Upcycle!! Feed Bag Tutorial

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FROM JOANNE: My friend "MaryLu" is a super crafty/creative woman and really good with the sewing machine. I saw this post over on her blog and thought it would be nice as a 'Frugal Friday' post (it's been a while since I've done one of those!). So here it is ... "MaryLu" turns a feed sack into a bag (looks like it would be good for groceries or farmers market). If you make one, please share! Now, let's see how this is done:

 

I love upcycling and using what would ordinarily be thrown away toward a good and useful purpose. Plus, chickens and bunnies are cute. So why not tote them with you to the grocery store?

 

 Start with a 40-50 pound sack of feed.  Feed the critters first and shake out all the extra feed.  Some feeds are sweet and sort of sticky, so you may need to wash out the bag.

 Using a roller cutter and a mat, cut the bottom, closed edge off straight.  

You can also use a box knife to cut it, or draw a line with a pen and use scissors.  A roller cutter will be infinitely easier.

 Then, using a ruler, cut off a 2.5" strip across the bottom of the bag, this will be one handle.

 

 Now move your ruler and cut another 2.5" strip for the other handle.

 

Turn the bag over and thinking about where you want the design to be, cut about 2 inches above that line, so you can hem the top of the bag.  I chose to hem right above the words, "Nature Wise" for my bag.

 

Now, measuring from the top of the bag down about 20 inches, cut across the bottom of the bag at that mark,  

making sure you are cutting at a perpendicular angle so your bag remains square.

 Cut straight across the bottom.

 Take the handle pieces, and cut apart at the inside seam. Cut on both sides of the glued portion and discard that piece.

Set your machine on a wide zig-zag setting. For my machine, it looks like this. width is 5.0, length is 3.0.

 Fold both sides of the handle piece toward the center, overlapping both edges about a half an inch.  Your handle should be about 3/4' wide.

 Stitch right down the center of the handle catching both raw edges under your stitching.

 Stitch down both handles, folding the edges in as you go.

 

 

 Two handles done! We'll cut them to length a little bit later.

 Now fold your bag inside out.  It is a giant tube right now.  We are going to sew the bottom closed.

 Fold out the natural tucks/pleats in the sides of the bag, we will make boxed corners in a minute. 

 Set your machine back to a straight stitch, and sew the bottom of the bag using a half-inch seam allowance, backstitching at both ends. Pinning this "material" isn't easy unless you have strong pins, or you can use some clothes pins to hold the bottom edge in place.  Or you can just "wing in" like the chickens do.

 For this step, we are going to do a bit of origami, or think back to those newspaper hats everyone used to make.  Fold the bottom of the bag up against the side fold and press it with your fingers. 

 Flip it over so the seam side is down and notice the folded lines where the bag sides are.

 We are going to connect the ends of those fold lines and mark across them making a triangle.

 Sew along that triangle-marked line. Back stitching at both ends.

 Now move to the other side of the bag and fold the corner again. 

 Paying attention to the direction the bottom seam folds, make it fold one direction. Mine folds to the left.

 

 

Now, flip the bag over and mark that line again like you did on the other side. stitch across, back stitching both ends.

 

 Fold your bag right side out, and gently push the corners out forming a box.

 

At the top of the bag, fold the edge down about 3/4" and finger press.

 

 Fold again, to make a double fold.  It should be just under an inch.

 

 Stitch this down, close to the folded edge.  If you have the option to use a "needle down" position, now is a good time to use it. The bag gets cumbersome.

 

 You can use clips like this or clothespins to hold the folded edge while you stitch.

 

Since the bag is so bulky, I usually "tent" the end of my machine with the bag.

 

Take the bag out of the machine and refold the pleat at the side.

 

 Now we will attach the handles.  Mark in from the outside edge a comfortable distance, 3-4 inches and make a small circle on the inside hemmed edge of the front and the back of the bag. 

 

 Repeat on the other side, using the same measurement. I did 4 inches, but I think 3 might be better.

 

 Cut your handles at about 24 inches,

 

and using a straight stich, sew the handles to the inside of the bag using a large X.

There you have it! A new tote bag to carry to the feed store, maybe you can bring home a new bunny inside.

 

Frugal Fridays - Repurposing / Upcycling Clothes

It's good to have vision when visiting the thrift store.

We have a very nice thrift store a few blocks away and we try to visit it as much as possible (which ends up being a few times a month). There are several little girls in our church with busy mamas who do not really have the time or resources to make things like underskirts, aprons, and so on, so Brianna happily does this for some of them. Instead of starting 'from scratch' with new fabric though, we search the thrift store for anything that looks like it could be turned in to what we want. Skirts, jumpers, big shirts, sheets, curtains, etc., can all become something 'new' and needed with a few cuts and stitches 'here and there' ... maybe some elastic and/or buttons ... and some imagination or vision. I guess it helps to not be afraid to experiment; even if all you learn is what does NOT work, at least you learned something and are one step closer to what DOES work.

I made a video to share what we've been up to ... if for some reason pictures work better for you, please let me know and I will post pictures and the video from here on out when I have time.

Another tunic design

Brianna designed me a tunic the other day - I wanted a tunic that had no buttons, no zippers, no 'v-neck', no big hole for the head, etc. Just a plain front. So, I told her to do the neck in a certain way - like a onesies - so my head could fit in and then it would close up again. The difference is that the onesies has the fabric from the back overlapping in the front, however mine is overlapping in the back. Here's a picture of a onesies in case you do not know:

Here is the results of a lot of hard work on Brianna's part:



And another picture ... Tylor looks kind of funny :) the sun was in his eyes.


In case you were wondering, the material is a linen/cotton blend; it was a large tablecloth I picked up a long time ago for very cheap (a few dollars?). I appreciate the design along the edge - it seems to break up the tunic from the dress. Also, there was not enough material to make a full dress, so Brianna used other material for the parts you cannot see.

No buttons, no zippers, no funny v-necks ... just plain and simple. There are still a few 'quirks' to be worked out, but who cares? It's good enough and very comfortable ... and most importantly, modest.

New Supper Tunic Shirt

(A guest post from Becky) I finally have something new to post, yippee!  I have been looking for a nice super tunic (just an extra long tunic) pattern to make, but I hadn't found a pattern that would look nice with the length added.  Here is the finished product of 5 days worth of ripping and sewing, configuring and brainstorming.  I am really happy with the results, especially since I made the pattern from just looking at a picture!  I don't know if I will ever make another one like it since I had no idea how it turned out the way it did!  True to style, I didn't have any pattern pieces and I didn't write anything down, because I was just sewing and fixing as I went along.  It worked though, so I'm happy with it!

here is the picture that used from http://www.shukronline.com/

My new dress pattern

Well, I'm getting closer to the kind of dress I'd like to wear. This is the results of a lot of hard work, thinking, etc. I took the top of a tunic I like and made a pattern for the dress bodice and sleeves out of that; the dress skirt is from a skirt I like. The tunic top is from an actual pattern, but I altered that a bit too.
I want to make one change next time - I hope to figure out how to make the tunic top a 'boat neck' so I do not have to have the slit in the front (it's hard to see in these pictures).
The fabric is a king-sized sheet I got from the thrift store - $1. It was PINK, but I dyed it taupe. The dye was not quite $2. So, that's about $3 plus labor. I might change the color at some point; it seems a little too light for my liking. I get things stained up and dirty quickly, so dark colors are better.



The back looks a little fitted here, but it's actually not; I think my elbows must have been pulling on the fabric.