Whale plushie out of upcycled denim

I like challenges. If someone gives an impossible sort of task and asks "you probably don't have any idea how to solve this?", I usually reply that let's see, I might figure something out. Usually I do. That's part of the reason why I like upcycling old clothes, there is always the challenge how you can make your plans work when you aren't working with virgin fabric that you have bought just the amount needed from fabric store.

But, before I start rambling about that again, let's get to the point... There are five bloggers who have started a 12 days of Christmas DIY challenges. The challenge also includes link up party. I didn't have any sewing time yesterday which is shame as the topic was to make Christmas decoration out of old clothes. So many ideas! I will make them anyway later though.

The point of the challenge is that the Christmas shouldn't cost the earth, I fully agree and I try to participate as much as I can.

Today's challenge was by Vicky; Take an old pair of jeans and turn them into a Christmas Gift.

 Here we get to the challenge. I'm not a friend of denim/jeans when it comes to upcycling (even though they are the only pants I usually wear...) and this challenge wasn't as easy as yesterday's would have been. First I thought I would make some oven gloves as I had planned already earlier but the problem is that I didn't have jeans that were 100% cotton. The ones I was going to use had only 77% cotton! Not very safe to handle hot things with oven mittens that are in the danger of melting, if only partly. Had to think something else.

Then I remembered a whale that used to jump on the front page of my Pinterest some months back whenever I opened it. I didn't save it back then, it was made out of denim and thus not something I would probably make. Oh well, you can be wrong sometime.

We have had self filled advent calendars for the kids as long as they have known how to open them. Last year I switched it from calendar with 24 small pockets to a bigger bag that could hold some better surprises than just small figures, candies and some small scrap. Bigger bag doesn't mean more expensive surprises though, it's quite the opposite. For example you can print out new colouring picture, roll it and put in a bag. Cheap and very much appreciated by the kids!

So, how about start making the surprises already when there is almost full month before we can start opening the calenders? I looked up the whale, found tutorial, even though not a pattern and made these:

Not the prettiest things when it comes to sewing but I don't think my kids will mind... These are much smaller than the original (here) and I only draw the patterns from the screen from the pieces she had cut. If I made more, I would fix my "patterns" quite a deal, the fins are oddly proportioned and I don't think whales have snouts... It's not a fault of the original model, the original looks great! It is also much bigger. These are about 15cm long.

The snout... is it a whale? Flying fish? Bird? Mix-breed of bird, whale and dog? No idea, but I know my kids and they are usually crazy about new plushies and they will probably think it as some new specie - or then it is just a whale. I used beads as eyes and the fins and the tails I stitched with the kids' favourite colours; pink and green so you can tell them apart.

Thank you for the challenge for the hosts:

Jill @ Creating my way to Success
Vicky @ Vicky Myers Creations
Anna @ Tea and a Sewing Machine
Pam @ Threading My Way
Anne @ Domesblissity 

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? 

More upcycled worry eaters!

After my last post about our summer time and short break because of summer trips finally something I have actually done! I have mentioned before how Finns tend to get crazy when it becomes summer and every town and village have their own summer events and fests. Our little village is no exception, our summer event lasted whole week with casual sport events, market etc. There were also small group of volunteers who opened a season shop for that week filled with local products. Potatoes and other farm products, crafts etc. I also made something, could have made more but the time was short with holiday trips and all other duties. I decided to make worry eaters and got together eight of them.

Four are the size I made the original one (here) and four are slightly smaller because the size of the clothes I upcycled for these. They are, of course, upcycled; zips, buttons and fabric comes from old clothes. For the filling I used new cotton wool. I didn't think it would be such a good idea to use old cotton wool from old pillows. Think about the sweat and grease the pillows might have absorbed! No washing can take it out of them, so new it was instead of upcycled.

I used knit fabrics to make them nicely soft and cuddly and of course saved the extra parts from the clothes I used.

This one was a small ballerina body and I cut the front part from the body's front part with the star, placing it on the side rather than in middle. Ears and eye background are from scrap fabric, the body itself is soft jersey.

My favourite worry eater! For this I used old adult pants made out of soft velour. There is still plenty of this fabric left for many other projects, the adult pants have so much fabric for upcycling purposes! Again, the rest is from my scrap box.

Green terry hoodie with bright pink zip and wristbands turned out to something more harmonic with green zip and yellow ears and eyes. Terry is elastic, very comfortable for a toy like this. Yellow fabric is out of old baby body.

Sometimes it is some small detail that makes you happy. In this case it is the zip. I had a sweatshirt blouse with grey sleeves (the fabric in ears) and I found a zip with matching colour from my storage! I like this one too because the fabric is sturdier than jersey and gives whole more feeling to a toy than jersey.

However, jersey works great for the smaller ones. For the the pink I used sleeveless summer top in size 104. From the shirts at this size you make easily the bigger one but then you need to have sleeves for the hands and ears. The blue one is t-shirt in size 104, also the missing long sleeves made it impossible to make the bigger one. Also the fabric is 100% viscose and very soft, I doubt it would have worked well with the big one.

For these I used old baby clothes, the left one is out of pants, the right one out of a body. Even the small baby clothes make great small worry eaters!

I have to say that if (or when) I will make more worry eaters for sale I will not make the fingers and toes! It would save me easily 15 min/worry eater - at least. I sold three of these in the season shop during that week, quite well when you think that these were the only things I had for sale, the shop was open only for a week and it was in a small village, not next to a busy shopping street in a city. Right after the week I sold two more so only three left!

I also made small notes with my email and blog addresses so someone interested could take a card and maybe contact me later.

I also had an explanation what these are, what they are made of and a mention that I can make something out of old favourite clothes, great keepsake! That's why I made these cards too, easy to grab into your wallet. The box is, of course, upcycled. I got a shower gel in a pretty box, this is the cover. It was quite pretty but the surface had suffered some damage in the bathroom so I covered the edges and the bottom:

It was just right for this use!

Altogether; 8 pieces of clothes used, same amount of zips and 16 buttons, not bad! If you took a look at my working room, you wouldn't notice it though, it is still too full!

And... if you want to make your own, I have a post about making your own worry eater with full tutorial: http://upcyclelina.blogspot.fi/2016/04/worry-eater-tutorial.html

Diy dry erase book - travelling with kids part 2

Time for another thing that is handy when travelling with kids, dry erase book! There are some to be bought of course but the selection in here isn't that great and the idea of the few available is quite educational. Not that it only matters, the kids usually like those kind of things but the books I found were the kind where the kids need someone to read the tasks and explain them. Something that doesn't work very well for kids on the backseat of the car. Also, it would be great to use the activity books we already have and select the pages the kids like. Then things got a little bit out of hand and this turned out.

I tried to explain to everyone that making something like this is pretty normal thing to do before going for a car trip, nothing weird in it, right?

In case you are wondering the same thing... I did it because:

• usual paper activity books can't be opened properly by kids without normal table, they won't stay open
• paper activity books don't have hard covers, something that would be needed especially when there is no table
• once a maze is done, it is done, no re-doing it even though the kids would like to solve them again
• markers aren't great to use in the car as there are always caps missing and chalks or wooden colours are too light if you can't press them enough, again you need table for this
• chalks or wooden colours can't be erased, something very important in the car as there are pumps and turns in the road making drawing more difficult

So I needed an activity book that is A5 (approximately), opens easily, has hard covers, activities can be done again and again, uses markers that don't lose their caps and can be erased easily. After a brainstorm and surfing in the Pinterest I thought I had everything covered. Of course, it should be something that I could make out of the materials I had on hand, great project for upcycling!

I knew the principles; use some plastic pockets and marker that can be erased easily. Plastic pockets I knew I could get anywhere, the ones used in folders would work just fine but the marker? There are no actual dry erase markers sold in Finland. The ones sold are made to be used with their own brand of books and might get messy working with other surfaces. Thank you for the great tips by a group of crafters in Facebook! Someone actually tried those dry erase markers on other surfaces so I knew if they would work or not! I found some on eBay (of course) but didn't have time to order them there. The tips included water soluble overhead projector and white board markers. I though white board markers would be too thick for this purpose so I decided on overhead projector markers. But... there are hardly any overhead projectors nowadays so there was nothing under that name. So, if you are looking for the markers I used, look for cd/dvd markers, they are the same, just under different name.

So I had the pens for my dry erase book but then I had another problem. The folder pockets were only A4's and I needed A5. A4 is way too big for the kids to use in the car. I could have cut them half but then the book would have been positioned wrong as the A5 activity pages I have are all vertical. I also wanted the book to open horizontally rather than vertically, again the problem with small space. It would have been frustrating for the kids to use something that they have to twist and turn to turn a page. A5 and vertical pages to make it open horizontally were the things I didn't want to compromise with. I'm sure there are the right size plastic pockets available in the depth of the internet but I still didn't have that time to wait for them. Yes, I could have cut the A4 pockets to A5's by simply making them smaller but simply couldn't bring myself up doing it. Imagine the amount of plastic that would go to waste just because of dry erase books for kids to be entertained during car trip?

Then I needed the covers and I didn't have any suitable ready folders either and first I thought I would use cardboard for them. But while looking for cardboard I I found couple old kids books that were just right! And what a great idea to upcycle old books that weren't used anymore.

I torn out the pages (and left for future crafting) and added ribbons to tie the pages. I found a necklace that I don't use, never have and most likely never will, that had just perfect ribbon! It is narrow enough and sturdy enough, the ribbon is some kind of fake leather.

The other parts I kept, of course for other upcycle projects. The ribbons I glued with hot glue.

Then I had to cover the activities with plastic. I found some overhead projector sheets that I have had way over 10 years. I once bought a package of them to make stencils but only used couple back then and still had 18 left. It wouldn't be enough for two books though so I bought a roll of sticky plastic (the one used to cover school books) and used that for the rest. I don't very much like to cover paper with plastic as it isn't possible to recycle the paper anymore but I thought I would use sticky plastic to the pages that would be used again and again. The sheets would be used for the pages that would get boring after couple trips and would need to be changed.

Of course, folding overhead projector sheet half isn't that easy but luckily I had solution right on hand, Wonderclips! Just match the edges, add Wonderclips (or clothespins) and once you are sure it will stay, press.

The pages with sticky plastic I added piece of normal paper on the place where I was going to make the holes to make it last better. For the plastic sheets I used first eyelets but decided after couple pages that I don't need them and made just the holes with the hole making tool that came with the eyelets.

With the sheets I used brads to keep the paper inside still. I attached the brads right next to the paper to pin it on its place, worked very well. Loosening the brads will make it possible to change the activities easily.

I attached the brads on different places for every page so the book wouldn't become too thick. Still, using the brads for the whole book would have been impossible because of the thickness so it was actually good thing I didn't have more overhead projector sheets, using sticky plastic for some worked just fine. Don't tie the ribbons too tight, the pages won't turn if you do that.

I could have left it here, right? Leaving the covers like that when there are so many ideas out there to try? Not likely. When I saw quiet books first time my first thought was "oh wow, that must have taken ages to make!". The second time "they would be great to make but I will never have the time". The third time "they would be great to make". The fourth "my kids would love them" and small voice in my head only whispered "I will never have the time". The fifth (I have been seeing them a lot lately because once you look something in Pinterest twice you get to see it much more often) "what would I make if had time?" At this point I was saving couple pages, you know, just in case. The sixth thought "what if I had the time, what if I made time for it?" added with a loud sound in my head "don't go there!" I knew that once I started looking them with that thought in my head I would have lost the game and I would be making them some day. The seventh thought "what does it matter if it takes time, you like doing it, just one page?" and a whisper in my head "you could be doing something more sensible like sewing new clothes for the kids!".

The other voice in my head lost. Of course it did as I knew it would from the moment I saw the quiet books for the first time. Does this ever happen to you? I wanted to make something nice for the cover and while doing it, I could make it one more activity. The problem was that most quiet book pages are meant to be used together, most of them won't keep kids busy for more than a minute, at least at the age of 4 and 5. The kids around 1-2 usually like closing and opening a clip for a longer period of time, the older kids not so much. First I thought I would make a clock with turning hands, then I saw some mazes that I considered as the mazes are my kids' favourite activity pages. But then I found a page with little mouse with cheese and home from http://anna-anafe.blogspot.fi/2014/09/blog-post.html. I don't understand a word of the blog post itself but all I needed was the picture.

I tried to sew the mouse but didn't have felt, like she seemed to use so I made my mouse out of Fimo clay and hot glued the ribbon-tail.

I draw the face with black permanent marker.

It can go under the cheese, come out from the holes and go back to its home:

As you can see, I have sewn around the holes, this is to prevent stretching. The nest's top has also framilon-elastic band to make it, well, elastic, and to keep the mouse inside when not played.

And I was right, the kids liked this idea very much! They like small figures, especially animals and usually figure out their own play around them and this one quiet book page entertained them alone for few kilometers. It also didn't take that long to make actually, of course figuring out where to find all the materials took more time than the making itself. But that's usually the case with my projects. The cover itself is from my old jeans and I matched the inside seam to the back of the book. Here I also attached the marker with elastic band.

The idea here is that the marker's cap will stay put under the elastic band so it wouldn't get lost in the car. I thought of adding a ribbon to the marker as well but then decided against it, it would just annoy the kids. Of course with smaller kids I would advice to tie the marker too. As the marker is water soluble I cut few fabric scraps, wet them and packed them in self-sealing plastic bag as erasers. Of course the fabric scraps I have are mainly from the fabrics I have used to make clothes for them so they were interesting itself and nicely colourful.

I sew folds to the cover so it stays put but can be removed when I want to change it so it isn
't glued. Overall, this dry erase book was great success for the kids and I could upcycle so many things here! Here is a list what you need:

• old book
• overhead projector sheets/plastic folds/sticky plastic
• activity books or print activity pages, there are loads available
• cd/dvd marker, water soluble!
• fabric scraps
• self-sealing plastic bag
• old jeans
• yellow felt
• elastic band (couple centimeters)
• ribbon for tail
• fabric scrap for the nest
• framilon-elastic band for the nest's top
• Fimo clay or similar
• hot glue gun

Very fun project to do, something that I liked to make and the kids liked to use! Proved again that I should never throw anything away! And what is more, the books did keep the kids occupied quite long. I'm happy.

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...

Upcycled bag from old shirt

I have one handbag which shoulder strap is attached with safety pin and one that I recently bought from second hand store which shoulder straps are completely loose and not a chance I could fix them with safety pin. Should have known, it only cost 1€ and looked descent. Closer look tells me that the shoulder straps have been fixed with couple hand stitches by someone. Luckily didn't cost more and it has lots of material for new bags! This bag broke when I was walking with our dog from grocery store back home. I had thought that maybe a nice walk would help the stuck shoulders and neck. A combination of dog who simply can't stand other dogs while in leash and a handbag that I can't carry on my shoulder but instead had to grab it under my arm means that my shoulder and neck weren't definitely better when I got home!

Time to do something for it. I have a shirt that I like for the fabric and have kept it for that reason even though it doesn't quite fit to me now. I decided it was nice for a small hand bag for the summer as the colour is light blue. I wanted a handbag which size would be something like my old favourite bag, i.e. big enough to hold wallet, mobile phone and water bottle but not any bigger than that and this shirt was just nice size for that.

Front part of the shirt became front part of the bag and the back part the same way, shoulder strap was made out of the sleeves, the buttons were used and I also used one of the cuffs for inner pocket. This shirt has rather long cuffs, just good for a pocket.

Of course I had to take the shirt apart and I could just cut the seams, no need to rip anything. But of course shirt like this has darts and those can't be left unnoticed. The ones in front weren't on my way but the ones on back were so those had to be ripped open.

This upcycled bag follows pretty much the tutorial from http://www.handmadiya.com. I skipped the pocket part of the tutorial as I made the pocket with upcycled cuff. If you want to do it like I did, just sew your cuff on the lining. Cut the cuff in two, lower part being slightly bigger (you would want the button to be in this part), stitch the pocket part onto the lining. If you have thin lining I recommend using fusible interfacing behind the pocket (if you haven't attached the interfacing for the whole lining). Sew the cover of the pocket (the one with the whole) on to the lining right sides facing, turn the cover and stitch over it. This way you can make a pocket for important things like passport with very little effort.

The next step for me was to make a pocket outside the package using the buttons in front. After cutting the main fabric with buttons closed I cut the pattern in half following the lower edge of the button row, cut suitable part from lining and sew them together. Tip; use zipper pressing foot if you do this, not working with usual one!

After this it was just following the tutorial as linked above. The tutorial didn't include pattern but this one is easy enough to draw, just check that the length of the zip panel is exactly the same as the upper edge of the bag.

I used fusible interfacing for the main fabric and behind the inner pocket and of course that can't be upcycled. The fabric of the shirt is quite soft and thin and even with the interfacing it still doesn't look as neat as I would like it. However, with harder and thicker fabric it wouldn't even need interfacing to look nice.

The pictures taken inside are nothing compared to pictures taken outside, I think I will use the light outside as often as the weather allows it.

As always, feel free to pin my pictures in Pinterest - or follow me there! You can now follow me in Facebook too so remember to check that too!

Fabric box and quilt work bag

My daughter has last year in kindergarten and it was time to gift her kindergarten teachers. They have had a recycling theme at the kindergarten so it's more than fitting to make the gifts out of recycled materials. My daughter wanted to bake cookies so I thought I would make fabric boxes for the cookies.

The outer fabric is from a dress that came to us in a package of used clothes and has never been used here. Apparently it isn't pink/violet enough for a little girl, even though I think it is pretty. I have tried to sell it, again, for couple of euros but maybe it wasn't pink enough to be worth of that. :D 

This is what I got out of the dress:

Naturally there is the skirt and the zip but I would like you to look at the white fabric on the left. It is from the hem line and its width is about 10cm, plenty of beautiful fabric for other projects! I kept the upper part as whole as it is my daughters size and I can sew it together with maybe something pink.

The rose fabric is a left over piece that I have had in my storage for 15 years, time to use it, I think?

First I attached the fusible interfacing to the brown fabric. It would have been good idea to use something stronger, or at least add it to both of them but works ok like this.

I cut the interfacing in parts rather than just one piece and left small gaps between the parts to make it easier to fold.

Then it was time to make and attach the ribbons. Fabric for the ribbon is from old shirt of mine. I would have like to use something from the dress or at least the rose fabric but they were too thick to be used in a small box like this. Simply, attach them to the right side of one fabric (it doesn't really matter which one).

Then just sandwich it (brown and rose fabric that is). Remember to make sure the ribbons don't go under your seam and leave a hole of 5cm for turning the box right way up. Turn it and iron! It looks kind of mess but ironing gives it the look it is supposed to have. Stich around 1-2mm from the edge to give it support and close the hole that was left to turn it. I also sew "a frame" on the bottom along the gaps of the interfacing, again to give it more shape. And you are done!

I have been meaning to give some fabric pieces to the kindergarten to be used for crafting but have been forgetting it whole year. Now I remembered it and I also made a small quilt work bag to put them in. Also the bag was part of the gift.

 I followed partly this instruction to make the bag. I took a selection of old children clothes and cut squares of 10cm x 10cm, sew the main piece together and the side pieces. I also made a lining for the bag to give it support. If you want to make like I did, follow the instructions behind the link for steps 1-4 and the same for lining (leave a gap of about 7cm in one of the seams to be able to turn the bag. Stich the handles on their places and sew the top edges of these two bags together, right sides facing of course. Use the gap to turn it around, close the gap. If you want real smooth finish, hand stich it or like I did, make a little seam over it. It doesn't show that much being inside the bag. Iron and you are ready! Though I stiched the corners to give it more shape but it isn't necessary. 

So the teachers got cookies and the boxes, the kids fabric for crafting and I some more space to my sewing room!

Elina