Towel Re-purpose #2

Today I present my second post on what to do with old towels when the Humane Society doesn't want them.  This post was actually supposed to be last Tuesday (I think I mentioned that already) but was delayed due to ineptitude.  So here at long last is my recycled, reusable Swiffer Wet Jet cover all tested and complete with a tutorial just in case you want to make one for yourself.

Review time first.  It worked pretty well, that's it ha ha.  No, I mopped my kitchen and hallway with it and it came out clean.  I was a bit concerned that the floor would take longer to dry afterwards but it didn't make any difference and dried as quick as ever.  The only real difference is that it's a bit more difficult to push, the towel seems to grab the floor more than the paper covers.  I would advise wetting the towel and ringing it out thoroughly before use and when you're done just sling it in the washing machine.

This is how I made it...

First I made a template.  This is a picture of it so hopefully you can make your own as I have no idea how to make one of those downloadable printables.  Note: my Swiffer is about 5 years old so check that these measurements will fit yours before you start.

I hope you can read the numbers on the photograph.

What you will need:

• From an old towel cut 1 11"x13" rectangle
• From quilting weight cotton cut 2 4" squares and press 1/4" seam allowances on 3 sides
• Cut 2 8" lengths of bias binding.  I made mine from 1 1/2" strips of old bed sheet
• Cut about 48" of binding for the edge, this doesn't have to be bias.  Mine is also 1 1/2" press it in half, open out then press the edges into the middle.
• Cut 2 4" pieces of velcro

Step 1

Mark the holes and notches onto 1 side of the towel piece.

Step 2

On the other side position the 4 inch squares behind the cut out areas that the spray will come through they look like eyes) with the right side of the cotton facing the towel.  Pin in place.  Flip the towel over so you can see the marked lines and sew along the edges of the 'eye' holes.

Step 3

Cut out the middle and clip corners and curves.

Step 4

Push the quilting cotton (or old sheet) through the hole to the other side, ease it out nicely and sew around the edge of the square, then sew around the edge of the opening.  Repeat with the other side.

Step 5

Cut out the notches at the top and bottom.  Bind them with bias tape.  I cut them out 1 at a time to reduce towel fluff getting everywhere.

Step 6

Bind the edges.  I do this with tape cut straight as if feels more firm.

Step 7

Separate the Velcro and sew a strip right at the top of each side of one end.  I always do the side with the 'eyes' first.

Step 8

Next you're going to flip the cover over and attach the other sides of the Velcro to the other end of the cover.  They won't go right at the end so it's worth standing your Swiffer on the cover to get your placement right.  It will probably look something like this.

Ta Daaaaa.  That's it.  Use it, turn it over, use it again, sling it in the washing machine, repeat.

If you try this out please let me know how you get on, also how useful you found the tutorial, it's my first so constructive critisism is welcome.

Bye for now

Kirstin

OMG finish, sort of.

I am happy to say that I have completed both my goals for this month, sort of, see what you think.

First off I made the final 5 basic blocks for my Wonky Wheels UFO.  Here they are.

That makes 20, now I need to find 1 or 2 background fabrics to build up the blocks in order to make the flimsy.

That is a definite completed goal.

At the beginning of January I also set myself the challenge of making a sleeveless winter dress to wear over a turtleneck.  This is the photo showing the pattern and fabric from my goal setting post.

This is my finished dress.  Many apologies for the terrible photo, I was only allowed 1 shot as my daughter had to get back to whatever socialising she was doing and wouldn't come back so I could try to look less cross and tired.

As you can see, right dress, wrong fabric.  What happened?

In short, when I made up the muslin I decided that sleeveless really doesn't suit me and the sleeves on this pattern come in 2 halves with a seam right down the middle that I didn't think would work with the thicker winter fabric I'd chosen.  Fortunately I had this slightly stretchy, cotton in my stash that I never got around to making into a skirt last year, I'm really happy with the result but does it count as my goal finished?  You decide.

I made quite a few alterations in order for it to fit me properly so for anyone who's interested and for my own reference here's what I did.

1. I cut the pattern for size 14 at the chest and 16 at the hips.
2. I decided not to have a seam down the front so I cut the fabric pieces on a fold allowing for the 5/8 inch seam allowance.
3. I shortened it at the waist by 2 inches when I copied the pattern, then a further inch after I tried on the muslin.
4. I altered the bodice to adjust for my 'hollow chest' (thanks Vogue Pattern's fitting guide, that term is really good for my self esteem) by pinning out excess fabric across the chest from arm hole to arm hole and adjusting the pattern accordingly.
5. I also made the curve in the side of the hips more gradual as it looked a bit lumpy on the muslin.

I am really pleased with how the fit has turned out and might make another but I shall wait until summer and see how it wears first.  I'm also thinking that I can create a well fitting basic princess line pattern by cutting the muslin up.  All in all, it's an easy pattern to follow with only 6 pattern pieces and I think I'm going to use it again.

That's all folks. Tuning into Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - January Finish Link-up.

New Glasses

Today was supposed to be a sensible sewing post about how to make a reusable Swiffer wet jet cover out of an old towel.  Unfortunately said cover is not even finished let alone tested, at 7 o'clock this evening my dining/sewing room looked like this.

And my Swiffer cover still looks like this.

Never mind, I'll just write about something else.

I went to the optometrist this morning and I am depressed to announce that I now need to wear glasses for everything, not just to read.  So I need to choose a pair of frames that I like enough to wear all the time.  There are so many in the store but after about an hour I managed to get my options down to 3.  Here they are.

Option A

Option B

Option C

Please help by commenting below with your frames choice.

Does anyone else find this kind of choice difficult?
Bye for now

Kirstin

Capsule wardrobe #2

More capsule wardrobe as I've been analysing and finessing with Rose while she was off sick this week.

First we got out everything that I have on the 30 pieces list, here it is folded up on the floor.

 And here's some bags and shoes

Altogether that's 25 out of my 30 pieces. seeing everything in one place like that leads me to this question... Is navy blue a colour or a neutral?  If it's a colour I'm doing very well, if not I've got some work to do.

Next Rose put me an outfit together with 2 key pieces and styled it for a warmer and cooler spring day.  My key pieces are a calf length grey pencil skirt and a navy blue accent top.

For cool days she put them with knee boots and a black baggy cardigan and for warm days she went for sneakers and a cropped denim jacket.

I'd wear both of these outfits but I think I need to accessorize.  What do you think?  (about the outfits not the photgraphy, I know that needs work)

Capsule Wardrobe #1

This week I have been thinking about capsule wardrobes and as having less clothes fits in with the general clear out and organisation theme it is my topic for today.

After all my tidying and throwing out in the Fall I actually already have a capsule wardrobe, I just don't know if it counts when it consists almost entirely of jeans, t-shirts, hoodies and baggy cardigans.  In order to shake it up a bit and find out how to become more stylish and less of a complete scruff I went to the library and borrowed 'The Capsule Wardrobe, 1,000 outfits from 30 pieces' by Wendy Mak.

It does exactly what it says on the tin really, no explanation needed, she lists 30 garments/accessories and then makes 1,000 outfits with them.  I found it pretty inspiring and although her recommended pieces don't all fit well with my current stay at home mum, billy-no-mates lifestyle, and I need 3 seasonal versions for the Canadian climate I will customise it and give it a go.

You can read about Wendy and her book here.

This is my list of 30 pieces for Spring, I have listed things I own in black and things I need to acquire in pink.  I have also crossed out some of Wendy's items and substituted Kirstin lifestyle friendly ones in their place.

1. Jeans
2. Casual trousers - more jeans, cannot visualise life at all without at least 2 pairs
3. Tailored black trousers - wide grey linen trousers
4. Tailored stone trousers - grey pencil skirt
5. Tailored shorts
6. Casual skirt 1 - linen, A-line
7. Casual skirt 2 - black and white, gored
8. Black basic tank - black basic, bingo-wing friendly, t-shirt with sleeves
9. White basic tank - Breton (cannot wear white, will cover it in ketchup/chocolate/miscellaneous where-did-that-come-from? dirt) basic t-shirt with sleeves, see above
10. Accent coloured blouse 1
11. Accent coloured blouse 2
12. long sleeve top in black
13. Long sleeve top in colour
14. Casual day dress
15. Little black dress - basic t-shirt in colour
16. Black parka - baggy cardigan, hopefully will not need a parka by May
17. Trench
18. Black (or neutral) cardigan - baggy
19. Black blazer
20. Stone blazer - another baggy cardigan, that's 3
21. Casual jacket
22. Black tote
23. Tan tote - tan cross body bag
24. Black clutch - alternative nice going out bag for all the times I go out, hmm
25. Black knee high boots
26. Black heels - can I put another baggy cardigan here for now or is that cheating?
27. Nude wedges
28. Strappy black heels - I don't need many shoes (and I can't walk in strappy sandals) so I think I'll have another basic t-shirt or accent coloured top here so I don't have to do laundry so often
29. Dressy sandals
30. Ballet flats - sneakers

My challenge is to buy or make the 5 essential items shown above in pink by May so I can put this into action and become less boring and more stylish.  I may even try to do the #30Pieces30Days challenge with my lovely new selection of clothes.

If anyone has any style tips for me around this list I would be very grateful, especially any easy jacket or blazer patterns so I can make my own.

Tomorrow, when it is light, I will try to photograph a couple of outfits from the book with things I already own from the list and update accordingly.

Towel Re-Purpose #1

It's been a busy week this week with all the folding and appreciating my clothes that's been going on.  I just took a book out of the library on how to create a capsule wardrobe so we'll see how that goes in the coming months.

But to today.  I've begun re-purposing the towels from last week starting with some lovely new dishcloths.

I've made two versions.  The bottom one is just a square of towel that has been bound like a quilt.  The top one is based on an idea I came across on one of those 'best ofs' 'top ten ways to' lists on Pintrest but it originally came from Fairview Farm blog.  It's one square of towel and one square of quilting cotton sewn together around the edge (left raw) then straight line quilted into a Tic-Tac-Toe board.

I've only made 4 and am testing them out to decide which I like best before I make any more.  The bound one washed better as it didn't shed bits all over the rest of the laundry but it took longer to make so we'll see.

Next I'll try some reusable Swiffer mop covers and I'm wondering about dying a couple of towels to cover the weird stains and making some light weight bathmats, or using them as wadding for pot holders.  I bet you're waiting with baited breath for that one!

Have a great weekend
Kirstin

Folding Things Up

This Weekend I discovered Marie Kondo on Netflix.  I watched the whole first season of her Tidying Up show in 24 hours and have subsequently spent quite a bit of time looking through her videos on YouTube.  I have spent even more time folding things up.

I was a bit sceptical about it at first, greeting the home and 'sparking joy' all seems a bit unnecessarily whimsical and airy-fairy but I am now well and truly converted and will continue in my own tidying journey with lessons learned.

I was particularly struck by two of her concepts.  The first is saying thank you to the things you let go, I think this is very useful for helping to let go of items that you are finding difficult to discard.  I mean the sorts of things that you don't really want but feel like you ought to keep, for me that's things I bought or made but didn't wear.  For people like me the act of saying 'thank you' alleviates any feelings of guilt associated with throwing something out.

The second thing I really, really like is folding up clothes.  I love it, I've folded all mine, I've folded Rose's and then I folded a whole bunch of other stuff too.  Look how nice my tea towels look now...

And my quilting fabric stash looks like a shop.

Storing stuff so you actually see all of it is genius.  In hindsight it's obviously the best way to go about things, you no longer have to empty entire drawers out before you realise the item you need is at the bottom of the washing basket, also using the Konmari folding method makes everything take up much less space.

But what I think I really love is the act of actually spending time folding things.  Marie says that you should smooth out each item with love first then carefully fold it according to her method so it will stand up, this is both practical as you can be checking if the item is still in good condition but it also gives you the chance to contemplate the piece and accord it a bit of respect.  I don't know about you but I feel like I own so much that it's not a bad thing to really look at everything individually once in a while.

So at the moment I love it all.  The only thing I'm not loving is finding small boxes to compartmentalise my dresser drawers.  Marie shows up at everyone's homes with bags of lovely boxes in beautiful colours and tactile materials, where does she get them?  If anyone has any hints and tips for that I would be very grateful.

Towels

So now 2019 has begun and the house is free of contractors for a day or 2, I decided to round up and sort out our vast selection of towels.

Here's the stats...

• Bath towels - 20
• Hand towels - 18
• Bath mats - 6
• Beach towels - 6
• Face cloths - 7
• Total Items - 57

I definitely do not think we need this many between 4 of us.  I have whittled it down to this...

• Bath towels - 10
• Hand towels - 10
• Bath mats - 4
• Beach towels - 5
• Face cloths - 4
• Rags and cleaning cloths - 6
• Total Items - 39

That's not a very round number is it?  I now have the problem of how to get rid of the remaining 18 without putting them all in landfill.

I have 5 that are good enough to donate to thrift, they are hardly used because they were too big or too thick or have Ben Ten emblazoned on them.  The other 13 pose a bit of a problem as they are well used or have mysterious bleach stains on them.  My first thought was the Humane Society but they have a prominent note on their website right now to the effect that they don't need any towels so I guess I'm not the only one with that bright idea.

So after a bit of research I've decided to try to re-purpose them.  Here are some ideas I found online...

• Reusable Swiffer pads
• Dish cloths
• Ironing board cover
• Make up scrubbies
• Home made pillow form
• Spa slippers
• Draft excluder

I'll be trying out a few of these over the next few weeks, my One Monthly Goal jobs will have to come first but I'm quite excited about some of these especially as I might get to use up some of my stash and scraps as well.

Does anyone else out there have any great ideas for reusing or disposing of old towels?  If you do I'd love to hear them or see some pictures.

An Apron, a Onsie and a January Goal

And a Happy New Year to everyone, may it bring you happiness, peace and good health.

I cannot believe that I totally missed the Elm Street Quilts, One Monthly Goal end of December linky party.  Honestly, December was completely bonkers here.  Since I last posted we have had the basement framed out and insulated and Christmas has been successfully completed which all the ladies out there reading will know does not just happen by magic.

I even quilted and bound Whoo Hoo and sent it to England where it actually arrived on time.

Because it is for 2 small boys I added flaps in the corners for making it into a fort.

And hooks for guy ropes for constructing shelters and play tents in the summer.

Anyway, if its OK I'm posting my finish for Elm Street Quilts as well as my January Goal, just to show off.  Here is Jacob's baking apron, finished in time for Christmas Day.

He doesn't look very happy with the modelling job does he!  Oh well, I'm happy with the apron outcome and it will keep him clean while he's making a mess with his new mugcakes from scratch recipe book which came with it.  The pattern is by Martha Stewart, I have it in her Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts book but you can also find it online here.  I made it about 4 inches longer than the paper pattern to accommodate my 6 foot son, it came together easily and I like the adjustable neck strap.

I also found time to make Rose a new Onsie, she has 2 others but the pink cat has got a bit short and very ratty so enter the snow leopard.

I'm definitely very pleased with this result.  I used Kwik Sew K2704 and added the tummy and ears, this is a size large with 2 inches length added to the body.

And so to my goal for January.  I've been um-ing and ah-ing over this one as I'm not sure what and how much to set myself, it's easy to be over enthusiastic in the New Year and I don't want to set myself up for a fail in the first month.

So I've decided to go with finishing off the basic blocks for my Wonky Wheels quilt.  This is what I have so far.

I am thinking about making another 5 so I have 20 blocks, that should be doable.

I'd also like to add this dress.  I've had both the pattern and the fabric for over a year so it would be good to get on and sort that out.

It's a very basic pattern with bust darts on the front and a zipper and darts at the back.  I'm thinking of making view A and wearing it with a turtle neck.  If I can make it fit just right I think it will be a really useful pattern.

So here I am linking up to Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal January Link-up.