Don't throw it away

I sometimes wonder where we are going because these coming generations are so used to the idea of it's broke throw it away, it's torn throw it away, it's stained throw it away. Reuse people it a simple concept. With so many people everyone has their own clothes basket and since 1/2 of this family seems to have the mental age of a toddler the baskets get thrown around, stepped on, overly filled and other abuse like this one.

Well the little suckers are surprisingly overall sturdy and tall so I decided to trim it just enough to take off the damage. You will need a ruler, a marker or pencil, and sturdy shears or utility knife, and an emory board.

You can either mark all the way around or use the holes for guides. an alternative is to mark several points and use scotch tape to get a straight line. Now the hard part cutting. If you use an utility lay the basket flat on a cutting surface make sure when using the knife that the hand holding the basket is to the side of the cutting line and not on top of the line or behind the hand using the knife. The plastic can be tough and you can slip easily and trust me cutting yourself hurts like hell not to mention could be dangerous if you cut too deep. Personally I prefer the kitchen shears less chance of injury. If you use older scissors make sure you sharpen them.

When you finish you then need to use an emery board to smooth over the cut surfaces to keep from scratching yourself or from it catching on clothes.

I usually use a small amount of whatever is in the basket to cushion the holes when I pick up the basket when it is full.

 In the other basket the handles tore so I just cut them off. The baskets last a little longer and one less expense this month.

Dress With Lace

How to Dress up a Plain Shirt with a little Lace

My sister bought some plain t-shirts and needed to dress them up a little in order to wear them for work. One of the things she had done with the tax refund was to stock up on some appliques and lace from Angel Trim (http://www.angeltrim.com/). They have some gorgeous items for low prices.

Anyway I decided to add an applique to the front. The trick is to trying the different ones to find a neckline that would fit close to what I had. I did not want to put a v-neck applique on a scoop neck shirt. Why make extra work. This is the one I ended up with.

You will notice that there is a small cutting mat on the inside of the shirt this is to make it easier to line up the piece with the existing neck and shoulder line. I can then pin it easily. I decided the easiest way to do this was to use some of the Tacky glue to hold it in place then hand sew around the larger pieces. I used the sewing machine and a zigzag stitch on the shoulders and neckline.

I used one pin to hold up a section and put glue on another pin to put underneath easier. You can use anything a flat toothpick would work very well but I was stuck with what I had.

Now I wanted to add something to the bottom and to make the shirt a little looser so it would not roll up on the bottom. I folded the shirt and I cut up both sides around 6 inches.(If the shirt does not have seams on the side then iron a crease into the shirt and use that as the guide for cutting.)

 This is another one of the laces she bought it was 6" x 3 Yds

Almost a perfect match for the shirt isn't it. I wanted it to gather so I cut each piece around 8 inches long then sewed it to each side staying 1/2 inch from the top. To get a clean edge I ironed the seam flat towards the lace first.

 The folded it back ironed again to form a crease and sewed it flat again staying away from the top edge.

I used a decorative stitch to add some detail when I topstitched it.

Now for the top. I turned the shirt inside out and gathered the top end of the lace and hand sewed it shut.

Now to get a nice clean look on the top I pin it from the sewn edge up to nothing.

You can see how it went from a nice but plain shirt to something suitable for work.

Very simple re-do and with the number of inserts out there you can have many different looks for very little money and time. The neck applique runs around 3 dollars and the lace on the bottom even less, remember I only used enough to make an insert.