I saw this wonderful craft on the blog Magic Onions the other day. With the many stormy nights of no-sleep as of late, I knew that a rendezvous with my sewing machine was in order. And quick.
It is simply a piece of felted cashmere sweater, purchased for only $1 at the thrift store, a wee bit of thread, and the luxurious scent of lavender buds and dried rosemary. I took the liberty to alter the blog pattern and needle felted wool roving figures onto the front of each pillow. A red car for Mini Mister and a pink piggy for Little Miss. Inside each supremely soft cashmere pouch is a muslin bag filled with rice, buds, and herbs. When the buds and herbs have given all their scent we can replace them. The side of the pouch fastens with Velcro.
Just before bedtime stories we warm the soft sweet scented pillows gently in the microwave and hug them as we drift off into a lavender dream land.
  From: pile of fabric of discarded garments To: a lovely plush elephant (the pattern is from Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson.)
Recently I have been thrifting to obtain most of my crafting fabric supplies. I never went to a thrift store as a kid and I hardly ever when to yard sales. But I do remember spending a lot of time in that boring fabric store with my mom as she picked out the latest print to transform into window valences, bed sheets, laundry sacks, and other household necessities.
I still feel like I am a bit in over my head as I enter my local warehouse size thrift store to look at donated linen curtains, cotton dress shirts, and cashmere sweaters. I feel as if I simply lack the creativity and learned expertise to mix colors and patterns appropriately, or I feel I am wasting money collecting yards of fabric having yet to find the perfect pattern to whip up. But I know the perfect project will come and to collect with exercised restraint will help me be ready to create that perfect project.
Here are some great tips I picked up here and there that might help you thrift fabrics to save money, keep our planet green by keeping textiles out of our land-fills, and create new treasures from re-purposed fabrics.
:: Waste-not-want-not:start at home and your parent’s home, and your neighbor’s home, and your sister-in-law-to-be’s home and start collecting their toss-outs.
:: Let the fabrics speak to you: with a plethora of choices it is hard to choose. My advice, get it if you love it…stick to what is your style. It might be pastel or neutrals, or if it is bright colors, stick to fabrics colored vibrantly and don’t be tempted by just any olive-brown cashmere that comes your way.
:: Stick to natural fibers: I find it calming to my conscience to start keeping only natural fibers close to me (polar fleece may be the exception.) Synthetics can be difficult to cut and sew, and don’t generally antique beautifully over time. But, hey if there is that poly-blend patterned skirt you just love and see re-purposed as the perfect mouse pad in your home, then by all-means, go for it.
:: Set a budget limit: It is easy to get carried away with $1 and $2 items (I usually can’t resist a seventh $1 cashmere sweater for felting) but ask yourself, is that print shirt really worth washing, deconstructing, and organizing in your stash? Do you already have a ton of grey wool sweaters? Do you love the yellow vintage table cloth more to you than the green flower vintage runner? Be choosy…there will always be a new treasure you HAVE TO HAVE the next time you come back.
:: Wash when you get home: Felt your fabrics immediately (like I do in this tutorial) so you keep any moth larvae from invading your home, and wash wovens right away to get rid of any germs, dirt, or fabric treatments you don’t want in your craft project. After you felt, wash, and dry your new found treasures, fold them and organize them neatly per your system, so when you do come upon that great pattern, you can find your fabric inspiration straight away!
:: Have fun: Don’t be afraid to use your stash. I always feel like I am hording…not wanting to cut into that beautiful fabric, but how are you going to justify collecting more if you don’t use up what you have? I love collecting as much as I do sewing, so I need to get a sewing-move-on!
Do you thrift? What are your strategies for uncovering the best treasures?
 It is a time of tying up loose ends for me and a new focus on….Christmas presents…
This is my latest “loose ends” felted pillow project from Ann Kyyro Quinn’s book Felt Furnishings: 25 Accessories for Contemporary Homes.
- You will need a 102″ gathered strip of felt about 2 1/2″ wide. (That works out to be about a 185″ long stip.)
- Hand sew a running stitch (about 1/4″ long) 1/4″ from one side the length of the strip, and gather.
- Pin the gathered strip to your pillow case top in a spiral pattern and sew in place. (I make my spiral lines about 1 1/2″ apart and I didn’t bother to lower my presser foot because the piece is so thick.)
- Sew the back onto your pillow case on three sides (right sides together). Insert the pillow form, and blind-stitch closed. Presto, done-o.
I’ve also wrapped up a pair of stuffed ladybugs from Amy Butler’s book Amy Butler’s Little Stitches .
And I’ve taken off the needles a pair of wool leggings for my daughter, gently patterned after Melanie Falick’s pattern Look Back Leggings in her book, Weekend Knitting: 50 Unique Projects and Ideas .
You probably think I am a busy body, but really, these were one-day projects that were hanging out in the corner half done…I just finished them off…and yes, it feels good.
On to my new focus…Christmas presents:
I decided about the time I purchased my new sewing machine that I was going to make as many of the holiday gifts we give this year as I could. Hand-made is a new/old concept to me. As a perfectionist, I live for clean lines, perfect edges, straight and narrow. As a hand-made lover, I am learning to accept a bit of imperfection, unique beauty, and creative license. I struggle with my crafting failures each day. I know that the “perfect” piece comes with trial and error. I know that the best learned lesson is one that is still unfolding. I know that I am not perfect, and that I can’t be perfect; I can only try to achieve my best effort.
On my Christmas list this year:
- a felt play mat for my son,
- a stuffed felt pretend food for my daughter,
- woolen mittens for my husband,
- creature baggies for my sibling,
- produce baggies for my grocery-shopping father,
- cashmere scarves for my in-laws,
- and a patchwork cashmere throw for my mother…and that is about as far as I have gotten…
A lot of work, perhaps, a lot of creative fun, definitely.
 Remember my little cashmere elephant friend? Well here is how to make the snuggly soft cashmere elephant buddy. This one is loosely based upon the techniques Betz White introduces in her book Sewing Green. (She makes a doggie.)
Need:
- Cashmere Elephant Friend Pattern
- felted wool or cashmere fabric (felt your own sweater and save a 2″ length of sweater seam, or cut a 1/4″ X 2″ length of virgin felt)
- woven fabric
- accent color felted fabric
- small scrap of black felted fabric
- bamboo fiber fill
- fabric scissors
- straight pins
- sewing machine
- chopstick
- matching thread (you will need black for the eye, and thread to match your felt color, and a contrasting color to embroider the back patch)
- needle
- complementary color embroidery thread
How To:
1. Print pattern and cut pattern pieces. Pin to felted fabric and woven fabric appropriately and cut.
Cut list:
-
(2) ears pattern side down on felted fabric right side up
-
(2) ears pattern side up on woven fabric right side up
-
(1) elephant pattern side up on felted fabric right side up
-
(1) elephant pattern wrong side up on felted fabric right side up
-
(1) circle patch pattern right side up on accent felted fabric right side up
-
(2) small circles for elephant eye from felted black fabric right side up
2. Pin elephant ears, wrong sides together, pin one woven ear to one felted piece. Sew each ear with 1/4″ seam allowance between dots, leaving edge open for turning. Turn each ear and poke out corners with a chopstick. Turn in 1/4″ seam allowance and whip stitch closed.
3. Pin tail to elephant body at markings, wrong sides together (make sure that the tail falls to the inside of your piece, so that when the body pieces are pinned, the tail doesn’t stick out, but rather is “caught” in the seam, so when turned right-side out, the tail sticks out from the body.) Sew with 1/4″ seam allowance between dots, leaving edge open for turning. Turn body and poke out corners and trunk with a chopstick. Stuff body with bamboo fiber fill. Turn in 1/4″ seam allowance and whip stitch belly opening closed.
4. Hand stitch eye, ear, and back patch in place with matching thread. Hand embroider around the back patch using a running stitch or blanket stitch and a contrasting thread. (Either use embroidery thread, or use a double length of all purpose thread.)
5. Hug your fuzzy elephant friend!
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And that is all there is to this little fuzzy friend. I am working on another elephant pattern by Hillary Lang of Wee Wonderfuls (from Joelle Hoverson’s book Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts) for a Christmas present. I am attempting to create this not-so-simple little guy from a repurposed cotton dress shirt…I’ll post my results when I am through! Have a wonderful Wednesday.
 I love fuzzy warm mittens in the winter far better than gloves. I know it look s a little funky for an adult to wear mittens in such a hip-suburban setting, and, that having no fingers and only one opposable thumb hinders my ability to deal with toddler-issues, but I still love mittens.
I honestly don’t remember where I found this idea…perhaps Martha Stewart, but I made these tiny beauties for my daughter…who hates them. (She likes to suck on her fingers and she can’t do that wearing mittens.) The fuzzy mitten is cut from a recycled felted sweater and the snowflake is my own design needle-felted on the back of the hand. Here is how to make these cuties and my original pattern.
Need:
- felted fuzzy Snowflake Mitten Pattern
- 1 felted wool or cashmere sweater, preferably size M or larger (for a tutorial on how to felt your own sweater, click here.)
- fabric scissors
- sewing machine (or you can stitch this by hand with a needle and thread)
- matching thread
- straight pins
- wool roving (I used merino wool roving in “ice” color from The Yarn Tree)
- felting needle (I used a 38 gauge)
- needle felting pad (you can use the smaller version)
- tracing wheel and tracing paper for marking fabric with chosen snowflake pattern (or you can eye-ball your own original design)
How to:
1. Print out pattern and cut out the mitten size you want (it is already at 100% size.) (Or loosely trace your child’s hand, add 1/2″ around the edge, and cut out your custom pattern. Fan out the child’s fingers a slight bit for a roomier fit.)
2. Cut: lay pattern over the sweater ribbing (either at the waist, or the cuff of a sleeve) and align with the grain of the fabric vertically and where the ribbing meets the body of the sweater horizontally (align the horizontal markings on the pattern with the ribbing). Pin the pattern in place, and cut fabric. Cut (4) pieces:
- A – (1) pattern-side up placed on fabric, right-side up
- B - (1) pattern-side down place on fabric right-side up
- C - (1) pattern-side up place on fabric wrong-side up
- D – (1) pattern-side down place on fabric wrong-side up
Piece A and C make up the left hand mitten, and piece B and D make the right hand mitten.
3. Transfer the snowflake pattern of your liking to the fabric right-side of piece A and piece C, taking care to leave at least 3/8″ allowance around the edges.
4. Use wool roving, felting needle, and felting pad to needle felt the snowflake pattern to the right-side of the left-hand and right-hand mitten. (The snowflakes will show on the back of the hand.)
To needle felt,put mitten on top of your felting pad. Pull a small piece of wool roving and place it on your marked line. With a 38-gauge felting needle poke the roving to push the fibers through the felted wool fabric and locking them in place. Use the needle to “shape” the wool roving in to your design, and poke the fibers until you achieve your desired look.
5. Pin piece A and piece B, right-sides together and sew with a 3/8″ seam allowance, starting after the ribbing, and stopping before the ribbing at the wrist (i.e. don’t sew the ribbing.) back stitching at the beginning and end. Repeat with piece C and piece D. (Take it slow around the tight curves. Reduce your stitch length if you need to, or leaving machine needle in the down position, lift the presser foot to pivot the fabric. It is okay if the fabric stretches or slips a little, the piece is forgiving. At times, I don’t catch both layers in the seam, and it is okay to simply go back and “re-do” the seam to catch both layers.)
6. Turn mitten right-side out (poke out the thumb with a pencil eraser or a chopstick) and sew each ribbing edge, back-stitching at the beginning and end.
7. Turn up the ribbed fabric to form a cuff, and hand tack in place at each seam-line.
8. Try to capture your little one and get them to try on your proud, beautiful, warm and fuzzy creation!
I hope this pattern will inspire you to add embelishments of your own, felted flowers, sewn rosetts, other needle felted patterns, ribbons around the wrist, or two button eyes, and a red felted snake tounge sticking out the seam at the top! Have fun with this and I’d love to see your creative creations! Looks like I am going to have to go back to the felting needle myself…my son just lost one of his mittens.
For about $10 and a bit of time, you can make this modern fortune-cookie pillow.
Need:
- 2 large 100% wool sweaters
- matching thread and needle
- fabric scissors
- pillow form
- fabric tape measure
- tailor’s chalk (or equivalent non-permanent fabric marking pen)
- straight pins
How To:
1. Felt the sweaters in a hot wash with detergent. For instructions, check here.
2. Cut 50 3″ round circles from the felted fabric.
3. Fold the circle in half, and then in half again, and sew through the pointed end to tack the fabric shape. Repeat for remaining 49 circles. At this point, your felt circles sort of look like fortune cookies!
4. Measure pillow form with fabric measuring tape from seam to seam. Mark dimensions on a large piece of felted fabric. Cut this shape out twice, once for the pillow front and once for the pillow back. Add a 1″ seam allowance and cut out pillow cover.
5. Mark on pillow cover front a 9″ diameter circle with tailor’s chalk.
6. Hand tack each felt “cookie” in a herring bone/nested pattern around the circle. It is sort of like making two circles, one on the inside of the chalk circle, and one the outside. It is helpful periodically place a number of “cookies” to ensure you are creating an even circle.
7. Place right-side of back pillow cover fabric to fortune-cookie side of front pillow cover fabric, and pin three sides. Machine stitch with 1/2″ seam allowance. (This makes a relaxed look.)
8. Turn cover right side out and insert pillow form into cover. Tuck in seam allowance on 4th side, finger press in place, and whip stitch closed. (This makes a permanently enclosed pillow. You can modify this cover to include a zipper, overlapped, or overlapped/Velcro closure instead.)
9. Admire your work.
This pattern is time-consuming because of the hand-stitching. But the finished project for $10 is very much worth it. Stay tuned for more felted pillow patterns!
This project was inspired by a technique I found in Felt Furnishings: 25 Accessories for Contemporary Homes by Ann Kyyro Quinn.
 Have you ever machine washed and dryed a wool sweater only to find it could then only fit a small doggie? Well, don’t throw out your mistake, in fact, make some more mistakes and wash a bunch of sweaters to sew up everything from stuffed animals, baby clothing, blankets, quilts, pillow cases, toys, purses, wall hangings, coasters, table runners….okay, you get the idea. Here is how to reclaim that wonderful natural fiber, wool, from old sweaters, and keep these textiles from ending up in the trash and our land-fills.
This wet felting method works with sweaters that are 90% or more wool. It also works for cashmere. The combination of the hot soapy water and the agitation from the wash is what makes the wool fibers felt. The scales on each fiber open and catch on one another to create a denser, thicker, more sturdy fabric which can be transformed in many ways. When the fabric is a blend of synthetic or other animal fibers and less than 90% wool fibers, the felting process doesn’t work as well. Although cashmere technically doesn’t felt, it does become denser, softer, and fluffier. This felting process doesn’t work as well for fine merino wool garments. In my opinion, the fabric, remains flat and the edges tend to fray more than true felt which doesn’t fray at all.
So here is how to do it…
- cut along sweater seam lines and separate the sleeves (and open these) from the back and the front
- separate like-colors together
- place pieces in washer and wash on a hot cycle with ample detergent
- after the spin cycle, check the felting process. If you would like the pieces to be “tighter and thicker” wash again on the hot cycle with detergent.
- dry pieces in dryer on medium heat. (remember to empty the ton of lint from the lint catcher…there will be a lot.)
- if you got your pieces from the thrift store, to get rid of potential moth larvae (who will eat right through your stash of felt and the rest of your wool and cashmere wardrobe) place your felted pieces in a plastic bag, seal it, or tie it up tight, and place it in the freezer for 24 hours.
- And there you have your cool felted wool sweater pieces, ready to be cut, sewn, appliqued, quilted, needle felted, and anything else you can craft up.
See my sweater thrifting post to find out how to come by these sweater materials! Keep organizing, and keep creating.
 
Here are a couple of pictures of my two newest felted friends. I did promise my felted stuffed animal how-to and that is coming. I need to get my paper pattern into the same room as a digital scanner…you get my drift.
The cute wool felted stuffed doggie toy is actually from Betz White’s book, Sewing Green: 25 Projects Made with Repurposed & Organic Materials. Check out her blog where she has some really wonderful felt project tutorials. The other yellow-cashmere, hand-embroidered stuffed elephant is my own design. And owl and a needle felted giraffe are in the the development stages yet. Maybe I’ll get to my future fuzzy friends after I tackle those Tinker Bell fairy wings I am sewing for my daughter. Have you ever worked with invisible thread? Difficult to say the least. It is invisible. (Well not really, it’s kind of like sewing with fishing line.) What was I thinking..?
Keep on organizing! Keep on creating.
 It takes a special person to feel…really feel…the world. This person isn’t me…but I am working on it.
People around me, and me particularly, are so focused on the here and now. How can we not be, when it is what is in front of us? Take a step back, feel the earth beneth your feet, stretch to see the sky above your head, and notice nature changing; getting ready to sleep. As I live more, I feel the earth is spinning faster. Sweet minutes slip away like a lollipop on your tounge and the day is done before you realize it. I am trying to get those minutes back. I am trying to “organize” my life so I can spend a little bit of time in those moments, doing those activities that give me and my family the most joy. For a list-oriented, task-minded, multi-tasker, this lesson isn’t learned easily.
 I find my sewing and needle felting work inspiring. The soft and vibrant colors draw you in wonder. The soft luxury cashmere textures make you yearn for a warm fire place, slippers, and hot chocolate. As I stare at my pieces, I see deer and rabbit tracks needle felted in white across this blanket, indicitive of light feet on fresh fallen snow. On that blanket I see the spiral shapes in abstract on red panels, perhaps swirling time so you stay a while. And I see fall foliage, pine cones and pine branches felted on a warm hunter green, and brown toned background.
 This observance of nature draws me back into childhood memories when my sibling and I would clear leaves from the stream with sticks in the spring. We would watch the green beans, tomatoes and cukes grow in the summer. And gather wild flowers in the fall and play in snow piles during the winter. We were emmersed in nature. Simply soaking in its seasonal wonderment and teachings without even knowing. And I miss it now. I wish for it for my children, here living in the suburbs.
Maybe this is why I enjoy this sewing work so much, and how it envokes me to believe in nature everyday.
For you do-it-yourselfers out there, I plan to post a tutorial about how to make cute stuffed animals out of recycled felted cashmere sweaters. I am in the throws of testing out my elephant design…so stay tuned!
 I haven’t been writing as much here at Organizing-Life because I have been seriously pondering the idea of starting a home business. I can’t begin to describe how intimidating, daunting, seemingly complicated, and some-what stressful this process feels to me.
I read everyday about wonderfully creative and inventive individuals who simply “fell” into their business endeavours. Or about some-one’s very successful business that organically germinated from a loved hobby, or a side-interest. I am a person who needs organization, method, and near-perfection. Even though I like to take my endeavours to the n’th percent, I feel like I dabble here and there and never end up anywhere.
I think I might have stumbled upon something that feels sticky here on my journey of trying everything–needle felting.
A few years ago I saw a woman creating wonderful “drawings” with wool fiber (roving) and a needle and a piece of felted wool fabric. I didn’t pay much attention to this craft at the time, but after reading Betz White’s book Sewing Green, about recycling wool sweater fabric, I started thinking about needle felting again. I decided to put together the felting wool sweaters and needle felting together.
I just finished a prototype blanket for my son. It is made from recycled felted cashmere, new merino wool roving, and new organic cotton velour fabric. What do you think?
Personally: there needs to be more white in the needle felted design – or the cotton border needs to be dyed an off-white color, I need to find a non-stretch method of sewing the boarder to the cashmere so there are fewer ripples, and I think I actually need to “fuse-applique” the patch with the felted pine cone on it, rather than just stitch it on.
Your thoughts, suggestions, and comments are welcome!! What are you seriously pondering in your life? Happy Organizing.
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thank you for stopping by my blog  I am a 35 year old mom to a 4 year old son, a 3 year old daughter, a son born in May, and a wife to my life wonderful. I write in this space when my crafty inspiration strikes or when I get to pondering about how we can live more simply and better connect with the earth around us. We are a family surviving the suburbs, contending with commercialism, and getting to a greener lifestyle. Welcome! ~Abbie a few blogs I like in no particular order Permission © Organizing-Life 2009
All images and designs are property of Organizing-Life. Please do not copy any original designs or photography without written permission. Thank you!
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