Scarf sandals

Inspired by something I saw on pinterest, I say "inspired", actually I saw a tutorial and then went out, bought some sandals and scarves in charity shops and then followed the tutorial.  Ok so not exactly using my own leftovers, but still a useful idea for making some sandals I love very cheaply from used materials.

Because this tutorial diy-gladiator-wrap-sandals is already clear... mine won't be.

Step 1- went to charity shops and bought sandals (£1.99) and scarf (99p).

Step 2- Cut the scarf in half length ways then take one piece and wrap the half way point of it around the toe post on sandals and just keep wrapping it around the straps.

 Step 3: Put on sandals and wrap ends of scarf around your ankles and tie together. Viola! 

Ps... made these in June. Am now testing all my plarn ideas that I'll be teaching in Ecuador, so may post some things before or during/on my other blog... we'll see...

Recycling Drinks Cans

So, my good friend was recently shown how to recycle drinks cans into small plate/dish things and she passed this on to me.

Firstly cut off the top of the can and then cut the sides into strips (about 8). (EDIT: 12-16, if observant you'll have noticed that I did 12, following my own instructions I tried 8 next time, which didn't work so I ut them in half and 16 looks better than 12.)

Bend these out at the base and then fold across diagonally and tuck under each other.  I forgot to take more pictures so I'll find a more helpful link.  Here is the finished product:

I'm using mine as a dish for earrings, it could be used as an ashtray too I suppose.

Here is a wonderfully clear video/slideshow, which is probably a lot more helpful than my instructions.

Plastic Bag Transfers

So.... my latest discovery is that you can recycle plastic bags to make transfer for clothing.
I decided to use this union jack design from an apples bag and put it on old jeans (which mum had just discarded after using the main part of the legs to make baskets).

So I cut out the design, placed it where I wanted it, then put greaseproof paper on top, then, using a hot iron, I ironed on top of the design.  It was necessary to press down and keep iron on design for a long time, say 10+ seconds before moving it around to ensure each part of design was melted and stuck.  I then let it cool and peeled off paper and voila!

The design did rip in some places, but with this design it doesn't matter.


Now... what can go wrong... (and why I didn't post this a while ago...)

Check that the fabric you're planning to put the design on is ironable!! In this case the bag must have been made from recycled plastic...oops.

Tetrapak Wallet

So... I have finally finished making a wallet/purse from an apple juice carton.

I started this a few months ago.  I copied the design of a leather wallet I have and cut the pieces out of an apple juice carton. I was keen to make the whole wallet from one carton so I did adapt the design slightly.

I then punched out the holes everywhere I would need to sew it together.  I used the amazing little tool you can see in the top right of this picture and then used the stick to push out the pieces of the holes.

I then used plarn (yarn made from cutting strips of plastic bags) to sew it all together... 

 and voila!  In the end it was pretty simple so I could have finished it a lot quicker!!

The final result does actually seem functional so je suis contente...:-)

Orange Jewellery

So I cut up an orange skin into interesting shapes, then scraped off the pith...

I left the pieces to dry and then strung them together with some beads cut off an old pair of flip-flops before throwing them out.
Voila!

(I tried dying some pieces in beetroot juice... I'm not sure how successful that was, maybe next time I'll dry them out first)

The Brolly-Skirt... Parafaldas

First post!

Welcome to the blog.

I will be presenting the results of my recycling creations here.

So... first up: the Brolly-Skirt, modelled by moi...

  
This was made from an umbrella I found in a bin on the street, the wire frame was a broken, but the fabric was in perfect condition.


- I removed the fabric from the frame and unpicked all the seams from the centre until it could fit around my waist.
- Next I used a part of t-shirt to make the waistband, using the bottom seam of the t-shirt on the outside.  (I embroidered the flower design on the waistband before I attached it)
-The basic structure of the skirt finished I just sewed on beads for decoration on the hem and made a flower, which I attached the the umbrella's velcro strap.

  
It was quite simple to make, but the fabric was very slippery.