reuse projects

Good evening, dear readers!

More reuse ideas were thought and some even undertaken. Thus, we shall report back to you on the current state of affairs and hope you will enjoy the reading.

We wish you a very pleasant weekend. Baaaa

Curtains: In the pursue of a draught-free home, this time I looked at the kitchen window. I had found a nice lined curtain, which could be reused with a bit of alterations – though, it turned out that the width was too small when mounted. Back to square one, I looked in my stash for some fabric: there was a white/blue cotton cut, which previously must have been something else – I think it was found in the flat. Although considerably lighter and un-lined, it could fit the bill if used double. First, I hand-sewn the fabric in a double fashion (in the end it was only partially double, in the upper section). Then I made the hanging bits out of some vintage labels and attached them; I wanted to use the proper curtain hangers but they wouldn’t fit with the wire, so I added metal rings. It’s not perfect, but it’ll do and keep out cold air during the night hours. 

Kitchen curtain finished and hanging!

detail of the hanging bits

the window as it was before

sewing the labels as hanging part

another one down… many more to go!

label bunting

hand sewn

finished!

Shirt: Reading this post by the Fringe Association gave me an idea for a reuse. There is this very good quality shirt that has been sitting around for a while. My partner had it tailor made while on a trip years ago, but has since gone up a size (or two) and thus it was stored in the closet.

the original shirt

I have been toying with the idea of making my own folk blouse (or something similar) after reading The Vintage Traveler’s post and seeing some great vintage items (out of my budget). I have a crash on bohemian/folk blouse style (also see this one). The shirt details are too male to lend themselves for a folk blouse, plus embroidery is not among my arts. I will see what to do – still working on ideas. To be continued.

Lavender sachets: with all the woolly items in the household, I thought it sensible to put in place some measures to (hopefully) prevent some pesky creatures joining in. I am going to make lavender sachets of various types:

• Reusing some old swatches: after blocking and lining them, some closing device will be added and dried lavender seeds will be poured in; these won’t be particularly fancy, but will do the job just fine.
• Making some lavender kits: in my previous post I mentioned a kit acquired at the Christmas fair, so this isn’t actually a reuse…

a collection of random swatches, awaiting to be reused

… and a vintage tea towel that could become the lining

big bag (1kg) of organic lavender

Surely it would be much easier to buy ready-made sachets, but I would like to have a more natural product and save money (ready-made quality ones can be rather expensive). I’ve sourced some organic seeds in the past and they were really nice – they even offered some UK-produced lavender.

With the holidays soon here, there won’t be much time to focus on these projects. This is a recurring issue: too many ideas and too little time (or something)… Am I doing something wrong? I wonder if I should change my approach and focus on fewer things. I admire those who seem to have a steady output and not have many ideas “hanging” around.