Thrifting Addiction

I have a serious thrift addiction.  I love, love, love to go thrifting.  It is such a thrill to go to a thrift store and find something amazing.  Or, to find something that will be amazing.

Yesterday, my youngest (who is 10 months old today, by the way…. when did that happen??) decided that he didn’t want to take a morning nap.  SO, rather than stay home and let the crabbiness ensue for all, I packed up the boys and took them thrifting.  With the baby in the ERGO and big brother in the cart, I was free to peruse the aisles and find all the treasures that awaited me.

I walked out with five (yes, five) bags – for only $35.  Ah, yes, this is why I love thrifting!  I found a game for my almost three-year-old, some play-dough accessories (that came with used play-dough, which I most definitely threw away… gross), and Taboo – one of my favorite games ever in life, and for only $2.

But of course, a thrifting adventure is not complete without scouring the clothing racks for fabric that can be turned into something amazing.

Can you see all the beautiful projects to come?  I have so many ideas.

More shirts to refashion for my boys, a sweater that needs to be turned into this, some sweatshirts to use like this one (with a tutorial to come!), a funky flower shirt that called to me from three aisles away, and a fantastic full-sized gray flannel sheet that will be used (in part) to line some upcycled jeans for my oldest. (And this doesn’t even include the three wool sweaters that are in the process of being felted right now!)

I’m on a roll from KCWC… gotta keep the creative juices flowing!

I should never buy clothes again (AKA: I actually made something awesome)

I am digging Kids’ Clothing Week Challenge.  I have had so many projects in my head, but I needed a swift kick in the pants to get started and actually try some of them.

I made my first shirt (based off Dana’s 90 minute shirt , but with a regular neckline) – and finally got my model to model it for me.

After making this shirt, I saw this urban hoodie that Andrea from The Train to Crazy made.

(photo courtesy of The Train to Crazy)

For a minute, I contemplated purchasing the pattern, but then I thought…. I made a shirt. How much harder could it be to make a sweatshirt?  So I took one of my son’s hoodies (the one that makes him look particularly adorable), and traced the pieces.  It just might be the coolest thing I’ve ever made.  I hope that doesn’t sound like bragging.  It’s more like complete shock that I actually did it, and it wasn’t a complete flop.

The sweatshirt is made from an old adult-sized sweatshirt and is completely lined with the red-striped knit.  Much needed for the cold winter. (and yes, that is a milk mustache – very Wisconsin :)

I left a few edges raw (around the pocket and neckline), because I liked how it looks.  And lets be honest, it was much easier.

I almost didn’t add the pocket, but I’m so glad I did.  It’s his favorite part.

Linking up to:

KCWC – day two

I work well under pressure, being “forced” to do something in a certain time frame.  So I like being challenged to get off my couch and actually make something from my to-do list  - which, at some point yesterday, looked like this:

There are definitely some flaws in my novice sewing skills.  Like today, when I realized that the pattern I had made for my oldest son’s pants was made a couple months ago… before he was potty trained… when he was still wearing diapers… cloth diapers.  And did I realize this before I had sewn the pants together?  Of course not.  That would be too easy.  So I have some tweaking to do tomorrow.

(Don’t you love those IKEA stripes?  Yum.)

First day – success!

Whew!  I made it through Day One of the Kids’ Clothing Week Challenge at elsie marley.  The challenge is to sew for your kids, for one hour each day, for a week.  I honestly wasn’t sure I’d even get one day done, with my drippy-nosed baby and a no-napping boy.  But I did some prepping and fabric cutting last week, so I was ready to start sewing today.  It was so motivating, knowing I would be sharing my sewing with the blogosphere tonight!

I ended up sewing two projects today.  I whipped up a quick pair of fleece pants for my oldest.  Nothing fancy, just comfy and warm – perfect for the cold Wisconsin winter.

The pants seemed a bit boring, so I had some fun striped fleece that I used to add a three – perfect for my baby who will be three in a few weeks!

My next project was one I was super excited about.  I bought this shirt on a recent thrifting excursion.  (I think I mentioned my overabundance of to-be-upcycled striped shirts… this is one of my favorites.)

And I turned it into this version of the 90 minute shirt.

I used a no longer wearable pair of my husband’s long-johns to make this shirt perfect for the cold weather that’s coming our way.

The collar of the original shirt was perfect to use for the ribbing around the neck.  Some day I hope to have perfectly straight stitches….

Let’s hope tomorrow is just as productive as today was!

Kids’ Clothes Week Challenge!

Meg, over at Elsie Marley, is hosting (another) Kids’ Clothes Week Challenge.  September 20-26th (which also happens to be my birthday week… sounds like a good way to spend it, if you ask me!).  I’ve decided to take the plunge.  Who’s with me??

Arugula Pesto Chicken

I do not consider myself a foodie.  But I love food.  I really love to cook, but I hate following recipes.  I do, however, like to find new and interesting ideas, giving them my own spin.

One day after picking up the produce we get each week with our CSA I was faced with this dilemma:  what do I do with fifteen million pounds of arugula?  Okay, not really fifteen million, but a lot.  And this was the third week in a row.  Don’t get me wrong, I love arugula.  Its peppery goodness can really spice up a salad or a pizza.  But I needed a little inspiration.

So, I turned on the Food Network.  It just so happened that the show Guy’s Big Bite was on, and what was he making, but an arugula pesto chicken.  Since chicken is on the menu pretty much every night, I decided to give it a try.

I didn’t follow the recipe.   Partly because well, I just don’t do that.  But also because I didn’t have the ingredients… or the time to go to the store to buy them.  Check out his recipe if you want to try what Guy made.

For my pesto, I used arugula, toasted almonds, lemon juice, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and salt.

Did I mention that I tend to not measure things?  Ever?

I toasted a bunch of almonds in the toaster oven.

I slightly chopped two ginormous cloves of garlic.

I filled the rest of the food processor with arugula.  I have a smaller food processor and was only making three leg/thigh pieces of chicken — use more if you need to.

I juiced half of a lemon, then added a bunch of olive oil.

So pretty!!  After I pulsed the food processor a bit, I ended up adding more arugula, olive oil, and a bit of salt.

Yummy!

Then, I took the pesto and (thanks to Guy’s brilliance) stuffed it under the skin of my chicken leg/thigh quarters. (If you prefer boneless/skinless chicken, try stuffing this inside the chicken instead)  I put a little bit of butter on each piece of chicken (to make the skin crispy).  Then I baked it at 375 for 45 min.  I was also roasting veggies, so I moved the chicken to the lower rack after 45 min., turned the oven up to 400, and baked for another 15.  After that, I let the chicken rest under foil while I broiled the veggies for a few minutes.  **I have no before/after picture of the chicken because well, who wants to see a picture of raw chicken?  (Not me!)  And who can take an after picture of beautifully cooked chicken while also feeding entertaining a nine-month-old and almost three-year-old?  They don’t understand “Just a second, Mommy’s going to take a picture of this food, so I can blog about it later.”

This was a big hit in our house.  I definitely recommend trying it – or some variation of your own.  Because I wouldn’t be me if I told you to follow what I did exactly.

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Girl Clothes!

I am surrounded by boys.  My kids are boys.  My friends keep having boys.  Seriously, there are a couple dozen kids at our church, and there is one lone girl (who can hold her own quite well, by the way).  Needless to say, I get pretty excited when I have the chance to make something for a baby girl.  So when one of my best high school buds told me she discovered that her December baby will be a girl, I began to see pink.

Awhile back, I ran across a tutorial for the easiest baby hat ever. http://originalandrea.blogspot.com/2009/09/baby-knot-ears-hat-tutorial.html

And this 0h-so-cute fabric needed to be used to make a matching onesie.

I made a template out of paper for this applique, then traced it on the reverse side of the fabric.  I was having trouble with my mom’s sewing machine, so I quickly hand sewed this one onto the front.

Can’t wait to see this on that sweet baby girl!

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From T-Shirt to Pants

I love to up-cycle…. refashion…. whatever you want call it.  Taking another piece of clothing and turning it into something new is so exciting to me!  New life, in the fabric form.

That’s exactly how these pants happened.  I came across an ordinary long-sleeved T-shirt at Goodwill, and it screamed “make me into some pants for your boys, please!”  How could I ignore a screaming shirt?

This large shirt was easily turned into a pair of lounge pants for my three-year-old and my nine month old.

I’m such a sucker for stripes on my boys.
If you could see my stash of striped shirts to be up-cycled… yikes.

Here’s a quick mini-tute of how I made the bigger pants:

Remove the sleeves/ribbing around the neck (if you’re using the sleeves like I did, remove them carefully!) – lay the body of the shirt out flat.

Lay a folded pair of pants on top – line  up the bottom hems (this will save mucho work).   You will want the inseam of the pants to be on the edge of the shirt, like mine in the picture.

Now fold the shirt over the pants – this will be one of your pant legs.

After the shirt is folded over, cut the fabric a little bit larger than the pants.  (I put the pants on top of the shirt here, so it’s easy to see where to cut.)  In my case, the old shirt was nearly exactly the right size – I didn’t have much to cut.  But if your child isn’t quite the beanpole that my lovely one is, you’ll have to cut more.

This is what your pant leg will look like:

Fold the pant leg together again, with the right sides together (note: my picture shows it folded with wrong sides together).  Sew down the straight edge of the pant leg (see the picture).  Do NOT sew the above portion together – that is where your pant leg will connect to the other leg.  Repeat with the other leg.

Here is where I (unfortunately!) don’t have any more pictures… so I’ll do my best to explain.  Take your two partially-sewn pant legs (right sides out) and pin them together -

Basically, you’ll pin/sew from a to b on one side, then flip the pant legs over and pin/sew from a to b on the other side.  If you flip a pair of pants inside out, this will help you if you don’t know how to construct a pair of pants.  (Or, if you have a pair of pants that you are willing to deconstruct, do it!)

Then, sew a casing, add some elastic (measure your chid’s waist, and take a little bit off that measurement to see how long your elastic should be), then go find your adorable child to be your model!

The sleeves of this shirt were the perfect size for baby pants…. all I had to do was cut them into the shape of pant legs and just sew them together (the hard to explain a to b part) and add elastic.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

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