Use it Up...Extended

So....this month may not have been the best of months to start this Use it Up project. It's been complete and total chaos. So I'm extending the project; we'll see how long I can keep it up. I'll let you know when I finally have to break down and buy supplies of any sort.

Bridal Throwing Bouquet

I've been out of town for the past week for my Best Friend's Wedding and to visit friends and family, but I'm finally back. Today I really should be unpacking and cleaning my house so I can get back to my Use it Up Month, but I haven't started yet. So, I'm stalling...and as a part of that stalling you get to see the little bouquet I made for Rae to throw at her reception. She didn't want to throw her bouquet and didn't have a throwing bouquet, so I volunteered to make one. They had a HUGE flower (larger than a regular dinner plate) that they had removed from her wedding dress that they gave me to use as the main part of the bouquet, along with a box of leftover ribbon and 3 white flowers. So I went to work and made ribbon roses, folded the dinner plate flower into the shape I wanted, made a hand hold from the cardboard box (which I then wrapped in ribbon) and stitched it all together. It wasn't the most beautiful tossing bouquet you've ever seen, but it was cute and it got the job done well. And since I didn't buy the supplies, and technically I was using up leftover scraps I'm claiming it on my Use it Up Month. 

It was dark and all I had was my cheapo point and shoot...so this isn't a great picture of it, I apologize. 

Altering a Lost Dress

So this one would have been better for posting had I thought to take before pictures...oh well. I've been trying to decide what to wear to the rehearsal dinner for my friend's wedding and I thought I had my dress decided on, but when I put it on yesterday I just didn't fit the same...I wasn't a fan. I wasn't sure what I was going to wear until later when I was looking for scraps for the clutch purses I made and I dug through my "To Mend or Alter" drawer. I'd completely forgotten that I owned this dress...it's been in that drawer a long time. But it needed to be taken in. It was too big on the sides and through the bust, but just right on the hips (aren't genes interesting). I'd tried to take it in before but it hadn't worked at all. I decided to give it another go and this time had great success. Now it fits perfectly! It looks like I have a waist (it didn't before altering the dress) and the bust area doesn't look saggy anymore (which isn't normally a problem for me unfortunately). And...I didn't go out and spend any money, yet I feel like I have a new dress. Now to find red accessories for it. 

**added Aug 18, 2012** And here's the dress in action right before Rae's rehearsal dinner. 

Gathered Snap Happy Bridesmaid Clutch Purse

My best friend's wedding is this weekend and I get to be a Bridesmaid. I'm pretty stinkin' excited. I've got my dress and shoes...still have to figure out my hair, but I wanted some sort of nice bag to carry my point-and-shoot camera, some touch up make-up, breath mint strips, etc in for the reception. But of course I decided to start this project after "Use it Up Month" had already started, so I had to find a bag I could make with the supplies I have on hand. I combined two different bag ideas and I really like how it turned out. I liked it so much in fact that I decided to make one for each of the others bridesmaids. 

I based my bag design off of two different bags, the Gathered Clutch by Noodlehead and the Snap Happy Bag by Stitchin' Sisters. I'd previously taken a class at Aunt Judy's Attic to learn how to make the Snap Happy Bags and just went off of memory for that. I didn't have any interfacing on hand, but I had low loft batting scraps that I was able to use for this and they turned out great. 

Didn't mine turn out cute?! I love it. 

I'll show you what I did step-by-step to make one of these bags. 

The Materials:

• 3 fabrics in coordinating colors (1/4 of each will be plenty for a couple of bags)
• Fabric A: Main Body of the Bag
• Fabric B: Band
• Fabric C: Liner
• Sewing supplies
• A Pencil or Fabric Marker
• Batting (Low Loft)
• A Tape Measure (the construction kind, not the sewing kind)
• You'll need four 8" pieces (I just used my regular scissors to cut it). If your tape measure is really thick or stiff you may only need 2 pieces. 
• Masking Tape
• Scissors
• Misc. Novelties and Accessories (I made fabric flowers and pulled buttons and beads from my stash)

Step 1: 

From Fabric A, cut 2 pieces, 13" x 5.5"

Step 2: 

From Fabric B, cut 2 pieces, 9" x 3.5"

Step 3: 

From Fabric C, cut 2 pieces, 9" x 5.5"

Step 4:

From Fabric A or B (I used my Fabric A), cut 2 pieces, 9" x 2 3/4" (these will be the top of the purse)

Step 5:

From the batting, cut 2 pieces, 9" x 5.5"

Step 6:

Take the Band fabric and fold it in half lengthwise (I still tell myself, "hot dog style"), with right sides together and sew down the long end. Sew all seams 1/4". 

Step 7:
Turn the Band right side out and press so that the seam is in the middle.

Step 8:
Take your Main Body pieces and draw a line 2 1/4" from each long edge (the lines will end up being 1" apart from each other in the middle).

Step 9:
Here you can see my two lines (1" apart). Sew a gathering stitch down each line.

Step 10:
Gather the fabric in until it is roughly 9" wide (instead of the original 13").

Step 11:

Layer 1 body piece, 1 batting piece and 1 liner piece, with the wrong sides of the body and liner fabric facing the batting. 

Step 12:

Sew the layers together along the short sides first, and then the long sides. I found it helpful to carefully iron the gathers in place after I sewed the short sides but before I sewed the long sides. As you sew the long sides, watch your gathers and bunch them as needed to get everything to lay right.  Trim the edges after sewing. 

Step 13:

Place the center band seam side down over the gather lines and sew in place. The original gathered clutch tutorial had you sew on the band before sewing the long sides of the body piece, but I found that  I was able to keep the gathers where I wanted them and to prevent bunching if I sewed on the band after sewing all 4 sides of the body piece. 

You should have something like this at this point. 

Step 14: 

Place the 2 body pieces together, with the lining facing out, and sew together along 1 long edge. When it opens it'll look like this (minus the awkward hairy arm). 

Step 15: 

You are now going to sew the top pieces (from Step 4) to the main body piece you just sewed. With the liner of the purse facing upwards, place the top pieces right sides down along the edges of the body piece, parallel to the band seams. Sew together along the long edge. (I forgot to get a picture of this step, sorry about that). 

Step 16:

Flip the body piece over so the outside is facing up and pull the top pieces you sewed out flat. Fold down 1/4" along the raw edge of the top pieces and sew down. 

Step 17:

Fold the top edge piece over the front and align the seam on the top piece with the seam on the body piece. Sew down the seam. 

Step 18:

If you haven't already, cut 4 pieces of your tape measure 8" long. I tried 7" at first and it wasn't quite long enough, so then I cut 8" pieces as well. 

Step 19:

Round the cut edges of the tape measure to prevent snagging the fabric. Wrap the cut end in masking tape (or to make the tape more stiff wrap the whole piece). 

Step 20:

Double up two pieces of tape measure (I used an 8" piece and a 7" piece so I didn't waste the 7" pieces) and insert them, the numbered side towards the liner, into the top pieces you just sewed on.   When the tape measure pieces bend one way, they make a snapping sound and when bent the other way they make no sound at all; you want to have the tape measure facing the direction that will produce no sound when the bag is opened (and it will hold shut better this way too). Center the tape measure inside the fabric. 

Step 21:

With the liners facing out, fold the body piece in half along the seam and align the short edges and the top pieces. Sew along each short edge, making sure that the tape measure pieces are out of the way so your needle doesn't hit them (just scoot them around for this step as needed). Trim the edges and clip extra strings. 

Yes, that is red chicken fabric. I ran out of the plain red fabric and chickens was all I had left. But it's the liner, it's ok. 

Step 22:

Turn right side out and Viola! A Gathered Snap Happy Clutch.

From there I wanted to add a little more red to the purse (since the wedding colors are Red and Black), so I went through my stash and found a matching red fabric, some black and white ribbon, and various buttons and brads. I made yo-yo flowers, twisted ribbon roses, smashed yo-yos, and a carnation type flower (maybe sometime I'll do a tutorial on those...but there are lots of tutorials out on the web for fabric and ribbon flowers for now). 

Twisted Ribbon Roses (2 different types) and an old button. 

Red folded flower with a black twisted ribbon rose in the center (with a pearl bead glued in). 

Yo-yo flower with a brad in the center and pearl beads as a little leaf. 

Small yo-yo flower with two buttons (the one in the center of the flower came off my jeans a long time ago and I saved it knowing I could use it to add bling to something sometime). 

A yo-yo flower with a twisted ribbon rose. 

And a smashed yo-yo flower with a button and a brad. 

Mini-Mowers

A while back on Pinterest this photo made it's debut and I loved the idea of it. What a great way to show where you've been and what you've done in such a creative way. 

I loved the idea, and we tried it a few times, but the idea just wasn't ours. It felt kinda weird. So we brainstormed and came up with the idea of having Mini-Mowers that we could take with us and place in the picture. I bought the little wood figurines and then they sat there for months. 

Saturday I finally got around to making clothes for them from my fabric stash (and of course my Mini-Me is wearing Orange) and now we can use them. They made their debut today at our Brunch run to Denny's for my Birthday with Cameron, Brigham, my Mom, and my maternal Grandparents. We're excited to be able to finally use them and take them around. 

Brute Squad Wall Hanging

I did my 2nd "Use it Up" craft last night. Check it out. 

My brother Brigham is headed off to college and he is rooming with 3 of our cousins. The four of them are going to be an imposing sight...they are all over 6 feet, sturdily built, and they are all the nicest and most fun kids you'll ever meet. We've been jokingly calling them the Brute Squad (from The Princess Bride), and so I decided that they needed a sign for their first college house. 

I dug through my craft closet and found this piece of wood we'd stashed away for some project (which we don't remember what that project was now). It was perfect! 

I pulled out my paints and gave it two coats of a creamy off-white. 

Then after that I was a little stumped. My first idea was to just have words, but then I figured it would look better with some sort of graphic on it. I thought about creating cartoon figures of each of the boys, but I wasn't feeling that creative last night so I took the to internet and found a picture of Fezzik. Once I found the perfect one, I tweaked it and changed it on my editing program and tried to get the coloring as close as I could to the board color. I didn't get an exact color match, but it works. I printed it out on cardstock so that it would be nice and sturdy. 

Now when I printed this, I didn't take into account that I'd have to cut out all those little hair curls and strands...oh well. I pulled out my exacto knife and went to work removing all the white and came out with this. 

After I had Fezzik all cut out I Mod Podged him to the board and let it dry. While it was drying I opened up my word processing program and searched through to find the perfect font...and I happened on Old English Text MT. It was perfect. So I printed out the words Brute Squad on the paper to use as a reference and I drew the outline on the board with a pencil. From there I used a black paint pen to fill in the letters. 

There was more blank space at the top than I liked so I rummaged through my ribbon stash and found a wide black ribbon to use. I Mod Podged it to the board and tied it in a knot in back, so it doubled duties as a space taker and as the hanger for the board. I let it all dry overnight, then sprayed it with a matte coating spray this morning and Voila! It's done!

Wrapping for Disks

I have a whole big drawer full of scrapbook paper...for one scrapbook that I made 4 years ago now. I've collected other papers here and there for small projects, but I have a lot of paper just sittin' in that drawer. I've been trying to figure out how to use it for my Use it Up month, and I came up with one use for it. Pretty wrappers for my photography disks that I just mailed out. I folded some to have fun flaps and designs, and I folded some pretty simple, but all of them got a ribbon bow and they look nicer than just a clear case with a disk in it. And I now have 8 pages less in that drawer (I know there are only 6 disks showed there...2 pieces of paper gave their lives to me trying to figure out how to fold them pretty). 

And, I know this isn't the best photo, this gives you the idea of what I did.