DIY: From Blouse to Pillow in 10 Minutes Flat

February 26, 2015September 19, 2016 spcountrygal Craft, Decorating, DIY, Home Accessories, Quick Project, Sewing, Thrift Store Craft, DIY, Home Accessories, Quick Project, Thrift Store

Do you have pillow forms hiding at your house? Maybe in your garage? Closet? Craft room? Yeah, me too. And when I say “pillow form”, I am also referring to ugly throw pillows that just need to be updated. Like the ugly hunter green checkered pillow that I adored in the 90’s. It has been hiding in the garage for the last 10+ years. Well, I resurrected it today with this:

I know what you are thinking… that is one stylish blouse. Am I right? Or am I right? Or am I right? The fabric is a really shiny rayon/polyester mix that doesn’t photograph well, but you get the gist. This blouse came from my local, small town thrift store that likes to do deals like “as many clothes as you can stuff in a bag for $2” sales. Yep, I shoved this in my bag, knowing that I wanted it for the fabric only. I wanted to see if I could use it to make some of these silk flowers:

Unfortunately, my gray shiny blouse was an epic fail for that project. Caught on fire! Luckily, I was near the kitchen sink. I know that polyester fabric melts, so I just “Bing”ed the question, “Is rayon flammable?”. The answer, “Yes. Very much so.”. Perhaps I should have checked before I lit it with a candle. Hmmm…you learn something new every day.

I couldn’t let the blouse go to waste, I mean, it cost me a quarter. I got my thinking cap on and thought of my ugly hunter green checkered pillow hiding in my garage and out it came. Remember this pillow tutorial where I made a heart-shaped pillow out of a sweater with buttons? Same concept here. I just cut out two rectangles just a bit bigger than my pillow form using the front and the back of the blouse and then sewed around all four sides. No need to leave an opening so I could shove the form in and hand sew it shut. No way… that is where the buttons come in handy. Check it out:

Can you see how I made the buttons (which were purposely hidden on this particular blouse) off center. Much better than sticking them smack-dab in the middle. Don’t you agree. I made a floppy bow using one of the sleeves and just safety pinned it on. That way I can reposition it later if I want to. I will show you how I did the bow some other time. Promise.

Since it is a rectangular pillow, it can sit either way:

Now you can see why I just pinned the bow on… I might want to change the position depending on which direction the pillow faces.

I seriously spent more time getting my sewing machine set up and then put back away than I spent making this simple pillow. You have GOT to try one for yourself. Resurrect an old pillow of your own. Time to do some blouse shopping.

10 Minute Heart-Shaped Sweater Pillow

January 19, 2015September 19, 2016 spcountrygal Craft, DIY, Home Accessories, Pillow, Quick Project, Sewing, Valentine's Day Pillow, Quick Project, Re-use, Sewing, Valentine's Day

I love all of the awesome items made out of sweaters that I have been seeing all over Pinterest lately. So, when I recently found this red, cotton cable knit sweater at a local thrift store for the right price (as many items as you can shove in a bag for $2), I knew that I had to get it, even though it had a huge hole on the neckline:

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, so I figured that this sweater would make a perfect heart shaped pillow. Since it has buttons down the front, I knew that it would be a super quick, super easy project. You will see why, in a minute.

First, I made a pattern. Needing a bigger piece of paper, I just pieced together a couple of pieces of paper. Remember 1st grade heart-cutting lessons? Yep, it was that simple. Next, I pinned the heart pattern on my sweater and cut around it.

After flipping the right sides together, I quickly pinned them and sewed completely around the heart. This is where having buttons comes in handy. No need to leave an opening for stuffing and then hand stitching it closed… just unbutton to stuff and re-button to close it up.

Once I finished sewing, I just unbuttoned it and turned it right side out. For stuffing, I cut open an old pillow insert and transferred handfuls of the fluffy white to my heart and buttoned it up when it was full enough.

Seriously…DONE. Easy as can be!

Sweater shopping, anyone?

Make Up Drawer Organizing 101

January 1, 2015September 19, 2016 spcountrygal Organization, Quick Project MakeUp Organization, Quick Project

Do you every get distracted? Mean to do one thing and then start another totally different thing? I did that today… and now I have a fully organized hair and make up drawer as a result. Distraction: not always a bad thing!

This is what I started with:

Gross, huh? A mish-mash of lipsticks, eye shadows, combs, make up brushes, hair ties, etc., etc. . There was a drawer organizer down there somewhere, but the junk on top hid it.

First thing, I took everything out and divided it into like piles. Of great importance was the garbage container that I placed in the sink for easy access.

Then it was time to put everything (well, not everything) back. A fair amount of stuff ended up in the garbage and another bit got transferred to my teenaged daughters. This drawer was housing all of their hair stuff (barrettes, bobby pins, hair ties, mini elastic bands, clips…). Not any more. Now that my girls are older, they tend to keep their own hair stuff in their bedrooms. My hair is now quite short and I rarely use hair stuff (see above) any more. Why in the world was I allowing all of that stuff to clutter up my drawer? Gone.

To make my eye make up brushes, eye liners and mascaras easily accessible I looked as far as my spice cupboard.

Tacky? Maybe. Who knows, maybe I will spray paint the tin and add a decorative paper label some day. Not today. Once they were placed in the narrow space left over after the drawer organizer was in place, I didn’t even notice the labels. Another thing, once I put the brushes in the drawer, there were a couple that were a bit too tall to stand upright. No problem. I just used wire cutters to trim a little off of the handle and then sanded them into a rounded end, which I then repainted using dark fingernail polish. Easy fix.

The rest of my quickie organizing project consisted of placing like items together, utilizing my drawer organizer and a couple of dollar store containers. Looks MUCH better, doesn’t it?

Make Up Drawer Organizing 101 Summary:

* Empty everything out of your drawer

* Toss out/move/give away what you don’t use any more. (I tried on every single lipstick to make sure they were keepers.)

* If you don’t have a drawer organizer, get a simple silverware drawer organizer (not the kind with the spoon shapes).

* Put like items with like items.

* For heaven’s sake, don’t put anything back in the drawer that you will not use.

* CLASS FINAL: Jump up right now and organize a drawer. Any drawer. Time yourself, start to finish and just for fun, take before and after pictures. I want to see!

Sometimes we think that a project is too gigantic to do and so we don’t even start it. I have learned over the years that the only way to get a project done is to dive…right…in. Plain and simple. Get started. The pride of a job well done is well worth the 25 minutes that I spent reorganizing this drawer. That is why I think it is great to get distracted sometimes… I have an absolutely organized drawer now.

(Don’t have a drawer that can be used solely for make up and hair stuff? Stay tuned… I can help with that, too!)

Get Organized: Time Out For Shoe Organization

October 17, 2014September 19, 2016 spcountrygal Organization, Quick Project Organization, Quick Project

organize-shoes

Wanna see one of my favorite tools in this whole world?

My Timex Marathon watch. I have been wearing this little number for years and years. Every time one breaks, dies, drowns… I get all panicky until I have a replacement on my wrist. I haven’t seen them in stores for a while, but Ebay has come through for me with the last two replacements. (Thank you, Ebay!) So, why is this little guy so handy? First of all, I love the timer. It easily sets the time in 1, 3, 5, 10, (you get the idea) minute increments. So great for, “You have 5 minutes to get your pj’s on and brush your teeth.” or “Time for a 10 minute tidy”, or “15 more minutes on the computer, then it is your brother’s turn”… I could go on all day. My watch becomes the” bad guy” and I’m just the enforcer: “Sorry, guys. The watch has spoken.”.

Timex also encourages me to get chores done that I have no desire to start. I set the timer for 3 minutes to get my dishwasher emptied and try to beat the beep-beep-beep. Another function that I use regularly is the stopwatch feature. I like to time myself doing projects just to prove to myself that many dreaded projects really don’t take as long as we think they will take. That is is exactly what I did this morning. See that 13.07.09? It is significant for a shoe organizing project that I did this morning.

This morning I looked at my shoe storage unit and was quite underwhelmed.

Pretty boring, cluttered and the unit is flimsy. I decided to be on the lookout for shoe organizing ideas. Then, thought dismissed, I went about my day. Later, I happened upon a small rummage sale and found this little number

…for this little price

IMG_20141017_100253

That’s 3 bucks if you can’t read the fine print!

At first I had grand ideas of painting, distressing it a bit, then staining the piece, but then I decided that I really like the color, and it is just going in a closet anyway. Done! Here is where Timex Marathon came in. I decided to time the whole project with my stopwatch. In 11 minutes, 28 seconds (11.28) I had cleaned the piece, pulled out my existing shoe organizing unit plus shoes and replaced it with the” new” one, and added the shoes.

I rarely wear some of those high-heeled shoes and they topple over so easily, so I decided to grab some Dollar Tree bins (which I already had) to toss them in. Of course I turned on my stopwatch to continue to keep track of the time.

Gorgeous? Nah. Magazine worthy? Heck no! But, I just close the closet door and walk away, knowing that in just 13 minutes, 7.09 seconds I have finished another project. Done! At least until the boots come out of the bin in the garage and the sandals go “bye-bye” for the winter. That ought to take me, what… about 5 minutes.

What project are YOU going to find time to do today?