Cashmere gloves from an old sweater

I told you I was obsessed with upcycling sweaters in my previous post, so no surprise that when it was time for my mother-in-law's birthday gift (Valentine's Day) I thought of making her a pair of mittens.

The inspiration came from finding a cashmere sweater for 3.99 USD  399 USD ;) at a charity store.

It was so soft and so beautiful I could not resist buying it without caring if it turns out to be boxer shorts for hubby or these mittens ... 

There are many patterns on the internet - some more professional and complicated than others, but I picked the one of Studio 5. Additionally to the pattern, there is a step-by-step video which is helpful (especially if you are anything like me, who can't figure out where the thumb goes :))) 

Link to the pattern and video HERE

The written instructions as well as the video are precise. I would only add that as a first time mitten maker you are not going to make it in 30 minutes as it is suggested.

Here is my step-by-step just to show you that even those who can't figure out their fingers and their right and a left hand can make this project ... 

Each glove is made of 3 pieces of the outside fabric (cashmere) and 3 pieces of the inside (fleece). 

Pin and sew together all 4 gloves. Insert fleece glove into the outer shell glove. Sew together the layers.

Cut the sleeves of the sweater and pin reverse to the gloves. 

Sew the cuffs in place and decorate them if you would like to.   

I cut a piece from the bottom of the sweater and zig-zag stitched it all the way. While sewing, pull on the fabric (sweater) and it will fringe. I folded a piece back and pulled it all together to create a flower. (Most fabric flowers are created with this technique.) A button in the middle and it's done! 

Happy Birthday Nana!

I am sorry to disappoint all, but my next project is also "gloves" :) I am just so into them and LoLo is shamefully wearing mittens from the 99 cent store ... not good when everyone is asking if I self-made my t-shirt, sweater as well as shoes ... LOL 

Have a great week Lo(lo)velies! LV

Upcycled felt Lola dress

I have a new addiction and it's called FELT ("I felt it in my fingers, I felt it in my toes ..... tralalalalalaaaalaaaa")! Since I discovered this medium I've been visiting the local thrift store as often as I pass by (which is pretty much daily) and this is the scary part: every time I enter I get the feeling of a gold rush and throw myself at the hangers like a hungry vulture at his prey. Uhmmm ....  ok, I don't know if this description is flattering, but in any case just imagine a woman in her long, shapeless down jacket and a white furry "chicken" hat (as London calls it) rummaging through the racks with a huge grin on her face .. MOI!

If you've never shrunk a sweater (only by mistake) do not be intimidated! It's an easy-peasy process. But before I start .. here some tricks of the trade I've learnt from my collection of shrunken sweaters and scarfs:

1. Men's sweaters are always a better buy at the charity store! First of, they are larger in size, so you get more for your money. Second, they ALWAYS cost less! (Yes, ladies! It's not only your haircut that's more expensive and bathroom line that's always longer .. now here come the sweaters!)

2. Buy 100% wool or at least 80%! Maybe 75% ... but nothing else!

3. I cut the sweaters apart before washing them. (Not sure what the felting gurus rules say, but I did ..) Some frilled in the wash, but put a damp hankie on it, iron and it's back to status quo! I didn't unravel the sewing .. I figured that half an inch won't really add so much value as much time I would have had to spend on it. I simply cut up the sweaters and discarded the sewing line.

4. By now you must sense that I am not the most patient of crafters and cut corners right and left :) UHmmm ... if that's what you are thinking you are correct! I tossed the cut up sweater to the laundry with my pink flip flop and a bit of detergent, warm water and a short wash ... The washing machine was full of fluff afterwards, but for me it seems easier to clean up than a pillow case that many are using to contain the fluff. I cleaned the machine out afterwards with a few wipes and it worked.

5. I used the drier. Always! Though watch out, because a really warm sweater can shrink to a miniature for your toddler's doll's wardrobe. (Don't ask how I came across this information). Ok, so you may not want to tumble dry it if you already have a size and thickness that you'll like.

6. The thickness of your felt (if not the same) has to be approximately the same.

7. I am not an expert and everything above may be a subject to change depending on factors I wouldn't know about. Experiment it out yourself!

Ok, so now that you have gone through your family's closet for sweaters to shrink and visited the charity store, found your flip flops to be washed and have a nice piece of felt, this is what you can make out of it ...

       
Lola's dress is made from my H&M scarf (stripes) and a 6 USD second hand men's sweater.
I got the dress pattern from Betz White's book "Warm Fuzzies: 30 Sweet Felted Projects", but you can easily make your own pattern.  Just draw around an existing apron dress, cut out the pattern and cut it into different squares  .. see the photo collage below

Use zig zag stitch to sew the pieces together ... Cut away uneven ends ...

You may or may not line the dress. I did and I don't think it's necessary at all (though it looks far more professional). The book has a pattern for a tea cup pocket, but I wanted to make Lola's dress different, so I found a heart nurse in a flying saucer on one of the old Ikea fabrics I had and made an applique out of it (two sided stabilizer) ...  The result ...

As you can tell, my model is not overly cooperative and the photo shoot turned out to be a chase around the kitchen island with my camera swinging on my neck and taking turns around the corners as a formula race car driver ... The drive-by photo shoot turned out this  ... 

Here are some great recycled sweater projects if you don't have a toddler in your house, who would complain that their new dress doesn't twirl ... 

Wrap it Up and Roll it Out: Recycled Felt Pencil Roll-UP

Ikea Ottoman Cover (hand sewn) ...

 I love it!  

Sweater mittens 

(I think I need a pair of these in my life)

Oh and remember! These awesome things can be hand sewn also. Hand stitching gives so much character to any item. These are just a few examples, but I've seen scarfs, blankets, slippers just to name a few upcycled sweater projects. And get this! I just saw a pair of upcycled mittens at our local craft store for 95 USD! Wink, wink! Free pattern through the link above. 

Ok LoLo(vie)lies, I am off to bed. Thank you to all who just "like"d me on Facebook and Pinterest and all the comments that warm my heart. If you make anything from your oldies, please share! 

I would LOLOve to see! 

Have a great week and while I have visitors for another few days I am off making Pickles's partner (Bagel) in crime, who's been since re-named to KoKo. 

LO(lo)V(i)E, LV    

P.S. If you aren't as impressed with upcycling sweaters as I am, but have a closet full of woollies stashed in your closet waiting to be thrown away you know how to contact me ;)

Toddler jeans makeover

One of the few hand-me-downs we've received for LoLo was a pair of jeans. I didn't mind the color, but the "style" was just really terrible. I've seen many jean makeovers from wide leg to skinny and so I followed in the footsteps of moms that try to bring some fashion into their little guy's wardrobe.
Check Freshly Picked blog for the skinny jean tutorial HERE

(Story time: Right after LoLo was born I went clothes shopping to our local Duffy's. While I was finding the cutest outfits for Lola, I couldn't even locate the boy's section, let alone a single outfit! So, I asked a shop assistant if it was on a different floor for some reason. She smirked and pointed at a single rack of clothes with about 50 items hanging on it. "Over there")

So, back to my tutorial (sort of tutorial). After I followed instructions on slimming down the jeans, I dug out an unused foot file and filed the heck out of the jeans, making holes and wears all over the place ... (Hubby was like: "LV, why are you using the foot file on our kitchen table? And what are you trying to do with those jeans? You are not going to put it back to the bathroom, are you?)

I then found fabric, cut out patches big enough to cover any "ventilation" holes I just made on the jeans, so my little guy doesn't get cold; pinned the fabric to the jeans from inside out and was ready to sew ... Then I wasn't ready to sew ... I realized, that you can't really sew through such a small opening with the sewing machine .. ARgghhhhh ... you know the saying "measure twice, cut once"? That never applied to me! So, take my advice: saw the patches on by a sewing machine BEFORE sewing up the skinny legs! Unless ... 

It's funny though how things just work out at the end (most of the times that is) ...  I took an embroidery thread and needle and sewed the patches on by hand, which gave it so much character! 

Don't you think? And how about that modeling pose of my favorite man in the world? 

And here are a few pictures from our fun day out wearing the momma-made-cool-jeans :) 

Hope you are all doing well. LO(lo)V(i)E to you all, as always, LV 

Bringing home the pumpkin patch

Seven seasonals you may not know about me (us): 

1. I own a pair of orange pants (the same exact color as those pumpkins below ... 

uhmm not a surprise? :)

2. London's favorite Hungarian word is "orange", which is also probably one of the most difficult Hungarian words to pronounce "narancssarga" 

3. When I was a little girl my grandma used to bake pumpkins for me and I never liked them.  

Ever since I moved to the US I bake pumpkins every year, so that I can relive many of my childhood memories that remind me of her. 

4. I love pumpkin spice latte despite of the fact, that the flavor has probably more to do with some artificial flavoring than the pumpkin itself ...  

5.  I would love to get lost "for real" in a corn maze (preferably not alone and not in the dark :)

6.  Though it seemed romantic at the time of our wedding photos, rolling in hay is really, really really not a good idea

7. I would love to bake a pumpkin pie .. Anybody with an easy recipe?

Last weekend we took LoLo to a pumpkin patch and apple picking in NJ ... 

After a wonderful day spent with nana and papa, I decided to bring the pumpkin patch home. 

LoLo had these two pullies full of building blocks that they never used. The building blocks ended up in some toy bin and the wooden trays (one from Ikea for 7.99 USD - I have their older version and another one from Target) just kept taking up space ... I've been experimenting with Mod Podge (decoupage glue and sealer) lately and so I decided to mod podge the pulley ...

The process is easy ... clean the surface of your object, put a layer of mod podge on the object, spray water onto your paper so it's just damp, put the paper carefully on the tray and smooth. Let it dry and repeat the top layer of MP as many times as desired. (I did two layers). See the last photo? I bought the rolling tool at Michael's and it's an absolute must if you are going to mod podge anything or everything just what I am doing these days ... 

Our toddler group is having a Halloween party, 

and I think I will make cupcakes and serve it on this tray ... 

Check out the tutorial for the acorns HERE if you'd like to spend a night sewing these little buggers :) 

Did you get scared? :))))

Boo, LV

"Just Love" dress

Lately I've been addicted to the local 99 cent store a few blocks away from us. I bought the t-shirt there that I made into the dress previously and many other things for future upgrade.
Technically, it's not a 99 cent store but a "close-out" store with items that Jay Leno would be showing on his program. You know, the food that's about to expire, the tights with two different leg patterns, the polyester pants that create an electric circuit, the t-shirts with misspelled words and dresses made out of a material that are exfoliators at the same time.

So, I walked into my favorite moth ball smelling store and saw this ... You know there is something wrong with these dresses just by the sign "asssorted" styles ... don't you?

Of course, I took a look at the rack and there was a bunch of Plain Jane dresses, surprisingly made from a pleasant, non-scratchy material. Pink looks good on me, so I grabbed a magenta (?)/hot pink dress and headed towards the seemingly annoyed shop assistant even from a distance. 

"Excuse, me. Where is the dressing room?"

(She looks me up and down then down and up)

"There is none!"

I get it! What she was really saying is "Lady, you think you're shopping at Dior on 5th? For your 6.99 USD that you are about to pay for that dress of yours, wouldn't a dressing room be just a tad too much to have?"    

I bought it anyway! Now look ... what is so obviously wrong with it???? 

Well, if you haven't guessed, let's just say I prefer people (men in particular :) talk to my face and not below :) The cut is so low, it felt like I was half naked with the dress on ... 

So, I rummaged through my leftover fabric stash, found this cute pink and brown flowery fabric, made a belt using heatNbond giving it stiffness. Made two ruffles sewed it onto the rim, connected the two in the middle and it was ready!~    

LOOK:

Don't you "Just Love" it?  (I am not fishing for compliments here - it's the "designer's" label :))))

There! Now I can even lean over and smell the flowers!

Ok, LoLoVies ... this is it for this week, but next week I'll be back with more photos, maybe some necklaces, maybe a recipe and even some I Love NYC stuff. 

Ta Taaaaaaaaaaaa 

Lo(Lo)V(i)E to you all, LV

P.S. Leave a comment, will you? 

I love getting the inspirational push to keep creating, sewing, 

making stuff, plus it always puts a smile on my face. 

Or you can just "like" LoLoVie on Facebook and we'll be friends :) 

Shopping bag to a toddler apron

My first tutorial and craft post YAY! 
After many attempts and html blogger fights with the computer screen the blog is ready (please bear with me during hiccups here and there). 
It all started with my crafty friend Virve (who will be soon introduced here) bringing me a bright pink shopping bag saying "Here, this is so you!  You can surely make something out of this!" 
(Or something like that ... )  

Weeks passed without inspiration but trying to persuade hubby to go food shopping with it (wink wink). He wouldn't ...
Then Karlie's second birthday came up, who loves painting and the idea was born! I don't have the photo of the birthday girl wearing it, so for now the model below is Lolinda. 

 

What do you think?

I just realized I said it was my tutorial, but in fact I followed the instructions HERE from 

Sew 4 Home.  Same easy steps, but skipped the entire paragraph on iron-on-vinyl: the convenience of the shopping bag! Hooray for upcycling! 

What have you upcycled? Please share your idea with me and the world in the comments and stay tuned for a post full of hearts coming SOON! 

Oh yes, and follow/share if you like :)

LO(lo)V(i)E