Small DIY

Small DIY

I have not made a lot lately because I have no sewing machine and am struggling to find things I can do with what materials I have with only hand sewing. But there we go, I will just have to wait to get the machine back. 

Anyway today I finally decided what I was going to do with this black jumper I found of my mam's. 

I had this shirt I bought for a cowboy night out in uni that had these tassels on the shoulders. I kept the shirt in case and now I am glad I did. I will put these on to the jumper to jazz it up a little. 

1st.

So here is the jumper. It has flaps on the shoulders that used to have buttons on. This is where I will sew the tassels on. 

Here are the tassel things. Pretty.

2nd.

Pretty simple, I started to sew along the top line of the piece to match almost identically to the shoulder flap leaving about a mm gap. I used white cotton to match the piece. 

Here are some photos of the final piece. It looks good, now I just need to decide if I am to do anymore to it. 

Decisions. 

     

Onwards for my next project. I need to find some inspiration. Lots of research will help. 

Dog Toys

I was helping my mam around the house with the cleaning and the washing and attempting to reduce the ever growing bundle of odd socks we have in the house.

I thought on the off chance I would look on Pinterest to see if there was anything we could do with all of these socks. I found one post saying about making a dogs chew toy from platting three socks and tying them at the end. Genius I thought and so easy and quick to reduce the sock piles. 

1. Take 3 odd socks and tie them together with an elastic band or a bobble at one end. (I found mixing colours lights and darks worked well, or complimenting colours)

2. Braid the 3 socks into a plat. I found it easier with my mam holding one end so I could make the braid tight and strong. 

3. Tie the other end of the toy with a band/bobble. And you're done. 

(These are not my photos but taken from the Pinterest post I got this idea from)

Here is my dog with all her new toys. 

Made 25 toys!! Ridiculous amount of odd socks but lots of new toys that we will be taking to the local dogs home. 

My DIY Makes

So here are some of my makes that I have been working on this last week or so. I am not going to explain everyone in details as some are self explanatory. 

1.

My attempt at elbow patches. Having seen a few posts on Pinterest about doing your own elbow patches I thought I would try.  So I found an old jumper my mam no longer wanted and set about to make the patches. 

From an old t-shirt my dad no longer wanted I made the patches. Singular they were rather thin so I doubled up and sewed them together. 

To get the size I placed my hand on the material and drew around it in an oval shape. 

Patch sewing time. I put the jumper on to see where I wanted the patches , pinned them on with a little help and set it down to start sewing. 

It was hard to sew as they were in an awkward position on the sleeve but the more I sewed the easier it became. The second patch was done in half the time as the first. 

Here is the outcome. Not bad. The stitching is very viewable but not bad for my first one. We'll see if mam now wants her jumper back. 

2. 

My second making came after I bought this jacket from a local vintage shop. I love the jacket, the style and the way it fitted me. But it did need some jazzing up. I thought about some embellishments on the collar or something similar. 

I found some old buttons hidden away in one of my many "boxes of crap" I have and thought they would look perfect on the new jacket. Deciding what ones and where was the hardest part really. 

^^ Here are just some photos of the collar and what I sewed on there. As you can see I decided with the black and and one sliver buttons to sew on.

I later decided to put on one silver button on to the pockets. The jacket needed one last thing and I believe this was it.

I love the jacket and can't wait to get the opportunity to wear it. 

3. 

My third making of the day came again from a Pinterest post of how to transform an old t-shirt into a summer shirt. Found this little gem in my wardrobe years ago and no idea how it got there so I thought I would use it for this experiment. 

Firstly I had to outline where it needed to be cut. The collar and the sleeves were the first to go, simple enough. Next was to outline (in pencil) where I wanted to cut the bottom of the t-shirt making sure I had enough material to be able to tie a knot at the front. 

After a few attempts and a few re-markings I got the outline and so cut away. The back of the t-shirt only needs to be cut straight with no longer parts to tie, or if you want a double knot why not. 

Here is my outcome. I really like it. It is a little short and i'm not sure if I will wear it in the summer but we will have to see how warm it is or if I go away abroad anywhere.