A project!

It's been a long time since I made anything. The sewing machine has actually been under the table for awhile, but I got it back out today and had a pretty good afternoon.

I got started making legwarmers, since Anna's refusing to wear pants, and legwarmers are $5 at Target. For less than that, I can get a nice wool sweater at Goodwill and cut it up and have lots of fun. I like to try and find sweaters that people have already washed accidentally, because then I don't feel so bad cutting it up.

Here are the 3 sweaters I started with. The dark one and the pink one were "pre-felted" wool, and the Tommy Hilfiger was all stretched out. It was pretty, but cotton, so I wasn't sure how it would work.

To make leg warmers out of a wool sweater, all you have to do is felt it, and then cut the sleeves off at the arm, straight across. It makes a kind of cropped sleeve sweater when you're done. I use pinking shears, but I don't think it matters. Usually that's all you need to do. Then pull them on the little legs and you're done.

For the cotton sweater, I had to make the tube a little narrower, so that it would stay up. Just turn it inside out and sew a line along side the seam, then turn it back right side out and try it on. Repeat until it fits, and then cut off your excess.

Then I had the bodies of the sweaters to work with, so I made this little bag first. I think it's fun that you can reach through the neck to grab something small, or lift the flap for big things.

Out of the cotton sweater, after much fiddling, I made this little dress for Anna. I'm pretty happy with it.

I posted all of this to Craftster. Eeek!