#wasteless craft

[calendulacraft]

Upcycling :: from scraps to twine!

As I create sewing kits, mend, and make clothing, little bits of fabric begin to pile up.

And by little bits, I really do mean little, tiny bits. I have a bag or two of tiny strips of fabric and oddly shaped squares. I wanted to do something useful with them.

I had come across this DIY project to transform scraps into twine a while ago and only recently got the motivation to give it a try. To my surprise it was much easier than I had imagined and also quite fun.

This is the kind of activity that is great for doing while listening to a long talk or podcast, or while sitting by the fire on a cold night. Once you get the hang of spinning, you can even carry on conversations while making this upcycled craft!

Although I am quite proud of my work, I think it is important to link directly to the crafter I learned from, Cintia of My Poppet Makes. Here is the link to the specific how-to blog post.

I truly hope you find this project useful or inspirational. And if you are interested in acquiring a sewing kit as featured in the photo I have several available in the Calendula Craft Etsy shop!

[wastelesscrafts]

How to build a wardrobe for a changing body (Leena Norms)

For more ideas, check out my post on fluctuating sizes.

[ninamation]

Sweater collar mend

Thrifted this sweater for $3 and immediately ripped the back of the collar when I washed it. There are probably better and prettier ways to mend this, but I just ironed on some interfacing and secured it with a few stitches.

Current works in progress:

Tons of origami roses for the wedding

Make up bags for my bridesmaids

Painting a thrifted coat hook with folk art inspired designs

Knitting a hat for my fiancé

Lots of mends for other people that I put off

[miosage]

I bought this lovely woolen blanket at the bargain section of Ikea a while ago – it had been there because it had a hole. I thought it could be an opportunity to learn/practice darning. Unfortunately, I then had to realise that it must've been slashed while opening a package, so it really has more like five to ten holes. I got really discouraged and left it lying on a mending pile for ages.

Since I've been sick all week, I've been puttering at home a lot and sorting things and I came upon my mending pile and the blanket. I decided to finally tackle it and some other projects and looked up darning methods and was ultimate led back to tumblr.

Thanks especially to @wastelesscrafts I got the motivation and instruction I needed to start doing some visible mending and boy, do I love it. Thank you!!

I've been happily hyperfocussing on darning away (and watching sense8 while doing it) all day and here are the first results:

They're a little wonky (also the coarsely woven fabric is quite hard to work with) but I'm super happy with them anyway. I did them with sock yarn because I felt like that went with the texture of the blanket.

[octo-crafts]

So this weekend has been a wee bit harsh on my possessions - my tablet case broke, I broke a bowl, and I found a torn seam in my wallet. There's not much I can do about the tablet case or the bowl with my existing skills and materials, but I have managed to repair the wallet.

First, I did a line of stitches to reattach the layer of fabric that had pulled free of the binding. Then, I covered the raw edges with some scrap fabric that I turned into diy bias tape.

The fabric is from a lucky dnd-themed scrunchie a friend made me that the elastic broke in. It's a bit stained, but I used a cleaner portion for this, and I'll enjoy seeing a bit of dnd luck every time I open my wallet.

The wallet itself is a hand-me-down from my mother about 5 years ago, so I'm not exactly shocked that it's starting to need some work.

[ecopunkbeginner]

I really want to learn how to sew, but I'm very overwhelmed. I'm afraid of practicing on most things for fear of messing them up and wasting them. I'm really the kind of person who needs someone teaching me and available to answer my questions, but I don't have anyone for that and there's several reasons I'm apprehensive about finding a class (the most rational of which are my lack of income and COVID, but social anxiety is also a factor).

I know there's guides and videos online, but I always get so overwhelmed and usually don't know where to start because all my ideas are abstract, abstract to me specifically (because I don't know how fabric construction works), or difficult and/or risky enough to scare and/or confuse me out of wanting to do it.

Does anyone have tips for teaching yourself to sew? How do I practice without being wasteful?

[quiltingwitch]

A scrappy birb quilt made with 100% recycled and reclaimed materials for a bird lover I love! The fabric, batting, buttons, and even the thread were all sourced from my own clothing, thrift bins, or FabScrap BK.

Bird block pattern is Pretty Bird by Heather Valentine of The Sewing Loft

[cottonkhaleesi]

It’s a visible mending day.

[ernmark]

So I bought a couple belts that turned out to be just a couple of inches too tight-- they kept my pants up, but they were uncomfortable.

I got them at a thrift shop, so there wasn't a lot of choice regarding the size-- but also they were like a dollar each, so I figured I could play around with upsizing and if they didn't survive I wouldn't be too put out about it.

Since they were the same size and nearly the exact same style (I'm betting they were both from the same person), they make for a good before/after set.

I cut it into pieces, sewed the ends, added grommets, and laced them back together with paracord.

You can see the extra length the laces gave me, and it's a lot more comfortable to wear. The knots are a bit lumpy, though-- I'll need to experiment with ways to secure the laces that will lay flat.

I also had some extra grommets left in the kit I bought (it came to all of $3 with a coupon), I went ahead and repaired another belt, too.

[gothmods]

Recently completed hoodie customisation

The design is loosely based on a luna moth and made using fabric from an old (like a decade old) hoodie and cotton embroidery thread

Plus a zipper dangle made from an old phone strap and beads/charms

[calendulacraft]

Fast Fashion to Slow Fashion :: a DIY guide to up-cycling and mending clothing on a budget.

For those of us living on a small income, buying from sustainable fashion brands is often out of reach. I would like to point out that *buying new but ecological garments isn't the only way to cultivate a slow fashion wardrobe*. Here are a few options for transforming *upcycling* your clothing, thus making fast fashion into slow fashion:

Mend and repair :: patch hand-me-down sweaters, fix holes in leggins from target and other department stores. By giving items a longer life, and preventing unnecessary garbage, fast fashion items become slow fashion! Here are two tutorials I have written on how to mend a torn belt loop on jeans and patch leggings.

Up-cycle clothing that doesn't suit your style :: when preparing for a trip back home and wondering how to acquire some nicer clothing for the trip a friend of mine gifted me a big bag of clothes. Almost all of them were items that we could call "fast fashion" and nearly all also had stains or rips that needed mending. By fixing and adapting these items and then going on to wear them for several years longer, I am keeping them out of the cycle of buy then trash.

Tailor items that don't fit you :: Taking in clothing is quite simple and there are lots of tutorials on how to hem pants and skirts or take in a size or two. I recently made a tutorial on how to take out a skirt, or make a skirt bigger by adding panels.

At some point, we must face the fact that a t-shirt is totally worn out and cannot be used for clothing any longer. In such cases here are a couple of crafts to utilize the fabric and other items from the scrap pile:

Create a Quilt :: if you find yourself with a pile of beautiful & memory-filled scraps -- transform them into a quilt as I have done in this post.

Make Twine :: Longer scraps of fabric, especially those from stretch materials like leggings or jersey cotton t-shirts can be made into a thing rope also known as fabric twine. I wrote a tutorial on how to make twine out of fabric scraps.

<<Best of luck in all your crafting endeavors!>>

[wastelesscrafts]

Tried my hand at mending a massive rip in my favorite shorts recently and I love how it's turning out even though I'm 100% winging it with scrap denim and embroidery thread.

It's my first real sewing project and I wouldn't have tried it without your blog so thank you for helping me to finally find a use for those 6 pairs of worn out jeans I was keeping for some reason :)

[ID: two close-ups of a light coloured pair of denim shorts that's been mended with red, yellow, blue, pink, and white embroidery thread.]

That looks lovely! Congrats on your first mend!

Remember to wash your shorts in a gentle way to make your mend last as long as possible.

[ninamation]

Embroidered a free hat with a prickly pear

Not a big embroiderer, but this was a fun little project.

[papermeels]

art supply roll up.

[octo-crafts]

Quick sheet mend

Got a new-to-me top sheet at the thrift store, realized after I got home that it had 3 tiny tears. They look like they're from something sharp, since the surrounding fabric is in fine shape. The two smaller tears I just used thread to sew back together, but the biggest (a relative term here, it's still tiny as you can see) I used a patch on because I accidentally made it worse while clipping the loose threads. I probably could have still foregone the patch, but I have some pretty small bits of cotton in my stash anyway, so I used it instead of darning.

[paperplayhouse]

my new wallet