Homestead Blog Hop

I wasn't going to link up this week as I didn't think I did anything homesteady worth mentioning.  But, I guess sewing applies, right?  I can't understand a pattern to save my life, but I have been able to figure out how to alter things.  If you do a search on the computer all kinds of things pop up for "repurposing clothing."  I'm having so much fun with it, especially since I'm doing most of my shopping for materials here at home.  I'm especially loving using wool.  I did go to the thrift store to buy some wool sweaters.  And, they were having a sale, so I made out like a bandit!  I was SO excited!  Here's a pic of my haul-aren't the colors gorgeous??  

This is before I felted them.  To felt wool sweaters, you need to put them into a large pillow case (to keep all the fibers from getting thru the holes of your washer basin), add a little laundry soap, wash with hot water & then put thru the dryer.  That's it.  It makes the fiber have a tighter weave, they don't unravel, they're much softer & slightly fuzzy & they are just so luscious! :)
 In the last week I made mittens & I also put a fleece liner inside them.  My family calls them little bundles of toastiness:

 I made a set of longies for my cloth diaper wearing 2.5 yr old.  My other daughter is wearing a sweater skirt I made for her out of a white cable-knit sweater (not wool):

I also made this sweater skirt for Susanna out of an old vest.  I thought leaving the buttons on in front was cute:

Here she is wearing it:

Over the weekend I made a pair of leggings for Alyssa from the sleeves of an old shirt (size 5) & added the body of the shirt as the waist area.  I have lots of fabric, so added material around the waist to look like a skort.  This was my first effort at doing that, so I'm not completely happy with it, but I'll get better at it.

Then, I made a fleece hat that will fit a child or adult.  It was too big for my 2 yr old.  I got the idea for this from ReSweater.  I altered it a little bit, though.  I love it!  I'm going to try this with wool, too.  Someone gave me a bunch of really nice fleece that she had leftover after a craft & didn't know what to do with it.  I'm so glad she gave it to me!

Here's a really quick solution for shirts that have buttons in the crotch when the child gets too long, but the sleeves still fit.  Hack off the bottom just above the leg holes & sew a hem along the bottom with a zigzag stitch.  Makes it look swirly & now fits perfectly!  

This just goes to show you that even someone who never learned to sew as a kid or knows their way around a sewing machine can learn!