Showing posts with label repurposing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label repurposing. Show all posts

Monday, February 17, 2014

Repurposed blanket

This blanket was tortured by Smokey during his puppy phase (aka chew everything in sight like carpet, walls, furniture, and the usual clothing & shoes phase.) 

For awhile he used it in his crate, but I didn't want to encourage him eating it, so it kept getting washed, laid on, washed, moved, washed, etc...

I'm so much my Grandma & Mom when it comes to hating throwing good, usable STUFF away! I figured I could do something with what remains, and so that was my Sunday project ...

The first thing I made was a roughly sewn dog blanket (ignore the fact that the tiny cat has already laid claim.) I literally chopped the blanket apart, slapped three layers together, and just sewed some grid-like lines through. It's not beautiful, but it's soft & warm, I already know the animals love it's texture, and best yet, it can be thrown in the washer a million more times!

Next up, were two lame chair covers. They are lame in that they don't match anything in my family room, they don't wrap around like covers typically do, and they're not padded. BUT my cats love to sit on these chairs & deposit their white hair on them, and since I'm sick of spending $$$ on the lint rollers, I figured some easily washable "lame covers" would save a bit of my sanity.


Last but not least was a smaller, 2-layer "blanket" I made for this chair in my sewing room. Again, even though there are three of these chairs plus a recliner in my sewing room, THIS is the chair preferred by Daisy (refer to statements made above about cat hair & saving my sanity!)

This is all that's left of the 89" X 89" blanket ... about a 4' X 18" piece, which since it was full of tiny holes & jagged rips, got thrown in the trash.

I love repurposing items which are typically thought of as having passed their prime :) 

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Repurposing a Sweater

Repurposing a sweater deemed "ugly" by my girls, gotten from a thrift store for about $1

The bottom/foot part is cut from the body of the sweater, and the arms of the sweater furnish the leg parts for the socks.




My blanket stitch needs work, however, they're cozy regardless!

See this tutorial for instructions on how to make your own.

Since I had more sweater left over after making the socks, I utilized this tutorial for instructions on making mittens.



Helpful hints...

The socks should be made a bit smaller than the instructions indicated.

Should have made the mittens a bit bigger than the instructions indicated.

A tighter woven sweater will be sturdier for using the blanket stitch.

You can sew the edges with a stabilizing stitch on your sewing machine.

Decorative hand-stitching could be added.