Frugal Friday

Happy Friday everyone! I have really gotten into upcycling clothes lately. There is something very satisfying about taking an old or unwanted piece of clothing and turning it into something "new" and useful. You know the saying, "One person's trash is an other person's treasure." So, each Friday I am going to post pictures of a thrift store find refashion. I will be calling it "Frugal Friday." Here are pictures of my very first Frugal Friday thrift store refashion!

I found this orange and white gingham ladies shirt for $2. It's simple and I actually would have liked it for myself, but it was too small for me.

So I used one of Carson's dresses and made a pattern.

I made the front of the shirt the back of her dress and added 4 button holes and 4 buttons.

I also made a pair of leggings to match. I used Lil Blue Boo's Lil Leggings pattern. I embellished the bottom of the leggings with scrap pieces from the shirt.

I thought about embellishing the dress, but couldn't decide what to do with it. I kinda like the simplicity of it. It reminds me of Orange Cream Soda...

Or creamsicle...mmm

That old, unwanted shirt made the perfect outfit for just hanging out..

and watching the people pass by.

Here are some links to inspiring blogs with refashion ideas, tutorials and patterns!

Sew Much Ado

Grosgrain Fabulous

Lil Blue Boo Patterns

I would love to see pictures of your refashions or whatever else you are up to. Link up toFabulous Friday Follow.

Have a wonderful weekend! See you later!

Fabulous Friday Follow

August 13th-18th

It's that time again! Fabulous Friday Follow...Slowly but surely we are getting the hang of this Blog Hop thing. If you are here PLEASE leave a comment so we can return the favor and FOLLOW YOU BACK!

Laura, from Lily's Laundry Boutique, who is a good girlfriend/sorority sister of mine from UF

is hosting the Fabulous Friday Follow with me.

We are keeping it simple.

Here's what you do...

1. Follow the LLBB and 2GiggleBoxes (We will follow you too!)

2. Click on the Linky Tool below and add your blog.

3. Check out the other blogs on "Fabulous Friday Follow" and follow them too.

We will pick another person from this weeks Linky List who has a "FABULOUS" blog to host with us the week of August 27th-September 1st.

Linky will close on Wednesdayevening and the "FABULOUS" blog will be notified on Thursday, the 19th, via email!

Happy Following!

XOXO, Laura and Sarah

Embellish...A Tote: Tutorial

Turn a plain tote into something fun and personal!

Fancy up your tote with a few simple items...

Simplicity large tote bag ($3 with coupon @ JoAnn's)

6 Grommets (pack of 8...$9)

Fabric (3 pieces measuring 30" in length and 3" wide) I cut some length off at the end and the finished length measures 71". I used Michael Miller's Sea Beauties.

Invisible Ink Pen

Sewing Machine/serger

Are you ready? Let's get started!

Use your stencil and an indivisible ink pen to trace where you are going to place your grommets. I placed the stencil right at the top of the bag. I put a grommet under each handle and one on each side of the bag.

Cut out the middle of the circle. I fold the material in half and snip it. Be careful not to cut outside the circle. It can be tricky where the fabric is a little thicker.

There is the finished hole.

Now take the front and back of the grommet and place it around the cut out circle and SNAP! Do the same thing for the other 5 grommets.

Side Note: Here is my little helper...

eating and showing off her new teeth!

Back to the tote...Take your fabric strips. I had three scrap pieces of fabric that I was going to use for something else, but decided not to...that happens a lot! Anyway, my strips measured 3" x 30". Sew them right sides together and you will have one long piece.

Press the seams.

Then fold the material in half right sides together and press. Note to self: I need a new ironing board cover! And to repaint my nails:)

Sew or serge a 1/4 inch down the open side of the fabric. Leave the ends open...do NOT sew them at this time.

Now turn the fabric right side out. The easiest way to do this is to attach a safety pin to one side of the fabric. Now push the safety pin through until it comes out the other side.

Now press the fabric ribbon.

Cut the fabric ribbon on an angle and tuck the raw edge inside.

Sew 1/8" and repeat on the other side of the fabric ribbon.

Viola! Now I thought the fabric ribbon was a bit too long so I cut a few inches off each side and repeated the previous steps...tuck edges and sew.

Much better!

I like to embroider and so I gave it a personal touch. I added an "A" for my niece Avery. She is turning 7 next week and this is going to be the gift bag for her gift. I like giving reusable gift bags/baskets. I mean if you are going to spend $5 on a gift bag that is going to get tossed you might as well spend a few extra dollars on something you can reuse...right? If you don't have access to an embroidery machine you can always do an applique or iron on transfer. This would make a great teacher's gift too!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

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