Recycled Crafting

Memory matching game

2009-02-03T10:36:00.000-08:00

I made a Memory Matching Game for my 3-year-old for a Valentine's Day present. I cut squares from a pink wool sweater, and cut hearts from red, pink and purple wool scraps.

Here are some pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tilia09/3251303782/in/set-72157613317899666/

Wool microphone and crown set

2009-01-01T17:50:00.000-08:00

I made this cute set out of one pink, and one blue wool sweater. I didn't have a pattern, I just winged it.

Here is the microphone, with on and off buttons:

The microphone in action:

Here is a reversible crown. I used 2 sweaters with waists that had felted to be small enough to fit around my daughter's head. It is also kind of stretchy. I just cut them so their sizes matched, sewed the bottoms together, then cut the tops to match each other!

The set:

Brown bag it!

2008-12-01T17:27:00.000-08:00

Here are some cute brown paper bags that I finished on Thanksgiving. They are made with 2 layers of a brown wool blazer that I felted in the washer. They are 4 inches long and 3 inches tall.

Breakfast playfood

2008-11-25T13:09:00.000-08:00

Here is what I have made so far for breakfast foods:

Eggs, sunnyside up

Toast

Yogurt cup with removable lid

Waffles with pats of butter, and cinnamon rolls!

Sushi rolls!

2008-11-04T08:17:00.001-08:00

Here are some sushi rolls that I made out of wool sweaters. They are the size of actual sushi rolls.

Wool elephant made from a striped sweater

2008-10-15T15:38:00.000-07:00

Here is the finished elephant that I made out of a 100% wool sweater I bought from Goodwill. He is 6 inches tall and 5 inches long. He is hand-stitched with grey cotton embroidery floss, using the blanket stitch. He is stuffed with wool sweater scraps.

At the bottom of this post, I have some in progress pictures.

Here is the sweater I bought at Goodwill. It cost $3.38. The cotton floss I used costs $1.50 at JoAnn's. I use the cotton perle kind because it doesn't need to be seperated like the regular kind of 6 strand floss.

Here it is after I felted it. I washed it on hot with a little Dawn soap. I actually did it a couple times because it was feeling too stretchy. I have noticed that if the sweaters don't felt up right, then legs of the elephant get really wobbly.

Here it is cut out. This particular sweater only had enough fabric for one elephant. I shaved the sweater a ton with a sweater shaver.

Here it is partially sewn. The inside of the legs are shown at the bottom. You can also see the wool scraps. I cut them up into tiny little pieces so it is easier to stuff the elephant (then there aren't lumps).

I don't have a pattern, I just kind of make it up as I go. He turned out so cute!! He is for a swap on MDC, so I am super happy with the way he turned out. Now I am on the hunt for more striped sweaters at Goodwill!!

Slider made from wool sweaters

2008-09-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

I made this mini-burger out of different colors of wool sweaters that I felted in the washer. I sewed all the different pieces first, with beige embroidery floss. Then I put a few stitched through the whole thing, starting at the bottom of the top bun, going through everything to the top of the bottom bun piece. That way, all of the individual pieces don't get lost.

This slider is about 3 inches tall and 2 inches wide.

More wool playfood

2008-09-10T07:41:00.000-07:00

Fruits and veggies I have made:

Slices of mushrooms, tomatoes and cucumbers for salad

Pumpkin

Slices of lemon

Banana

Radishes

Wool playfood

2008-09-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

Here are some items I made with wool sweaters:

Yummy personal pan pizza with our favorite toppings, black olives, mushrooms and green peppers.

Pizza with 4 different slices (about 8 inches across).

A cheese omelet!

My first post

2008-09-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

I love making items by recycling other items. Last year I learned how to make food for my daughter's play kitchen out of old wool sweaters I found at Goodwill. It has become a fun hobby of mine and I have recently branched out to making wool animals for her to play with. Wool felt is amazingly easy to work with, washes well, and looks nicer than synthetic felt.

To make wool felt, you simply wash the sweater on hot. Sometimes the sweaters you can find are already felted by their old owners, probably by mistakenly tossing a wool sweater in the dryer.

I buy "food colored" wool sweaters at Goodwill and sometimes garage sales. Around here, a sweater is $3.38 full price but a lot of times I can find outdated sweaters on sale for $1.69 on half-price day, or a quarter on Mondays.

You can also use wool skirts, blankets, suits, etc, as long as they are 100% wool.

To felt:

Cut up the sleeves so you don't get a fold mark, it gives more "fabric" that way.
Wash like colors on HOT with regular detergent or sometimes I use blue Dawn.
Rinse until there are no more suds in your washer.
Dry on hot, cleaning out the lint trap often.

I use the cuffs and hems as stuffing for my items. I like to use the blanket stitch (with cotton embroidery floss) to sew the wool.

Here is an example, and I will be posting everything I made with pictures later.