Upcycle?

I'm not fond of that phrase, but recycle sounds so .... close to rubbish!

I do recycle though, I separate and clean our different waste and we clear out clothing on a regular basis, for the children at least (once a year is regular, right? ;) ) But what do you do with the items that are too roughed up to give to charity? And blue bag clothing drive at school has already passed for the year?

Well, now I'm able to create some sewing stuff.  So that's putting things to good use.  Although if the makers of Toy Story and Robots are to believed, recycling isn't what it's cracked up to be! Two of the littlest's favourite movies, along with Monsters Inc and Nemo ... though I'm not sure she agrees with all the characters' names.  Woody is Buddy in our house! 

Anyway, enough digressing!  I give you a pair of perfectly presentable jeans that once adorned the bod of my eldest, Ewan.  Not a broken jasp on them anywhere else other than the knees!  These were beautifully soft, casual but 'kept for good' jeans from La Redoute, and after a particularly energetic disco at school, came home without any knees!  What is it with boys and an open smooth floorspace that sends them to run around like beserkers and end sliding on their knees like some sort of star football player after another goal scored?!

I took them apart and decided a door draught excluder was a way of making something that wasn't particularly complicated yet functional.  Then I thought, add a handle so it can be hung out of the way when not in use!. The length was a little tight, so I had to add a gussett at either end, and even after all that I thought some hearty shaped decoration would make it more homely in appearance, so what started with a simple tube, became more complicated very quickly!  For some reason my machine has stopped winding on bobbins (argh!) and half way through the final seam to sew, a needle broke!  I took this as divine provedence and stopped there, stuffed it and finished it by hand.  My hand finishing is becoming better as well, though I am still very self critical.  I'm learning to trust a single ladder stitch rather than going over in the opposite direction and making it ugly. I also hand sewed on the patches. After stuffing. Which I would definitely do again! It was quite easy, if a little cumbersome to do, but it meant there was no 'pooks' in the fabric after stuffing! *happy*

Next time I'd just chop the jeans in half and seam them.  I thought I'd be doing grand to get rid of the torn pieces, but realise now I could have just patched over them! Durrr! I've got a few platypus to get on with now, and I'm going to try my hand at a dinosaur with an adapted pattern.  A skirt to take in and a bag to make ... a nice number of projects to keep things ticking over.