my little mermaid

This is Kylee's mermaid costume.  I made the skirt out of an old blue prom dress that I actually never wore anywhere except Walmart one crazy night with my friends.  I didn't use a pattern, just eyeballed it.  The flowers and the straps for what Kylee calls her "shell boobies" were made from felt and the rainbow stripey fabric was just some extra I had lying around from another project.  The "shell boobies" are made from shoulder pads.  I made the round pouches for the bra and put the felt straps in at the same time so that they were connected already when I turned the pouches inside out.  I left a gap in the bottom of each pouch to put in the shoulder pads.  I cut the shoulder pads to the right size after I made the pouches.  It's a lot easier to cut the shoulder pads to the right size after making the pouches than it is to make pouches the right size to fit the pads.  I used felt to make the flowers and hand sewed them on for some fancy finishing touches.

upcycle!

I love to make things out of t-shirts.  Coincidentally, I have a huge basket filled with t-shirt scraps.  I decided to make a set of coasters using a rag-rug technique and t-shirt yarn.  I made a set of 4 coasters from tie dyed and plain colored t-shirts.  They turned out awesome.  They work really well to soak up any moisture and if they get dirty at all you can just throw them in the washing machine.

I also have several pair of worn out jeans that other people have given me to use for whatever.  I made these slippers out of a pair of jeans and some scraps of an old sweat shirt.  I drew the sculls and crossbones onto some felt, cut them out, and I hand-sewed them on.

Care Bear Costume

 My daughter loves to dress up in costumes every day and I have cut up many things to make her costumes that i didn't really want to cut up.  This instance, it was a Snuggie.  I used my Snuggie to create this hoodie and skirt combo and made the rainbow belly badge with some felt.  The skirt also features a heart right on the right butt cheek.
It was a little big around the neck in this picture, so I sewed some elastic into the neck and that perked it right up.  My daughter has since grown into the costume quite well and she wears it all the time.
Static is a problem though.

Tofu Lettuce Wraps

1 lb Firm Tofu, crumbled
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
3 Tbsp rice vinegar
3 Tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cup Orange Juice
1 Tbsp Ginger
4 cloves minced garlic
1/4 tsp dry mustard

1. Marinade the tofu in a caserole dish for at least an hour and up to 24 hours.  (the tofu can be pressed to soak up the marinade better)
2. bake in the marinade at 375 for an hour gently sitrring every 20 minutes
3. garnish with coriander or parsley and serve in lettuce bowls, serve with Ponzu Sauce

my bellbottoms

  
This is a picture of my favorite jeans.  They started out as my work jeans (LEI jeans from Walmart).  When I no longer needed to wear them to work, I put them in the closet and never wore them.  I decided to try and make a pair of bell bottoms, so I pulled out my LEI's and a tie-dyed t-shirt that I didn't really wear all that much.
     First, the jeans were a very dark wash, so I mixed some bleach with water (about 50/50) and sprayed the jeans until they were wet.  I hung them in the bathroom over the tub and checked on them a lot.  When I thought they were a nice hippie color, I rinsed and washed them.  They turned out perfect.
I used a seam ripper to detach the jeans up to the knee on the outside seam.
I cut the t-shirt into two equal triangles by putting the shirt inside the opening I had just created in the jeans and marking the corners with pins.  I gave myself a small seam allowance and cut the triangles out of the shirts.  I pinned each side into place and sewed them in on my machine (with the pants inside out to hide the seams).
     They looked cool, but not cool enough, so I sewed the little bird applique on one side.  The bird was cut from a plain black t-shirt.  I used the scraps from the same shirt i used for the sides and made little flowers, then used embroidery thread to make the stems and leaves.
Here is a picture of the details