Re-Cycled Jeans Pillow

Another way to use old jeans is to make decorative throw pillows. You know what they say "jeans go with everything". Well I believe the same is true for these throw pillows made from recycled jeans. I cut 16 squares and layered them 4 deep with all right sides facing up, sew across in 1/2 inch increments on the diagonal, cut thru three layers in between seams and then run them thru the washer and dryer to make them poof up. Then sew the blocks together so that the sewn lines form a concentric design. I put a denim back on mine to make a pillow, but the same idea could be used to make a tote or beach bag.

Infant Shoes

I seem to have misplaced the pattern for these little shoes (I am not very organized, I'm creative) but I believe it was a Retro Simplicity pattern. Supposedly it was originally printed in the 50"s. They are made from craft felt. The pattern has a floral design layout on it, but I didn't use it. I just did free hand embroidery on the floral design, blanket stitch around the top and the tie is a piece of coordinating ribbon.

The socks are infant size 0-3 months that I purchased in a bag of 10. I single crocheted directly onto the top of the socks, then a row of half double crochet, then chain 2, attach bead by chaining through the bead, chain 2, skip 3 half double crochets and single crochet in the next half double crochet.

For this pair of socks, I didn't add the beads, and then I put 7 single crochets in each chain 5 loop. Any edging can be used though. Also, this pair of shoes I used silk ribbon instead of embroidery floss for the embroidery. They make a nice baby shower gift.

Lone Star Baby Quilt

I think this is my favorite quilt design. This one happens to be a baby quilt that I made to enter in the Boone County Fair, but it will ultimately go to my Granddaughter Lucy. The theme for her nursery is Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. What better way to illustrate that than diamond shapes put together to form a star. I tried to pick colors that are present in flames so it would look like a flaming star. It is quilted by hand, and I made the binding out of the same colors as the star cut on the bias.
When I was a kid I used to watch my Grandma quilt. She had a quilting frame that my Grandpa made for her out of 2x4's that he split and it was held up with tomato cages that he also built. I grew up thinking that you had to have a frame to quilt. Since I didn't have one, or the room to put one up, I had resigned myself to thinking I couldn't quilt by hand. Then one day (I think it was in 1998) I say an episode of Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson where she talked about lap quilting and the techniques of hand quilting. It was like a light bulb came on over my head. I got some scrap pieces of fabric and batting, layered them together and started practicing her techniques. OK, at first I was terrible, but it didn't take long before I got the hang of it. I made only small projects at first, and gradually worked my way up to larger and larger ones. The first Queen sized quilt I finished by hand was my chicken quilt that took over 2 years (half of that time was spent embroidering the chickens). With practice I got a lot faster and now I can complete a King sized quilt from start to finish in about 45 days. I know a lot of people don't want to invest that much time into a single project, but the feeling of accomplishment you get when you are finally finished is out of this world. Thanks to Alex Anderson, where ever you are.

Re-Cycled Jeans Hand Bags

What can you do with your favorite pair of jeans once they are too worn to wear, or just out grown? I hate throwing things away. I am like those hoarders that they are making TV shows about that have piles and piles of stuff that they just can't get rid of. My husband and I live in a three bedroom house and two of those bedrooms that are supposed to be for guest rooms are in fact rooms to hold all the things that I keep, thinking someday I will find a use for that and I will be glad I kept it.

A few years ago I decided to try to use up all the things that I have kept over the years to cut down on the clutter, and maybe make money in the process. I started making these handbags out of the old jeans that I will never get small enough to wear anymore. I sell them for $15.oo each, or give them as Christmas or birthday presents (which saves money too because I am not out any cash for the present).

I use scraps of fabric left over from other projects to make the lining. Pockets can be put on the inside if you like, but I usually don't because there are plenty of pockets already on the jeans. On the two bags shown in these pictures, I decorated them by felting flowers, scrolls, and hearts using loose wool (that I carded and dyed myself) and a felting needle. The belts and shoulder straps can be done in a variety of ways. Sometimes I use old belts of mine and sometimes I make them using the pant legs that were cut off. Macrame shoulder straps (not shown) also look nice and sell pretty well.

Use pants size 12 or smaller, anything bigger just looks like you are carrying around a duffel bag. Children's and baby jeans work great. The larger ones can even be used for diaper bags. Bottles slide down in the front pockets for easy access.

Clown Fish Baby Quilt

For this quilt, I cut nine 12 inch squares of white fabric. I drew the templates for the fish from looking at a coloring book that one of my Grand kids left here. Of course they aren't meant to look like actual species of fish so imagination is the only limit. I had quite a few scraps of brightly colored polka-dot fabric to make the fish. After appliqueing the fish, I embroidered around the edges to give more definition to the details. I also embroidered their eyes, mouth, fish hooks and worms.

I sewed the blocks together, and used a small bowl to mark and cut scallops around the outside edges. Then I appliqued it to the top of the background fabric. The background fabric shows thru just enough to make it look like water. On the white portion, I quilted in wavy lines, and on the background I mimicked the scalloped edge.

Mother Goose Baby Quilt

Old Mother Goose, when she decided to wander, would ride through the air on the back of a Gander

This is my version of Mother Goose. I saw an old iron on transfer (I think from Aunt Martha's Transfers) on EBay that said it was first printed in the 50's. Well, they wanted $16.00 for it and I didn't want to pay that so I enlarged the image on the screen so I could see the details, and drew one that I could turn into a applique pattern.

After getting all the pieces appliqued in place, I used embroidery thread to fill in the details such as the facial features on Mother Goose and the Gander, the hand details, the waives on the skirt and the wings of the Gander.

Her hair is loose wool that I carded myself and felted in place with a felting needle.

The ribbon on the hat, at her neck, and around the gander's neck is silk ribbon.

I tried to applique the shoes and socks, but the pieces were just too small for these big clumsy fingers of mine, so I wound up doing them totally in embroidery.

I cut clouds out of blue and white in various sizes. To give the picture some dimension, I placed the smaller clouds in the background underneath the top layer of fabric, and the larger clouds in the foreground appliqued in place.

I used the edge of a plate to make the scalloped edge of the border fabric.

I quilted wavy lines, closer together in the background and slightly further apart in the foreground to make it look like she was flying in the jet stream.

Carosel Horse

I drew the pattern for this horse myself by looking at horses on TV. It was a lengthy process of trial and error. All four legs are different, I was trying to make it look like the horse was in a high gallop, and still be level enough to hold a rider if I ever get one made to put on him.
The body is made of suede upholstery fabric. The mane and the tail are loose wool that I carded myself. The eyes, nostrils, and the tufts of hair above each hoof are wool that I felted on using a felting needle. The bridle and saddle are made of craft felt and decorated with studs and wool that I felted to shape the seat on the saddle. The reigns is macrame.
The saddle blanket is a piece of velveteen with fringe sewn on.

I covered the dowel rod with suede and wrapped ribbon around it to give it a swirl effect. The base is covered with strips of suede woven with ribbon.
These make great decorations at Christmas time, for a childs nursery, or for anytime for someone who likes carosel horses.