Easter is a good time to plan a spring and summer wardrobe. Traditionally on Easter Sunday a new dress or suit is worn to symbolize new life in Christ. By keeping these outfits simple, you'll have something to wear to church all through the summer.
Here's a free tutorial for an adorable dress made from an adult button down shirt.
The pattern isn't included, but it looks like a variation of a pillow case dress with a button hole in the center back for the shoulder straps to pull through and tie. This would be adorable with a shirt underneat in colder times.
Here's an adorable dress from Life In The Empty Nest made from a pair of sleeves and a collar!
She has a lot of fun upcycle posts you should definitely check out.
I love taking something out of style or damaged in an area and making something new. Cashmere sweaters can be found at second hand stores for just a few dollars and most cost over $100 new! I like to wait for a sale day to shop for mine and get them at half price.
Opening the sleeves to make the wrap wider would be a perfect accessory on Easter Sunday this year. Since Easter is early, it will be chilly in many parts of the US.
Spring seems to be the time for new babies too! Here's an upcycled baby blanket made from cashmere sweater scraps from Valerina15: http://www.flickr.com/photos/valerina15/4311272135/in/photostream/ She pieced it like a quilt and it is beautiful! Clink the previous link to see more photos. The back is pieced in larger squares.
Have smaller scraps? Here's a hat and baby toy tutorial from Chez Beeper Bebe:
Depending on the size of your useable pieces you can make onesies, pull on pants (which also make great waterproof diaper covers), skirts, dresses, and booties. Use colorblocking and piecing when you need a larger piece.
I'd love to hear about your upcycling adventures with any medium. Leave a link in the comments section so we can see your creations.
Come back tomorrow for darling upcycling dress ideas.
Chunky canned soups aren't normally frugal for a large family like mine, but a few inexpensive additions make this a fast meal that is healthier and much less expensive than the $1 menu.
2 cans chunky chicken soup ($1 each on sale)
1 can green beans with juice ($.33)
1 can corn with juice ($.33)
Stir all in a large pan on medium high heat until heated through. Serves 8 for $2.66 or $.33 each.
Round out the meal with grilled cheese sandwiches. We used homemade sour dough bread for ours and they were delicious!
Does it bother you around Easter time to spend a mint on toys that will clutter up your house, then be broken and tossed aside in a few days, treats to rot your children's teeth and send them into headache and irritability zone? Here are some frugal ideas to help keep your holiday simple but meaningful.
1. Focus what you do on the true meaning of the holiday. We still talk about eggs at our house but use them as an instruction tool for the trinity and the resurrection of Christ. Symbols of spring or new life are there for us because of what Christ did to bring new life to all of us.
2. If you choose to do Easter Baskets, why not choose a basket that will be useful year round? Like a purse, school bag, or overnight bag with a toothbrush and travel size items in it.
3. Focus the edible treats on homemade ones you make together and fill their plastic eggs with small coins, stickers, and pocket toys, in additon to a few pieces of candy.
4. Or better yet make a set of resurrection eggsfor your indoor hunt and reuse the symbols year after year.
Chickummyjig: A free pattern and tutorial from Tania Ennor.
Tired of cold sandwiches for lunch? Shake things up with a wrap. Wraps have less calories than 2 slices of bread, are faster to make and hold everything together nicely. My favorite wrap cook book is Wrapping it Up by Vickilynn Haycraft. I like it so much I have 2 copies, one to lend to friends and one to use while my other is visiting a new home. In this book you will find detailed insructions for making a successful tortilla or wrap and lots of variations including Spinach tortillas, sweet cinnamon wrappers, sweet potato wrappers, peaches and cream wrappers, blueberry wrappers and more! Vickilynn is a dedicated whole foods cook and all of her recipes are formulated with both taste and health in mind. In addition to wrapper recipes her book has filling recipes and other meal ideas such as wrapper lasagna.
One of my New Year's Resolutions was to learn to spin and I'm having a fun time fulfilling it :). I'm also finding out that there is an endless amount of money one can spend on the craft. At the same time there are lots of simple ways to get started by making the tools yourself. (Then if you feel the need to spend money, you can buy luxury fiber :).
Drop Spindle: These range in cost from $10 to well over $100. The best spindles spin fast, balanced, and a long time.
These can be made from common household items such as a dowel rod and an old CD.
You can make a gorgeous spindle using a donut bead. You will need a donut bead (Jo-Ann or Ebay), a rubber grommet to fit the center (Home Depot or Lowes in the electrical department. Home Depot only carries theirs in a multi-pack for $3.50), some vegetable oil on a Q-tip, a chopstick, a hand drill, and a cup hook.
1. Drill the end of the chopstick and screw in the cup hook. Predrilling prevents the chopstick from splitting. You will need a drill bit slightly smaller than the cup hook screw. Too small and the wood will split. Too big and the screw won't hold.
2. Fit the rubber grommet into the center of the donut bead. This will take some finagling.
3. Rub the chopstick with oil and slide the donut bead in place high on the chopstick near the hook. The oil makes this so much easier! Then just wipe off the excess with a paper towel. Done!
After spending all day rounding up the supplies to make my own spindle (Pretty chopsticks were harder to find than I expected), DH suggested just buying one from KnotMyDayJob at Etsy would be a better use of time: http://www.etsy.com/shop/KnotMyDayJob
I bought one for my daughter's birthday and couldn't be more pleased with this seller! Here's a sample of her work.
Niddy Noddy:
These are used to wind of the yarn from a drop spindle and keep it from getting tangled while you tie it for setting the twist. These can be failry expensive in beautiful hard woods, but when made from PVC pipe they cost around $3 and can stretch and set the twist in water saving a step. Here are insructions:
I used end caps on mine to keep the yarn from sliping off, to make it look better, and to keep the water from going inside when submerged.
Yarn Swift:
This is an aid for winding a nice center pull ball. It is possible to get along without one, but after doing that for awhile, I can see how nice it might be to have one. You can imagine my delight when I found the instructions to make one from plastic coat hangers and a lazy susan.
These fancy gadgets make a beautiful center pull ball of yarn with just the turn of a crank. They cost around $30 and ebay has an abundance of them but bidding often gets fierce at the end. While deciding if this is a hobby you will have for awhile you can make your own center pull ball using a simple dowel rod.
Here's a how to video:
Knitting Needles: These can be had very inexpensively from ebay, but it's so easy to make a pair, you might want to try.
Use ribbon weaving to create a ring pillow to match your flower girl baskets. Save time and money shopping for just the right thing. Ring Pillows cost between $20 and $60 a piece, but with the simple instructions in this e-pattern you can make a custom pillow for a fraction of the price.
Ring Pillow E Pattern $4
Want to make both the ring pillow and flower girl basket to match? Buy the combo pack and save $2.
Baskets like these cost around $54!!!! The good news is they aren't hard to make for a fraction of the price. With a recycled whipped topping container and a couple of spools of ribbon (and a few other things) it's a piece of wedding cake :). This is the perfect wedding accessory for the bride who needs to be frugal but doesn't want to look cheap. You can make a basket in any color, or weave it in 2 colors for a checkerboard effect. The pattern is available as a 20 page ebook with 27 full color photos and is an instant download for only $5! Some sewing required. You may sell items made from this pattern if you credit the source of the pattern.
I'm doing custom sewing for a couple of weddings. One will take place this Sunday at a castle nearby. What fun! The other will be an outdoor affair in April. I'm having fun making frugal but gorgeous wedding accessories for the first wedding, (including a flower girl basket from a whipped topping container–Shhh. Don't tell.)
Part of my crafting includes making fabric roses. I found several interesting tutorials online. Not all of them will work for my projects, but I'm sure I'll find other uses for them. Here's a parade of my favorites:
These roses are made from coffee filters! I've made a few and with the great instructions, they turned out pretty much like the picture. They are fun, but time consuming. In my opinion the results are totally worth it. The paints were a bit of an investment, but with a 40% off coupon not too bad. And a tube of paint makes a LOT of roses.
I just found a tutorial online to make play dirt from foam and felt, plants to plant in it with strawberries or pea pods that you can pick (with the aid of velcro). This would make the perfect snowy day craft for families wishing for spring. I think I have all the materials in my basement somewhere. Now to find some time. To find the tutorial, click here: http://ikatbag.blogspot.com/2009/04/dirt-foam-part-5.html
