sewing

Burlap Placemats

/ makingofahome / 2 Comments

While on our visit to Growing Power in Milwaukee, Wisconsin back in December, we were told that burlap bags worked great as covers for compost bins.  Our tour guide told us that they obtained all of their burlap bags from local coffee roasters for little to no cost at all.

It just so happens that there is a local coffee roaster housed just two store fronts down from my husband’s fitness business, so we decided to investigate and I’ll be darned that they literally had closets full of burlap!  The owner said that there is one local farmer that comes regularly to pick up some of her extra bags, but other than that she was just waiting for someone to take them off her hands because she hated to just throw them out.

Well, my husband walked out of there with a tower of burlap sacks, towering far above his over six foot frame.  While we did use a few of the coffee bags to cover our compost bins, we were left with a lot extra stock.  So, I started to look through my crafting books for different things to do with burlap and I came upon one of my Amanda Blake Soule favorites, The Creative Family.  In this book, Amanda discusses the use of burlap to introduce children to sewing.  The wide spaces in the burlap make for easy needlework for young children.

After feeling inspired, as I so often do after reading Amanda’s books, the girls and I got to work.  The girls each took turns sewing using roughly 1 X 2 foot pieces of burlap (I simply cut up one coffee bag), embroidery floss, an embroidery hoop and a large needle.

After the girls reached a point where they were satisfied with their work, I removed the hoop and used my sewing machine to sew on a bit of fabric to the back of the burlap.

This quick project (It only took about 45 minutes from start to finish…including clean up.) ended up turning out quite well and the girls now have their very own hand crafted snack-time placemats.

Now I just need to come up with some more projects to use up the other twenty burlap bags I have 🙂  If anyone has any crafty ideas, please feel free to leave a comment.  I would love to come up with some more ideas.

“Sew” Much Fun

/ makingofahome / 1 Comment

It seems that every year when January and February roll around I get this need to do a project.  Last year it was the girls’ new, shared bedroom.  Out with the crib and whole nursery scene and in with the “big girl stuff,” as my girls like to say.

This year when January rolled around I again got this yearning for some sort of crafty undertaking.  I happened to be on a blog that I love and follow regularly, SouleMama.com, and she had some pictures of the most adorable little flannel night gowns and I knew that I had found my project.

In her post she mentioned that she used a Butterick B4910 pattern for the gowns and I began to get a little nervous.  Now you see, I had never actually used a pattern in my entire life.  My sewing skills up until this point consisted of items like one-seam sun dresses, pillow case dresses, quilts, and fabric napkins.  So you can image my surprise when I carefully opened the Butterick package to find those lovely brown pieces of tissue paper with print all over them.  Oh my.  Talk about a flood of anxiety!

But after some work, I realized that I truly LOVED this whole sewing thing.  And then I became obsessed.  I made 6 nightgowns (some for my girls, some for a birthday present, some just to make for when I come across anyone who may want one).  Here are two of the gowns I made for my girls for their Valentine’s Day present.

Then I thought to myself, “My goodness, if I can make this gown, why not try the shirt and pants that are in the pattern as well?”  So on I went with my sewing, a little bit each day, and my how I have realized this is an amazing way to relax and unwind at the end of a crazy day.  Here are some of the PJs I made out of some vintage cotton curtains I thrifted.  I felt like Maria straight out of Sound of Music…ha!

Once I was on the repurposing kick, I found an old sling I used with my youngest and decided to make a school bag for her because she will be starting preschool in the fall.

I definitely believe I have found a new love, and it is my Brother sewing machine.