Sewing Carrots for Easter

I've got "lots" of old sweaters that I like to cut up and make crafts with.  They are sort of taking over a corner of my sewing room.  I was going through them the other day and spotted a pretty cashmere orange sweater and I decided to make some carrots with it.

Once I got started making carrots, I couldn't stop.  I used some beige and tan sweaters and then found some cute plaid fabric.  For the tops, I cut a 3" strip of felt and then snipped the leaves, being careful not to cut all the way to the edge.  

I rolled up the felt and sewed it into the gather space at the top of the carrot.  I think they came out cute.  

I make some cute tags to put on them and put them in a little basket.  Last night I was moving sweaters around and found two more orange sweaters.  I wish that I had time today to make more carrots!  Maybe this weekend.  

 

Snowmen from Sweaters

For the past few weeks I have been preparing for my annual Ornament Exchange.  Every year my crafty friends each make handmade ornaments to exchange with each other.  This year we had 9 ladies participating.  

I decided to make some snowmen from my sweater stash which is taking over the craft room.  I drew up a snowman shape, sewed and stuffed them and then embroidered a face and X buttons onto them.

Then I added a fabric scarf and a little stamped saying that says, Let it snow.  Each one comes out so differently and they take on their own little personalities.  

I wanted to add a black felt hat to them and went over to Michaels to get some felt, but forgot it once I got there!  So I added a paper hat.  But I'm still going to buy some black felt for the next ones that I make.

It's hard to find cream colored wool sweaters so I took some creative license and made a couple of pink and a purple snowman.  It's a little unusual but I like how they turned out.  

The sweaters that have wool or animal's fur in them make nicer crafts than just cotton ones.  The fibers with the wool melt when washed and dried in the heat and they tighten up, giving the sweater a tighter texture.  They don't unravel as easily, either.

I got the idea to make them from Cynthia Chapman on Pinterest.  I'm happy with how they came out and I'd like to make more for next year.

Here they are sitting underneath the Christmas tree waiting to go to their new homes.  :)

 

Sweater Tree Ornaments

November and December are very busy crafting months.  I'm still working on fall/Thanksgiving projects, yet need to get started on Christmas.  This week I made up some little tree ornaments made from sweaters.  I love to recycle sweaters.  :)

They are just SO cute!  I sewed some antique buttons on them for tree ornaments and added a gold cord for hanging.  Looking through my craft supplies for something that I could use for a trunk, I had the amazing idea to use thread spools!

I found some vintage spools in various sizes and stained them darker to look more like a tree trunk.  Then I glued them onto the bottoms of my sweater trees!  I am so impressed with how cute this project turned out.  :)

I used a 60 degree triangle ruler to cut out the trees and then just sewed them leaving a small hole in the bottom for turning.  I made 2 sizes - the larger trees stand up with a bigger thread spool.  The smaller ones have a mini spool and are a little more top heavy for standing.

I finished up 11 of the little trees.  Now what?  I "need" to make more.  

.  

 

More Sweater Hearts

Recently I was at a thrift shop and bought a couple of old sweaters to use for making some crafts. I should have taken a photo of the sweater so you could see where I started, but here are some of the hearts that I managed to get from the pretty designs in the sweater.

I like to make the sweater hearts to be used as bowl fillers for a centerpiece or to set on shelves.  They made cute decor items and are fun and easy to make.  

I added some vintage buttons to some of them to give them some interest.  They can also be used to hang on a small tree with the addition of a sewn in thread hanger.

The sweaters have a nice give to them and make it easy to work with them for turning and stuffing.  What do you think? 

Have you ever used sweaters for decor or ornaments?

 

Stocking Ornaments from Sweaters

This time of the year I am always busy making things - gifts, crafts, decorations, etc, some to keep and some to give away for Christmas gifts.  Although I've made this stocking ornament a few years ago for my Ornament Exchange party, I saw more of these unfinished stockings cut out in my craft room stored in a bag (shoved in a box in the closet).   

Sadly, my craft room has lots of unfinished projects in it.  It's like the Island of Misfit Toys from the Rudolph movie, only instead of toys, they're craft projects that for some reason never got finished!  

So amidst all of the things that I am working on to get finished for Christmas, I put those things aside and took out the bag of unfinished stocking ornaments to work on!  

The stockings were cut from old sweaters using a Sizzix stocking die.  The top of the stockings are sweater waistbands and cuffs, removed from sweaters.  I did the embroidery, sewed the stockings and added the buttons and yarn to finish them!  I LOVE making things from used sweaters.  Whenever I'm out thrifting, I am always looking for sweaters to cut up. 

I put them in my Vintage shop to use and sell for the holidays.  

Well, at least I've finished one project.