Making do (2)

Old Clothes

Clothes-

At the end of the Summer/Winter season, I go through our closets to remove anything that is longer needed. I keep them in a container in the garage & right before the new season begins, I go through it again.This helps to look at the clothing in a different way, because at the time of going through the closets, all you want is to be rid of it. I use the following list to help me out.

1.Good-Donate
2.Bad- Remove what's still good & reuse.

• Take the buttons, hooks & eyes, collar stays, belts,etc.
• Cut the bottom of dresses for a skirt or make cloth napkins.
• Remove jackets old sleeves to make vest.
• Frayed Pants can be cut into shorts or capris.
• Cut into squares & donate to local quilters or thrift shops.

3.Ugly-Cut into rags.

• Flannel-Cut into squares & place into a resealable plastic bag with Olive oil or store bought lemon oil, enough to saturate rags.Shake dust outside and put back.
• Make dryer sheets. Spray with softener, air dry(blue dye could stain whites) and use, repeat.
• Cut & glue to the bottom of items to prevent scratching furniture. Save on buying felt bottoms.
• Silk- Use as rag rollers. They won't pull your hair and are soft to sleep in.
• Anything else, use as pillow stuffing,wax the car, wax the floor & toss,etc..

Cleaning rags

Cleaning-

I don't use store bought cleaning products when possible, they're costly & the aerosol affects my asthma. I also have young children and don't like the thought of using so many chemicals around them.There are germs in the kitchen that are dangerous,so I will use store bought Clorox wipes.The rest I make and keep in well labeled spray bottles or rags in a resealable plastic bag.

• Glass-Equal parts of vinegar & water in a spray bottle. Save newspapers to wipe clean. Save on buying paper towels.
• Furniture-Place 1 cup cheap Olive oil & couple drops of lemon juice in spray bottle or place half the solution in bag with rags.Swish around, allow to absorb and use.
• Scrub -Use baking soda to scrub sinks,tub,toilet,pots, & spots on glassware(not crystal may scratch).

For the rest of your cleaning of floors,walls and such, just use soap and water.
                              

Repurpose-My kids and I have made it a game to figure out what we can make out of certain items before we toss it. I never use anything that has had any type of meat product or is porous and cannot be cleaned properly.Even if they just contained a fruit or veggie, I will still wash thoroughly.

• The glass had a candle, cleaned it out, I now have a vase, terrarium, floating candle holder.
• Used facial cream jar can be filled with economy size lotion to save money. If you have several,use as a travel set.
• Soap pieces, I put into a knee-high and hang on outdoor water faucet so my kids can wash their hands after playing with chalk or such. I also use the pieces to mark my material when I sew. It's cheap & washes off.
• The old applesauce containers, I can use as jell-o molds, to hold kids paints or beach molds.

Rethink

Reuse

Repurpose

• These old containers held fruits, now they keep my kids desks organized and separate my sewing & craft items.
• I used the blue container after I cut a hole on the bottom & side for drainage, it holds my soap and shower sponge.
• The clear ones have lid that snaps shut easily, so they hold food items in picnic basket.

                                                                                                                               My hints for saving money & suggestions to rethink an item before it's tossed away may not be anything new. I just want to show what my family and I do to save a little money, to teach the kids about recycling, to be creative and teach them a little history about making do. It doesn't even come close to what they had to do without in the past, but if reminds us everyday about fortunate we are to have what we do. Then its a good start.

Make do & Mend

Make do and Mend. This slogan and many others were printed in magazines & posters, promoted on radios & at the movies. It was used to motivate & to help everyone understand the shortage of supplies occurring during the war.

Families were given a ration book that had stamps or would get stamped when certain items were purchased.Almost every item in the store would have a coupon value.Families were told how much meat, sugar, coffee and even certain yard goods could be purchased.The goal was to cut down on certain items that were much more needed for the men and women fighting the war.

In order to make it a little easier on everyone, mostly the housewife, they gave out booklets with helpful hints on dealing with the rations. After many things were donated to the war effort, what they kept had to last for as long as needed.They planted gardens to help out the made up recipes to extend the rationed food.They re-knit old sweaters into socks,gloves or even baby sweaters.Blankets became coats, old dresses became aprons, skirts, quilt scrapes & so on.Why buy & use up a coupon if you didn't have to.

They sacrificed for their families,to help out neighbors,to honor their country and especially to support the men and women in service.All of their hard work to care and preserve what they had, is the very reason why we have the vintage items that we do.The dresses we wear, the books we read or their household items we use to cook and decorate our homes. All of these items that are still in a nice condition shows all of their efforts. Everything that we enjoy that's vintage must be cared for so that we may show respect & honor all of their hard work. I thought that I would do my own version of Make do & Mend for today's needs. To "Mend" our vintage items and make them last.To "Make do" and ration what we have and re-think certain items to make them stretch a little farther. I will try to be as thorough as possible. I will split the posts into two parts, so that I may able to give you couple of helpful hints and add a couple of photos.

Vintage shower curtain

I thought I would do a quick tutorial on turning vintage bedspreads or sheets into a one of a kind shower curtain. I don't like altering or cutting anything vintage, unless it's already in shambles & I have no other choice. I'd rather reuse, than toss it.
For this shower curtain, I bought a $2 flat sheet from the thrift shop. It had a wash tag with 1970 printed on it. I hope that you find this tutorial easy to follow.
Materials needed-

1. Vintage sheet or blanket preferably in full size & not too heavy. It won't flow as well.
2. Scissors & pins
3. Marking pen
4. Sewing Gauge
5. Embroidery six strand floss
6. 1-5 Size Embroidery needles
7. Embroidery hoop
8. Sewing machine
9. Shower curtain liner

Always, make sure it's centered to show off the entire design. Find center of sheet & liner.Mark sheet with pins. Mark liner with pen. This will line up the holes for the rings.

Center the holes from the liner to the center of top hem of the sheet. The hole being in center of hem will create a little ruffle on top. Mark holes and cut

Place hem in the hoop to make it easier to stitch.The floss is 6 strands rolled into 1. Separate into 3 smaller strands of 2. This will be a little tricky at first, but it will make the stitching look better.

Once you finish sewing all the holes for rings. Lay curtain on floor to measure the sides to trim excess.If you can, use the liner as a template to measure for width. Add 2 inches with gauge & mark. This will give you a seam allowance. Cut & sew only the sides.

Hang curtain on rod for a day. The weight & steam will loosen fibers in curtain and it will get longer. Take down and then determine the length you want. Mark with gauge, cut & sew. Hang and enjoy!









**If you don't wish to hand stitch each hole, you can use grommets.
**For easier separation of floss. cut the length for stitch & then roll each end in opposite direction. pull out the two strands.
**Don't toss scraps. Use to make coordinating towels. Make tie backs, if choose to make two curtains or just save for other projects. 

More from Cat's Pj's

Clothes do make the man!

            

 She looked just like Irene Dunne.

I was so busy shopping that, I completely forgot to take photos of what I was wearing. I'm lucky that I remembered to take these. Oh, well next time!

Dapper

Coats and more coats

The Cat's Pj's

Recently, my daughter Spring and I went to The Cat's Pajamas vintage show and it was fantastic! Two floors of beautiful vintage clothing, handbags, shoes, jewelry and more.

My friend Peggy & owner of TresYours vintage told me about it last year. Unfortunately, I arrived late and I had to rush around trying on anything that I could find. I ended up buying 3 dresses from a sweet lady with the largest hat collection I have ever seen. I also bought a black dress, my first from TresYours. I had fun, but I always wondered how many more things I could've bought. Like a greedy little kid with candy, I wanted more!

Well, this year I got more. I bought 5 dresses,2 pairs of gloves & 1 hat from the sweet hat lady whose name I finally learned. Carol, the owner of Carol's Vintage closet from NE. TresYours vintage also had a booth and it was there that my daughter found her first vintage dress. My daughter rarely wears a dress & she instantly fell for this dress. It's pretty awesome that one year ago I bought my first dress from TresYours vintage at this very show.                                                               I also bought a brown plaid coat that was originally at $65, then 20 & then 10! I'm not sure who the vendor was, it seems everyone around was grabbing things left & right as soon as she yelled that everything on two racks was $10. My last purchase of the day was a Garay pink wool purse, actually it wasn't very pink.It had brown stains & smelled which is why I got it for $5.

It was so much fun shopping, meeting new people & I loved that they also mixed vibrant modern hair color with vintage clothing. And so, I must wait for the next show in Sept., but in the meantime thank goodness TresYours is just around the corner!

A clean Garay purse--coat--Spring's first vintage dress

From Carol's vintage closet to mine