Sunday, July 19, 2015

Tiny Tweaks and Major Overhauls, pt 2

PART 2!

This is one of those projects that changed forms about 80 times. Although it didn't end up as I wanted it to, I think the option it became is pretty great :)

Once upon a time, when I was like, 10, I had the ambitious idea of turning my baby clothes into a quilt. As you can see, that went... Great. I found this wadded in my stash and knew I had to do something about it

I kept just the cute squares with designs on them. I used my rotary cutter to hack away all the other weird useless fabric in between.

What to make? Maybe... A cute little quilted bag? Yes. Brilliant. Here I did some patchwork arranging to get a pattern I liked

I sewed the top squares to the bottom squares first with just a simple straight stitch

Hard to see, but once I had all three pairs of top top to bottom sewn together, I lined up the middle seam so at least that part would be perfectly aligned. Not all my squares were the exact same size

And then I ended up like so! Like sew? Hahahah....

I trimmed to make everyone a little more even

But here, I started having some doubts. As I sewed, I noticed that, being baby clothing fabric, it was verrryyyy light and thin. I also realized (with a small shock) that these pieces were all closer to age 30 than anything else. If I made a bag, I wouldn't REALLY be able to use it anywhere. I was a stylin' baby; I certainly didn't want to have my cute little patches get ripped or dirty out there in the world where a bag would be. But this project was NOT going back in the sewing box... What to do...

Left turn: I grabbed two old t-shirts from the stash, measured, and cut backings
After a sew and a trim, each piece ended as so
 
I left one square open so I could turn the thing inside out

Is that... Polyfill?

After stuffing, I used a blind stitch (I think; I have no idea if I'm even doing it properly, but it seems to be okay) to close up the edge...

AND POOF! Little pillows! These are MUCH better suited to life than a bag. They can stay safe inside but still be admired. All the cute little patches came from my onsies that I rocked as a 90's baby

The grey back is a nice jersey from an apallingly-made t-shirt that I tried on for 5 seconds before sending to the sewing pile, and the blue is an old shirt of Husband's from when he used to work at Best Buy, so the 'reused clothing' trend could continue

So yeah. I started out with one great plan, and had to change it halfway through. Was I annoyed at first? Yes. But like I said, I think these turned out great. It's one of the more ambitious projects I've taken on so far and even if I can't parade it around out in the world, I still think it's far better fate then wadded up in the sewing drawer :)

What are some refashions that started out as one thing and ended up 100% different for you guys?

~Illy

2 comments:

Carissa said...

Super cute! And it's a great way to preserve those childhood memories. Speaking of which, the cartoon farm animals - were those originally a sheet set. Because I think I had those sheets too!

-Carissa
EOD

P.S. We really try to limit our community to wearable refashions only (including purses and other accessories). I'm gonna give you credit for your original intentions to make a bag, but next time, please make sure it's a wearable refashion. Thanks!

Unknown said...

Carissa- Thanks! The Boynton animals were, yes, a sheet. I also had all the Boynton board books, like the Going To Bed Book :) And I apologize for breaking the rules; I know refashions need to be wearable. In my excitement about my project, I overcommitted and promised part 2 before I knew part 2 wasn't going to work out, and I hated to come back all "Hey so... I got nothin." Thanks for letting this one pass and you have my word of honor: no more unwearables! Next time Illy, don't make promises that are only half finished! ;)