Upcycled gifts

Christmas is coming with all the presents to make but first couple other presents. Upcycled paper flower for my mum and my first zip it up pencil case for my daughter's friend. 

I actually remember my mother's birthday when asked but when it actually is - I don't remember it. I realised it on saturday when she was talking about making a cake and the birthday was on sunday when we were also going for a visit. I was going to spend few days with my kids in my home village so the visit didn't have anything to do with the birthday and I simply had forgotten. That needed some quick thinking. 

She likes orchids and I remembered seeing pattern for making own paper orchids in Pinterest. Upcycled paper was perfect for this, I have saved some magazines that have big pictures and nice, glossy pages. Then I needed a branch and a pot for the flower. I had saved yogurt cup and that seemed to fit, just had to figure out a way to make it heavy enough to stand with the flower. So I went "shopping" outside, found branch out of pine and took some sand from the kids' sand box. The problem was that all of these were quite wet so I took them inside, lit up the fire on fire place and put my treasures there to dry. Try and imagine the reaction of my kids when I was doing the exact thing I have forbidden them to do! No bringing sand and branches inside, right?

After making the flowers, I attached them to the branch with hot glue.

The whole thing turned out pretty nice if I may say so. And my mother liked it too. :)

For the other present I used the tutorial by Jill: http://jembellish.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/upright-zip-it-up-pencil-case-tutorial.html

After making it I can only admire the work she has done for making the tutorial. Definitely not the  easiest thing to sew, must not have been easy to figure it out in the first place! Thank you very much, I will be making more of these in the future! Already my kids said that they too absolutely need these, so...

I used quite thin fabrics so it was doable to sew, no broken needles for this one. For the lining I used usual cotton fabric but added one extra layer from similar fabric inside to make it sturdier. The pencil case something to make it stand and the tutorial mentions using some plastic, plastic sheet for example, I used coffee bag. I have saved couple just in case I would need them and now I did. For the hardener it is important that it is rather light, soft and bends. Coffee bag filled all the requirements and worked just fine. The outer fabric is from a skirt from recycling center.

My little old home village with a population under 2000 has own recycling center! People can bring there their clothes, toys, dishes, shoes, books and everything is free. I found bag full of clothes (will be shown later with more detail) and new leather shoes - all for free! The recycling center has been in great use and why wouldn't it? People are recycling more and more and why not to take your old things there when it is easy instead of throwing it away?

I made a suggestion about having recycling center here in my current home village. I got written reply with all the actions that were taken based on my suggestion and I'm glad they had taken it seriously. Someone had actually visited the mentioned recycling center but the decision was that there is no need for it. I may disagree and I tried to press the point in my suggestion but didn't work this time. To tell the truth, I didn't expect anything more this fast but I hope that someone will remember the idea. Who knows, maybe someday we have a place like that too? 

Mobile phone case with a hole for the charger

When I bought my mobile phone I wanted to protect it but it was rather new model and not one of the mainstream models so it was hard to find a protective case for it. I bought one that is suitable for almost any model, you choose one based on the size of your phone and the phone is attached to the case with sticker. With the sticker it doesn't matter where the buttons on the side are or where is the camera etc. because the phone slides from the cover. Now to the problem... I have had it for almost a year and now I noticed that the back cover of my phone had started to get loose. The sticker attached to the back cover probably had something to do with this. So I definately needed new case. Now there are correct covers and cases available but of course the price is 20-30e and even though they could protect my phone more, I decided to make one.

 

The phone doesn't have to be in the case all the time, so self made would work. I just wanted to see part of the screen so that I could see if I have new messages, missed calls and what's the time without taking the phone out of the case. Then I wanted to charge the phone while still in the case so I made a flip cover with inner pocket and a hole for the charger.

For the pocket I used another one of the cuffs from the shirt I used to make a hand bag. It had nicely two sides sewn already, the raw edges I sew with the side seams of the cover. First I had to make the hole in the bottom.

I measured a gap that was couple centimeters wide and 1½cm tall, draw it and sew. 1½cm includes 1cm seam allowance, the hole itself doesn't have to be deep, few millimetres is enough. Notice that it isn't right in the middle now as you have to remember that the side seam will make the pocket narrower. Narrow down the seam allowances for the hole, snip notches and turn around. Of course if you have a piece of fabric rather than almost ready pocket, sew also the top and other one of the side seams. The outer side seam and bottom can be, and should be, left raw.

I measured the pocket by measuring my phone; the width of the screen, the thickness x2 and couple millimetres extra because the pocket has to be stiched inside the cover. Also when thinking how high the pocket should be, remember to count also the thickness of the phone and of course, add the seam allowances. The pocket should be tight that the phone stays in. My fabric wasn't elastic so I made it just the size of my phone. You should also use fusible interfacing to prevent the fabric stretching after a while. If you use knitten fabrics I would recommend using at least something heavier than jersey and test it first. You probably have to make the pocket narrower than your phone if you intend it to stay put.

The rest of the mobile phone case was made using piece from old jeans and scrap fabric. I didn't want to use jeans as it seems so typical material when it is about upcycling, every second idea is about upcycling jeans when you start looking for it. But it is sturdy enough for mobile phone case and needs very little support (I only used thin interfacing). And there are always spare jeans available in almost every household.

Again measure the fabrics needed for the mobile phone cover by measuring your phone, add the thickness for the width of it and few millimeters to every side so that it covers the whole phone properly.

Here is what you need; the outer fabric, inner fabric and the pocket. For the inside I used soft, elastic sweatshirt fabric.

Adjust the pocket on the outer fabric on the reverse side than it is going to be in the mobile phone case on its final form. If you want the pocket to be on right, attach it to the left.

If you want, you can baste the pocket on its place but you can also sandwich them all at one go.

Of course, remember to leave turning gap. Turn around and iron. Also iron the seam allowances of the turning gap so you can just sew over it and close it at the same time. Sew the pocket's other side, just over stitch will do. Stitch also along the center to make it better to fold, ironing helps the case to fold as it should be.

The mobile phone cover was very easy, after planning it, it took hardly half an hour to complete. It is also a project for which you will find material without shopping.

So what else have I been up to? Hardly it took me whole week to complete one single mobile phone cover? Well, no it didn't. The summer has arrived and with that, mosquitoes. We have three doors and two kids who keep opening the doors when going in and out. But they rarely remember to close them so the mosquitoes find their way in quite easily. We should get mosquito curtains for the doors but for some reason have never gotten around it. I had an idea to make one myself. The fabric I tried to use was a real pain in the... you know what. No matter how I tried to cut the fabric, I still couldn't make it straight. I cut the curtain on three overlapping pieces and when I tried the final version on its' place, the middle part was something like 5cm shorter than the two others. I decided it was time to lay the project to rest and wait until I find a fabric that is more co-operative. But it took quite some time so I have only one, small mobile phone case to show!

Also, when there is warm enough weather to spend outside without having to use quarter of an hour for dressing up, you have to spend it outside. You never know when it ends and you have to wait another year before having another chance. So I have been spending some time with our kids on the beach.

We have a beach on walking distance and if the weather continues like this, it means almost daily trips there. That brings us back to this blog; we need new beach bag! Something that would carry everything needed. Let's see what I come up with...