that, I do not like using chemicals, so I used my organic nail polish, which is water-based, and doesn't have that god-awful smell that regular nail polish has. Anyway, it worked well - a little time consuming, but it worked.

Here it is:

I made a 'pocket' envelope with velcro fastening from my sewing stash, with one of the dog squares on the outside.








I tried it out on my 2 year old. He is still a little young to understand the pairs idea, but he enjoyed looking at the pictures. I suspect 3yrs might be a good age for the game?

First Award!

I started writing Recycled Sewing to supplement my first blog Recycled Fashion. I started sewing as a result of my interest in adjusting vintage / second-hand fashion, which soon progressed to other items I make from recycled materials. I wanted Recycled Fashion to remain its focus on fashion, and thus Recycled Sewing was born.

I'm feeling very flattered today, as I've just received my first blog award for Recycled Sewing; the Beautiful Blogger Award.

The lovely Dee over at BabyGalah , awarded me with this honour. Thank you so much Dee! Have you seen some of her creations? She is very talented:

Isnt this vintage girl onesie just gorgeous?

The rules of this award require me to nominate another 10 bloggers the 'Beautiful Blogger Award' so here goes:

1. Kitty n' Kitsch I know George has already received this award, but I just adore her little handmade childrens boats, so I award her again =)

2. The Posh Op Shopper by Je T'aime Vintage for her collection of beautiful vintage clothes

3. Giggles Down Under A beautiful photographic blogging journey of a family leaving Maui to move to Australia

4. I am Pink A blog about a dog! called Pinky Deluxe, who showed up needing help at the Merced Animal Shelter in Central CA, United States, and found a new family home.

5. Little Food Junction A blogger from India who creates absolutely magnificent food for picky eaters..children!

OK so I know I am supposed to nominate 10 bloggers, I do read other blogs all of the time, but these are my top 5 beautiful blogs I can think of right now. Enjoy!

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.

A handmade dress & matching card

A gift for a little girl; a pillowcase dress with matching card made from scraps of the same fabric.

The pretty pink pillowcase, $1 from Savers. I used the bottom 'hem' of the pillowcase, and used a size 1 dress (that I unstitched) as a template to cut around. Rather than sewing a drawstring neck, I cut straps from white ribbon - scraps I found in my local op shop, and stitched to the inside of the neckline. I always pick up little sewing gems from my local op shop haberdashery box!

Front of dress

Back of dress

A matching card, using the same pillowcase fabric and some lace from my sewing box, machine stitched to a blank card.

Matching card

Machine Stitched Recycled Christmas Cards

I've started my Christmas card sewing. I found some cute Christmas tree fabric in Cheltenham op shop for $3 back in August, and had to buy it! I had no particular intentions for its use until recently, when I started sewing greetings cards with fabric.


I purchased some recycled blank cards purchased from an etsy seller. I drew a christmas tree and star template freehand, and used those to cut the fabric from. I used some pink silk fabric (leftover from a clothing refashion) as the background for my shapes, used a glue stick to fix in place on the card, and zig-zag stitched onto my blank cards.


By accident, I found out that holding the cards up to the window shows little reflections of light shining through where the needle has stitched the card.. thought that looked cute; it is like flashing lights on a christmas tree, and a twinkling star!

Vintage Thomas Pillowcase Chalk Mat

I've started to sell some of my sewing projects. This is a big achievement. Sewing for oneself and gifts for friends is one thing, but making things to sell is a completely different ball game.

What am I selling? It is the first item I blogged about on Recycled Sewing; my childrens activity chalk mats. I initially made one for a gift, and that friend subsequently asked me to make some to buy as gifts for others, and so on..

I took myself off to Savers on Saturday in search of some more children's fabric. I always head straight to the pillowcase/sheets. Very lucky for me, I found one lonesome 'vintage' Thomas the Tank Engine pillowcase:

Thomas!

And here is the completed chalk mat:






Is the chalk mat made from 100% recycled materials? No, not completely, but wherever possible, I do endeavour to purchase all of my materials second hand. Here is a full breakdown.

Main fabric - pillowcase from Savers
Velcro strap - thrifted bias strip from Salvos
Chalk mat fabric - new, purchased from eBay
Train chalk holder pocket - a gift of quilting squares, originally purchased second hand by my Mum
Chalks - new from $2 shop
Velco - new from haberdashery
Lip to hold chalks on pocket - end of the of PVC tablecloth from Spotlight, which has scratches and paper roll marks on it. It would have gone into the rubbish if I hadn't asked to buy it! Very lucky with that one.