Reclaimed Pillow Covers
Pillows make great accents in our homes. Sometimes, pillows that may have looked great a few years ago may have lost their luster due to everyday wear and tear and some fabrics may just go out of style, but one could always make covers to give those pillows a fresh look. I had such a dilemma with some pillows that I bought at a clearance sale at a store in our area that was going out of business. I liked the size and shape of the pillows, but not the color. I had some striped pink fabric I loved and had enough to cover the two small pillows.
I placed one of the pillows in the center of the fabric and folded one end of the fabric over half way over the pillow and then the folded the bottom of the fabric up towards the middle of the pillow. I measured and pinned near the places where I would cut making sure to pin a 1/4″ seam allowance. I then cut the fabric making sure to keep the stripes lined up and sewed the sides. I also sewed across the middle, but made sure I left an opening large enough to slip the pillow inside the opening. It turned out very well and I had enough fabric to make one more pillow cover. The pillows look very nice on my chair. In the past, I’ve also used leftover fabric that I reclaimed from old drapes to cover a chair and made a small matching pillow cover. I’ve even used denim from some old jeans to embellish other small pillows to give them a more interesting look, so you can reclaim fabric from just about anything you’d like.
Reclaimed Holiday Cards
Greetings and happy new year. With all the holiday cards we received throughout this holiday season, we ended up with quite a few holiday cards that were too beautiful to throw away. One of my favorite things to do with my old holiday cards is to cut out name tags and smaller cards for many other occasions throughout the year. Those little gift cards at the card section in many big box stores can get a bit pricey. In the past I’ve either free handed my own drawings onto small cards or I’ve made them out of reclaimed holiday cards.
After the holidays, I start out by eying the cards to see where would be the best areas to start cutting out my new cards. Great tools to have are a pair of scalloped edge scissors and a one-hole punch that you may already have or that can be picked up at any craft store. In the past, I have even used a small knitting needle to make the hole. Scalloped edged scissors make great designs on your borders and the one-hole punch is to pierce a small hole in the top center or corner of a gift tag. If you don’t want to tape the gift tag or note card to a gift and you can also pierce a spot on the gift tag or card and run any kind of string, ribbon, or even yarn through the pierced hole. I use a toothpick to push the string, ribbon or yarn through the pierced hole.
Using the scalloped edge scissors to cut around objects and even shaping your own plain circles and tree shapes in the blank areas of most cards can make very beautiful little gift tags. You can even create small note cards by cutting simple square shapes from the folded edge of a card, which looks even more decorative when cut with the scalloped scissors. These tags and cards are not only colorful and whimsical, but also very original. I just hated to throw away such beautifully designed and artistic cards. Some tags have turned out so beautiful that I’ve used them as an ornament to hang on our tree and our wreath.
I hope this gives everyone fun and useful ideas on how to reclaim your holiday cards.
Strawberry Snow Sundae Planter
This giant snow sundae was made by David while shoveling some snow from our back yard. We normally grow flowers or a small tree in this cement planter in the summer months, but in the winter it just sits there empty and drab. While shoveling after one of our snow storms, David decided to pile some of the snow on the planter, then he packed it down with a snow shovel and shaped it with his hands. He then made a snow ball big enough to represent a cherry on top of the snow cap and then added a green plastic tie to the top of the cherry to represent the stem. He then mixed the colors with food coloring and put them in a reused plastic spray bottle and sprayed the snow to look like a strawberry hot fudge sundae. The red swirl straw is made from an old scrap piece of 1 x 2 wood covered with some emergency tape. The ice piece is from an icicle that formed down our gutter. The planter lasted for a few weeks before it started to melt down. Happy Holidays to all from Retrobellish.com!
Snow Strawberry and Chocolate Sundae
Embellished Blue Faux Suede Gloves
Sometimes just a little crocheting could give a plain pair of gloves that little pizazz that can change the look for very little money. I used a size K crochet needle and started with 5 chains to cover the length of the folded cuff on the glove. I then single crocheted in each row making sure to stop and measure the crocheted piece against the glove until it met the other end. Using a matching thread, I hand sewed the crocheted trim in a few areas near the edges of the cuff. I then repeated this process for the second glove.
Embellished gloves make a great gift for someone special. You can use any style gloves or mittens, any type of trim or yarn and even buttons or jewelry as embellishments to create a different look.
Plain Faux Suede Gloves Ready for Embellishing
Feather Trim I Used To Crochet on the Faux Suede Gloves
Finished Embellished Faux Suede Gloves
Embellished Black Fleece Hat and Scarf
This project started out for me with a worn black fleece hat I had used for more then a few winters. The hat is very warm and very comfortable to wear, and since I have a big head it’s sometimes hard to find a nice winter hat that fits just right. I had some thick corduroy fabric I had previously purchased for making some armrest mats for our couch, but ended up using it for other projects, one of them being a cell phone case for my husband and the brim of the black fleece hat featured in this blog post.
I started by first measuring the hat’s circumference and height because I needed to go all the way around the rim of the hat. I also made sure to include enough fabric to fold over and into the inside rim of the hat. Once I pinned the fabric to the hat, I cut it and started sewing the fabric to the hat. After the corduroy fabric was completely sewn onto the hat, I was very happy with the results and decided to add a little sparkle by sewing on a few seed beads to a very small area on the front of the hat.
I measured the leftover fabric and decided to sew a band onto the bottom ends of my black fleece scarf. I was very glad that I could give my old hat a new look and it was especially nice that I could make a matching hat and scarf set.
This was a fun and easy project for me to do and the embellishments are endless. You can use old earrings, an old pin, knitted pieces, or even feathers if you wanted to, and although I enjoy sewing, you could always use fabric glue or hot glue to adhere your pieces. Remember to have fun and enjoy your embellishing projects to reflect you. So if you have an old hat you just can’t part with, retrobellish it and reinvent it.
Embellished Black Fleece Hat
Embellished Black Fleece Hat Top View
Embellished Scarf To Match Hat