Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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Sewing Day: Things to Never Discard

   Today I am spending most of my negotiable time upstairs in the sun filled Apartment, sewing and sewing and designing and sewing and crafting and stuff like that. I am having so much fun and am knocking out orders and gifts left and right! This makes for a good Wednesday, you guys. On a quick brunch break (on solo days like today I skip breakfast and don’t really need lunch), I thought I’d share a few thoughts on resourcefulness. With Christmas right around the corner, if you are anything like me, you can use a little encouragement in this area.

   Thanks to my sweet Momma, the Queen of the Art of Leftovers for Dinner and the world’s original Re-Purposer, my habit has always been to use found fabrics and materials, recycling stuff as many times as possible before resorting to purchasing anything new. I prefer to collect old things and make them into new things and try to put a new spin on classics before dabbling in a trend. This leads to a lot of, umm, stuff piling up. Some people call it hoarding. I call it stockpiling on the cheap. Thank goodness for excess storage space, right? So my sewing caverns are full to bursting with old castoff fabrics originating anywhere from bed sheets to beach towels and everywhere in between.

Remember when Handsome built me these colorful raised garden beds?
They’re made from all reclaimed lumber from the kids’ old playhouse, 
which was itself built from stockade fencing we had found on someone’s curb a thousand years ago.
Then we filled the raised beds with shredded office papers for soil building.
Zero waste. Unless you count the manure. Technically, that is waste.
But we used it, too. I mean, whatever…

   Okay, the animals and gardening are an entirely separate conversation about resourcefulness. I could talk about composting and healthy diets and cheap, old fashioned organic farming methods for hours and hours. Like, for longer than I could talk about running. But not today.

   Today, back to sewing.

   Some things in this beautiful world translate to re-imagination better than others, and that’s kind of what I want to share with you today. These are just my own thoughts and experiences, so take them with a grain of salt (collected frugally from the counter top, of course; no need to waste NEW salt!). And please share your own re-purposing ideas too!

The Lazy W List of Material Things to Never Discard

  • Jeans Any denim, especially once it’s broken in, is easy to press flat and sew with and combines really well with all kinds of cotton and chenille, etc. PLUS the pockets are usually fun additions to aprons, etc. The possibilities for reusing denim are endless.
  • Sweaters Sweaters might be slightly less enthusiastic than jeans about being cut into new shapes and sewn in with other fabrics, but if you can handle the pilling and stretching, they make luxurious textures for new projects. One of these days days I’ll show you the blanket I’m working on using old, mismatched sweaters. Pinterest is filled with mitten-making tutorials too! Have you tried this? I’d love to know how it goes.
  • Men’s Oxford style shirts Again, endless possibilities. The fabric is usually super smooth and often has nice geometric designs which make cutting straight lines a cinch. I really like to reuse the pockets. And I have found that one men’s shirt, butchered carefully, can become a ruffled half apron in just a couple of hours. If you don’t need the buttons right away, remember to save them! That’s what Mason  jars are for, ladies.
  • Bed sheets I can’t even describe to you how sad it makes me to think of people throwing away bed sheets. I mean, obvious hygiene requirements aside, sheets have built-in straight edges, generous yardages than you can’t buy at the fabric store, and that smooth cottony-ness that makes any sewing project wonderful. SAVE THEM. Some of my favorite projects have been made form a stack of sheets passed down from my Grandma.
  • Worn out bed pillows. Lumpy, yellowed, or otherwise just not fit for slumber, bed pillows can be cut into smaller squares (or left whole, I suppose) and recovered easily for throw pillows, etc. Pillow forms are expensive. And I don’t know about you, but in  my book free is a lot cheaper than expensive.
  • Beach towels So far I have only used beach towels as a quilting-type filler, but I know there are millions of other possibilities hanging out there in the universe just waiting to be lassoed! 
  • Canvas-type (muslin) drop cloths My personal fave way to use this little textile treasure is as a table cloth base. I let it fall flatly to the ground then add more colorful things on top, like silk scarves or ratty lace or actual tablecloths. But drop cloths also make excellent window treatments (they ruffle and embellish easily), place mats (because they are sturdy and bleachable), and pillow covers. You might say that these heavier duty sheets of neutral colored fabric are blank canvases for your fertile imagination. PLUS they are pretty cheap and come all hemmed up already. Not bad, folks.
  • T-Shirts Oh my goodness. Scarves, quilts, tote bags, drawstring tank tops, wall art, you name it. If your family collects sports team or charity event t-shirts like my carpets collect stickers, then you will always be supplied with free craft material. The weirder or more sentimental the shirt, the better. Don’t toss these, man. Just fold them neatly somewhere until you can spend the day with some scissors.

   The items pictured here were all made exclusively from found materials…

Okay, I did purchase the black and white striped dish towel new.
Everythinng else is reclaimed. The hot pink floral apron used to be a sundress.
Again, the onesie is new but embellished with found fabric.
I had SO MUCH FUN making this scrappy little gypsy tutu for my cousin’s baby!
This half apron is fully up-cycled.
The waistband and some of the autumn leaves are made from
part of that bed sheet collection from my Grandma.
Kind of a dark photo, but this is an example of a t-shirt scarf. 
I love these so much, planning to make a bunch this winter!
All reclaimed cotton tote bag.
The floral pattern is really, really old. Like, vintage old.
The striped pocket is just lifted from one of my husband’s old shirts.
Brand new cotton tea towel, embellished with ruffles made from an array of very old garments.
You absolutely cannot beat the texture of old, well worn cotton.
A crib quilt made exclusively from found fabrics.
Again, why not surround a beloved infant with old, cherished scraps 
that not only feel better to the touch but also
are drenched in memories and wisdom from decades past?
Even better, use those old pieces and discreetly label some of them
so the provenance is not lost.
   So my brunch break is over now! I am headed back to the Apartment to finish a certain list of projects before the sun warms the horses enough to welcome my brushing and the water hose doesn’t mind doing a little trough filling. I would be so happy if you shared your inspiration for reusing perfectly good castoff stuff!
Waste Not, Want Not!
xoxoxoxo

Make Your Own Mulch

   Probably any gardening climate calls for some type of mulch, but here in Oklahoma at the height of summertime, using some sort of ground cover between your plants is pretty much a must. We all need something to slow down weed growth and prevent the soil from losing too much moisture. I am personally not a fan of the commercially bagged mulches for which all big box stores are happy to take your loads of extra cash. I like to use either dried grass clippings, rotted dried leaves, or my new favorite… shredded paper.

   The first thing to celebrate is that shredded paper is basically free. Most offices produce it, and lots of homes do now too. You are recycling something that would otherwise go to a landfill somewhere. Around the Lazy W, just one big trash bag filled with shred is all I need to refresh the vegetable garden and fill our chicken coop nesting boxes, plus a little extra for the flower beds. You need a lot less in each little area than you might expect, and it clings to itself and retains water magically.
   This past week on Wednesday morning I scattered shredded paper all through the garden then watered it all down, deeply. I ended up getting pretty sick on Thursday, spent Friday split between the doctor and my bed, and never got back outside until sometime Saturday morning. During all of these days and nights, we had 100-plus temperatures and zero rain, so I expected some withering and suffering. You know what? Nope. The plants were still fluffy and vibrant and producing food, and the soil beneath the white shred was still damp! Seriously. I would not lie about gardening advice. I might lie about how much I weigh or the status of my library account, but not about how effective shred is as mulch. It is very effective. And I know that when it has done its job, the paper will just decompose into the earth. The worms are crazy for the stuff.
   This photo really shows how nicely some shred fills in the spaces between the growing plants. I also like how the white cools everything and brightens up the garden. I suppose if you were to shred some colored paper or used wrapping paper, all the better! The possibilities are limitless. If you try this with colored paper, will you pretty please share a photo? I would love to see that!
   Here is my soy bean experiment bed, growing like gangbusters! In the gentle morning shade, these vines display fuzzy little purple blooms which should soon grow into edible pods. My eldest human chicken is very excited about that. I’ll keep you posted.
   We are up to 714 farm fresh eggs and two and a half zillion baby cucumbers.
   This is not our biggest watermelon on the vine, but it is the most hilarious. I can see it almost from the house when I walk downhill, just hanging right there in the middle of the garden gate, looking out. It has kind of a high pitched voice and only sings, never speaks. It sings to me questions about freedom and democracy,  love and destiny. This round little fruit is heavy for its size both in ounces and wisdom.
All You Need is Love!
   Besides my garden, do you know what else I love at the farm? Everything. Specifically? I love this fuzzy behemoth so dang much. Chunk-hi let me scratch and cuddle and kiss him for about a million hours on Saturday night. He let me cover his eyes and play gone-gone-peekaboo, squeeze his long floppy ears, steer his horns, pull his beard, rub his wet leathery nose, everything… He is a big, warm, dangerously gentle hunka hunka burnin love around this crazy place.
   Okay, friends, if your garden needs some ground-level TLC, I hope you will consider shredded paper as an option. Get out there this week and enjoy all the changing beauty, no matter what else is going on. Know that your garden connects you to God.
Schedule Your Dirt Manicure
xoxoxoxo