Well most of that saying also applies to many of the articles we have in our home. Being frugal can really pay off. How many things do we toss away, just because it is old or broken, full of holes or we just don't like it any more. The landfills in America are filled with many such items.
This morning I had the wonderful experience of seeing a blog that gave me a truly great idea for my family. Re-purposing old sweaters. You know you have them in your closet, those sweaters that are stretched out or you have worn it for several winters and are just tired of it. That sweater that your children have out grown, but you hang on to it, because you know that 'someone' will need a sweater. How about those old sweatshirt...they work just as well.
The Re-purposed idea that I saw, was to take that old sweater and make it into a lovely pair of 'new' mittens for the winter. Yup, you are reading correctly...mittens. I got really excited about this, because not only do we have old sweaters that we are not wearing, but I was in need of ideas that were not going to break my wallet, for Christmas presents.
I tried it. My daughter had outgrown one of her favorite sweatshirts and had it in the give away pile. I proceeded to take my hand and make a template, on paper, for a pattern to cut out the fabric with. I redid the pattern to accommodate the stitching that would be done and 'thought' I had the best pattern piece there was.
Have you heard the saying: 'Measure twice, cut once'? Yeah....me and my bright ideas....measure once and then 'cut'!! You guessed it...I cut out the complete pair of mittens and started to sew the first one together. Turned the fabric so that I could put my hand inside of it....NOT!! The cut out version was the right size, the stitched version would not go over my hand. I did not take into account the stretch of the wrist for the width of my hand. Lesson learned.
Back to the drawing board. Redesign the pattern and cut out a new mitten. Stitch together and it worked! Here is a photo of the finished product. This 'old' shirt was from the GAP and my daughter wore it for several years. It has now become my first prototype of a wonderful idea for Christmas presents.
Now, to give credit where credit is due. This idea came from a Blog that I am subscribed to. Here is the link for this idea:
Another site to visit, to see how someone has taken something old and made it new again is:
Tonia makes lovely accent items for the home out of wood and hardware that would normally been thrown away.
Happy Re-purposing!!
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