No-Sew Napkins

Here's a great idea I came across yesterday on a backyard wedding. She made napkins for her wedding by finding sheets from thrift stores and cutting them into size with pinking shears. I love the use of pinking shears, which hide the lack of stitched seams with fun angles. Not only does this DIY method save money, but it's also eco-friendly to repurpose old cloth instead of buying new, and it adds a nice personal touch to an event, whether it's a wedding or a dinner party. Or in my case, I keep meaning to make cloth napkins for my slobby boyfriend so he'll stop destroying the planet with his bazillion crumpled paper napkins.


from a backyard wedding

Reworked Skirt

I had a pair of comfy stretchy jeans since sometime in college (or maybe longer?), but last year the crotch ripped, so I hid it away into my dresser with plans to transform it into a new creation at some point. I had cut off the legs and tried to reuse them as rags, but the "rags" crumbled and bled when put to work, so those were tossed. Two weekends ago I finally had the free time to finish hand sewing this into a skirt, painstakingly cutting, arranging the pieces, pinnng, trying on and repinning again and again until it looked right, and sewing with good old needle and thread.

Ta da! My new favorite skirt. The length and fit feels just right, although it is too tight to wear on my bike. The great thing is that I hand sewed a loose stitch, because I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to sewing, but it still looks like one of those store-bought faux-faded-and-torn skirts. Too bad I can't wear it to work because no jeans are allowed :-( I am worried about how it will fray when I try to wash it, and tearing over time. But since I sewed it, I hope I can patch it up if need be (??)

This is now the second jeans-turned-skirt I own - the first one wasn't made by me or anyone I know, it was just a skirt my sister found at her college free table, and then gave to me. She gets the best clothes from that free table!

I can't help but think, how very "Fix" of me! It feels great to turn an old favorite into a new favorite, to have pride in something I created, and to recycle fabric instead of buying new, which is better for the environment and my wallet.