The reusable t-shirt bag tutorial

I've been wanting to post this tutorial for a while now. I made these instructions for my reusable t-shirt bag eco-craft class a while back and I really wanted to share them on my blog. I thought this would be the perfect time with the holidays coming up. Instead of wrapping your gifts with wrapping paper, get a bunch of old t-shirts, have a sewing party, and use these bags instead. The gift recipient and the trees would be oh so very happy.

Go here for the Reusable T-Shirt Bag Tutorial.

Go here for the T-Shirt Sleeve Pouch Tutorial.

Enjoy!!

It's done, it's done!!

The Plamondon Quilt is done! It's ready to be sent off to Edmonton to Centre d'arts visuels de l'Alberta. I can let out a big sigh and relax now. Thank you to all those talented and wonderful ladies that put numerous hours on it. I learned SOOO much.

Psst...I did the music and art block...first column, third row.

Steam-a-seam..steam-a-seam...steam-a-seam

Quick, say that over again and again, faster and faster.

O.k. Remember last post I mentioned this quilting project I'm helping to organize. Anyways, we had our first meeting today and I learned how to use this Steam-A-Seam Fusible Fabric and for some strange reason it was a tongue twister for me.

So back to this Quilting Project. I was asked to help organize this community quilting project funded by Centre d'arts visuels de l'Alberta. The quilt was to represent the town of Plamondon, all applique, and when finished was to go on tour in all the participating Francophone communities. I've never done a quilt before, but I was still so excited to be part of this project. I get to learn about quilting and meet all these wonderful ladies with years and years of experience. Not passing up this opportunity for sure!

Tracing the drawings onto Steam-A-Seams using carbon copy paper.

Cutting

Choosing colors

It was so much fun and these ladies made it so easy. Can't wait to see this quilt when it's all done.

The reusable t-shirt bag

On Friday and Saturday I had my eco-craft sessions at Thrive!... Naturally where we turned our old t-shirts into reusable t-shirt bags

all hidden away in this little pouch which is made with a sleeve of the t-shirt. I know...pretty nifty!!

This craft was so super duper easy that some people made more then one in that one hour session. I always have so much fun doing these eco-craft sessions. Thanks to all those that came out on Saturday where all the proceeds went to the World Wildlife Fund.

R! R! R!

Merry xmas present for me

Those that know me well knows that I'm a huge fan of Project Runway (7th season premieres tomorrow! Yay!!) Designing, creating, sewing, cattiness, what's not to love? I make Darcy watch it with me, he likes it too and don't tell him I told you that, and every time I watch it I would say "oh I wish I had one of those dress forms so I can learn how to drape garments like those designers." So for Christmas this year he got me one and it came in the mail yesterday.

Yippee!

Na, na, na, na,

na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na,

Batman!

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na,

Batman!

Batman,


Batman,


Batman!

I guess to be more accurate it's batboys. It was so hard to decide what to make for them for Halloween this year. For one, I had basically no fabric to work with and I live no where near a fabric store. Two, the boys hate anything covering their faces. So I found an old, black, long skirt I haven't worn in years and thought why not make them batman capes without the mask part. At first I thought what have I gotten myself in because I had no clue where to begin creating this crazy cape, but it turned out so well in the end. Better then I would have imagined.

The boys loved it, especially the shirts. And how did I do those shirts you might ask?! Simply found a batman logo online, printed it on iron-on transfer paper, and ironed the logo on t-shirts turned inside out. I have a feeling they will want to wear that shirt inside out from now on.

My summer find

This summer I checked out so many garage sales. Hoping to find clothes, toys, and books for my boys, but I never in my wildest dream thought I would ever find one of these!

A vintage treadle sewing machine with it's original foldout wooden table. It's a JB series, so I believe it's dated somewhere between 1936-1948. It is not in the best condition. There are scratches and the leather treadle strap is broken which can be replaced. I'm just so happy to have found one, I've always wanted one, and only for $25! Weeee! And yes, the lady selling it must have thought I was a little crazy being so overly happy over an old sewing machine.

Look at it's details, wouldn't you be?!

Ready, set...

So I'm pretty much all prepared for Diva Delight. I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon to Edmonton. I'm super excited since it's my first time having a table at an event. Just want to have a good time with friends, meeting people, and to showcase some of my crafts. If I sell a thing or two it would be a bonus!

Thanks to all the support and kind words and a big thanks to my patient and super understanding husband where his wife doesn't go to bed till 2 in the morning. Oh yes, and thank you coffee! Haha!

If you are in Edmonton please come say hi!

Have a fantastic weekend!!

Stenciled cushions and a peek at my garden.

I know now that some material stencils better then others. Must make note of that. I love the whole learning process and I have so much to learn! Glad in the end it turned out how I visioned it to.

The weather's been absolutely gorgeous lately. Makes it hard to stay inside to finish up some more projects before the big day. I am so excited!

And here's a few seedlings saying peek-a-boo. Yay!

Stenciled coasters

Handmade coasters with my original stencil designs.

I will be selling them at the Diva Delight coming up in just a couple of weeks! Ack! Off to craft and design more stuff.

Drawstring bags at AndNow

Drawstring bags with four different original designs handmade and designed by me.

They are now sold at the AndNow Center in Edmonton along with my Plastic Projects. Go check it out!

Camera strap covers

I've been asked by a number of people around here if I could make camera strap covers for them. A new challenge involving sewing? Hell ya!, and I also wanted one too. So here it is.

Candy plastic pouch

My brother is quiting smoking and to help with his cravings he eats candy. I told him to keep all the wrappers so I can use them for my plastic projects. He thought I was crazy. Hahaha! But look how it turned out. Pretty funky and "sweet"!! Sorry, I know, bad pun.

Diaper bag

I was in dire need of a new diaper bag. The one I bought when Lucius was born was ripping apart and the strap finally let go. I thought why not make myself one instead of buying one. I found this easy diaper bag tutorial from Sew Christine. Made a few changes, like adding a zipper compartment and a snap button, and now I have bag that I'm extremely happy with.

Plastic chick-a-dee flap pouch

I couldn't sleep lastnight. This was in my head and I just had to make it. A plastic flap pouch with a little, cute plastic chick on the front.

Chirp chirp!!

Plastic zipper tote

A plastic zipper tote bag to add to the collection. I also recently created tags for them which are quite "whimsical". Darcy thinks "whimsical" is such a funny word, so I thought I needed to use it. Haha!


I'm off to Edmonton again. This time just me and my boys. Gives the chance for Darcy to clean out our basement without any distractions. We have a lot of garbage from the renovations we did this summer. It's quite the disaster zone. Thank goodness for closed doors.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Plastic shoulder bag

A plastic shoulder bag I put together lastnight for the St. Paul's Mind Body & Spirit Mini Expo February 27 and 28. I won't be there but my plastic project bags will be! Go have a looksee if you are in the area!!

Checkbook cover

Hope everyone enjoyed their family day long weekend. I know we sure did. After three weeks of being sick it was nice to have a weekend where we could actually go out as a family. We went to Edmonton to visit my family and our friends, did a little shopping, and ate at restaurants. Yay, a break from cooking! I am so glad the boys are healthy and back to normal.

Thought I would share this checkbook cover I made a few weeks ago. I saw a tutorial somewhere and thought I would give it a try since my checkbook cover was falling apart. Much better then that boring, blah, black plastic! I have to say it's pretty cute.

Fabric flowers

Ever since I got this flower phone charm from a Japanese student, I always wanted to try to duplicate those pretty fabric flowers. I remember seeing a great Japanese hairpin tutorial from Miscellany of me where she makes similar fabric flowers. Thought I would give it a go with my own twist on it.

Here are my first few attempts. The first one was not good at all, but as you can see it does get progressively better...

...and finally I got it! Ta da!!

They are so much fun and quite addictive to make. A little project I can work on during the day where I can put it down and pick it back up while watching and playing with my boys.

The plastic bag project

My friend/yoga instructor is opening up her yoga studio with a store that sells and showcases local art and goods. Her and I had this idea of clients coming in and dropping off plastic bags to be turned into usuable items. So, I've been busy fusing and sewing plastic bags into pouches and handbags.

Zipper pouch

Snap button pouch

I made some handbags too that I hope to post up soon and if you are interested on how to fuse your cupboard full of plastic bags yourself, Etsy has a fantastic fusing plastic bag tutorial.

Her studio and store, Thrive opens this coming Monday, January 12. Check it out if you are ever in the Lac La Biche area and drop off some plastic bags!