Thursday 29 March 2012

Things to Make & Do - This n That

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All of my Stash Busting projects this month have been of household nature, so I thought so as not to bore you all too much I would bundle them together into one post. So here is what I have been spending my crafting hours on this month.

Plaited Bath Mat
(Stash Buster)

First up is my new bathroom mat which was made from a rather faded old duvet cover.
It looks much perkier in these photos but I can assure you that it was rather faded, and not really suitable for anything but dusters!  Once I saw Katja's fabulous tutorial on how she had made her truly stunning bath mat, I decided that this was the perfect way to re-purpose my tired duvet cover.
1. The original duvet   2. Ruler wide strips cut from duvet    3. The massive ball of plaited yarn      4. Finished mat
Now I'm not going to lie making this took flipping ages first plaiting together all the strands and forming into a massive ball of yarn (the size of a football (soccer ball)), and then stitching round and round and round and round....
...and round and round and round.
 As I didn't have a suitable towel to use as a base I decide to just stitch it to itself which did cause a problem as the bigger it got the more it started to resemble a sombrero! Not what I wanted at all I soon realised that I was stitching it together too tightly causing it to pucker up, so I loosened off my stitches a little and after a good old steam blast with the iron, it returned to being flat, Phew! I think it looks great and is certainly a different way of recycling an old duvet!


Draught Excluder
(Stash Buster)

As I was sorting through my boxes of material cataloguing what I had, I found a very creased piece of pink fur fabric. I will be honest I was close to throwing it in the bin as it looked so screwed up and battered, but my conscience would not let me, so knowing that we needed some form of draught excluder for our very old, badly fitting front door I decided that would be its new purpose in life! 
This was so simple to make and can be stuffed with old socks, scraps of fabric or anything you like! There is a simple tutorial here
This has to have been one of the dullest things I have ever made, I had envisaged something a bit more patchworky or funky, but it does the job, took no time at all to make and more importantly has given me a bit more space in my fabric box! It is stuffed with the rest of the fur fabric and scraps of old material I had kept, but was unlikely to ever use. So even though it is dull it has definitely been my biggest stash buster to date!

Kitchen Cafe Curtains
(Stash Buster)

I made these from some very cheap £1 a meter green gingham I got from Walthamstow market last year, I had intended to make a floaty circle skirt from it, but found that due to its high nylon content the static it created when rubbed together was immense, I had no desire to be electrocuting everybody around me and my hair is frizzy enough without the aid of electricity!


So as the fabric has a very kitchen/picnic feel to it I thought it would make some very cute cafe curtains instead. These should have been a doddle as they are made by straight hemming 4 sides, but due to the gingham pattern being slightly warped it made sewing straight lines an utter battle, so they are finished but not as neatly as I would have liked. They do the job though and stop my lovely next door neighbour having to witness my 'just got up need coffee' morning face which can only be a bonus!

So there you have it none of the projects are very pretty or particularity interesting but all are very practical, have helped to whittle down my fabric stash (now only three large boxes!) and saved me money!

Wendy x

16 comments:

  1. I think it's brilliant that you are being practical and making lovely things! Especially when we are still under the gloom of a recession! And I am always in awe of how talented you are in needlework!
    May x
    walkinginmay.blogspot.com

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  2. That's the good thing about being a crafter: you can make your every-day needs yourselve!

    And the curtains are cute ;)

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    1. It is lovely isnt it being able to make stuff yourself much more satisfying than buying,it:)

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  3. Love the bath mat! And if it resembled a sombrero, that's no bad thing!

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  4. That bath mat is pretty epic! I believe you when you say it took a while.

    I had a thought with the draught excluder, if you think it's dull. I've seen some that are very kitch with little animal heads on them - perhaps you could turn yours into an uber-kitschy pink cat? You might have to open it up and retrieve some of the scraps of pink for his/her head though...

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    1. Oh what a great idea! I definitely have enough fabric stashed inside! Fabulous!! :)

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  5. Fab stash busting. How can you call pink fur fabric dull? It's the best draught sausage ever!

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    1. Thank you! Yes I guess your right, pink fur fabric is not at all dull:)

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  6. I love the bath mat! The way the colours have come together is so beautiful :)

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  7. Love the cafe curtains, so simple yet to effective in transforming and brightening up a room. The draught excluder is also fab.

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  8. I love the bathmatt idea and those curtains look perfect, even though you say they're not! Know what you mean about the gingham not being straight, I've been recovering the footstool with something similar and took a few goes at pinning it before it would sit straight!

    You've got me all inspired to go make things from the bits of scrap in my sewing box!

    missed reading your blog, looking forward to some catching up xxx

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  9. Such great ideas, they will be going on my long list! I'm new to you blog and loving it, it's all the things I love! I can't wait to use some of the free patterns you have posted in previous posts! Following! XxxX http://thesecondhandrose.blogspot.co.uk/

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