Wait – don’t throw that away!
I’m a bit sentimental about my children’s outgrown clothing. And while I do pass a lot of it on to friends and for donation, I’ve kept a (growing) bag of ‘favorites’–clothes that I feel some attachment to, or even those that might be a tiny bit stained, but some of the fabric is still useable. My plan has been to make something for my children out of their old clothing at some point. What, you might ask? Well, I’ve been looking…
This baby quilt is from the archives of Wee Wonderfuls. She used her son’s outgrown baby clothes to make him a quilt. I really like the application of this idea into the modern design she created.
Recently I spotted this fabulous creation by Lori Joy Smith, who uses her daughter’s outgrown clothing to make truly unique art quilts with a combination of embroidery and sewing.
What crafty plans do you have for your children’s outgrown ‘favorite’ clothing? Or yours, for that matter! A softie? A quilt? Art?
April 6th, 2006 at 9:16 am
I was thinking of collaging shadow boxes with other pieces of memorabilia from the same era that may or may not be related. I don’t even have children but this post really gets one thinking. He he. Really though I was thinking of this idea for beloved vintage t-shirts of hubbies! I can’t wait to see what you do with Calvin, Ezra and Adelaide’s adorable things, but you could probably make a million wonderful items!!
April 6th, 2006 at 9:51 am
I have a stack of Leo’s madras plaid overalls, shirts, and shorts that are just waiting to be made into a roman coins quilt, but *I’m* not ready to cut up my children’s outgrown clothing yet; not ready to admit that we probably won’t be having any more kids to wear them. Maybe this summer.
My favorite thing about Hillary’s quilt is that she links many of the pieces to a photo of her son wearing the clothing it’s cut from. Maybe I can still squeeze Leo into some of those shirts, cause I’m not that organized!
April 6th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
When I was 10my mum made me a quilt for my bed from MY old clothes. This post reminds me that I could start using it again…
April 6th, 2006 at 5:01 pm
Inspired by Hillary’s I made a quilt for my daughter from some of her old babygrows. The stretchy fabric was hard to work with (especially for a beginner like myself) but i’m pretty happy with how it turned out:
http://ervilhas.weblog.com.pt/arquivo/142350.html
http://ervilhas.weblog.com.pt/arquivo/155140.html
:)
April 6th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
i’ve no kids… but i do wear out alot of shirts of the cotton-lycra jersey type. usually by the time i’m done they are pretty worn out, or have stubborn stains.
they aren’t of the nice broadcloth… i dunno what to do with them?
seen anything that might be good?
April 7th, 2006 at 12:51 am
Anamaria, cutting into the clothes sounds like a surefire way to bring on another baby! ;)
April 7th, 2006 at 5:58 am
I’m using my daughter favorite old pajamas, a bit of her beloved “snuggy” and some flannel to make the wee bunny from wee wonderfuls for easter. I was quite proud of this brilliant :) idea and am happy to see others recycling their children’s old clothes etc. to make something new and wonderful. Viva la craft!
April 8th, 2006 at 11:09 pm
I don’t think I have the courage to cut up my favorite kid’s clothes (not yet anyways) but I have held on to t-shirts that I love, but that have stains (somehow I manage to be the lamest laundry mom around – I can never get stains out!). Anyways, I think I have my solution (and maybe something for you, makingtime) – Canadian House & Home magazine has a a great article on recycling stuff called “reclaim to fame” and they show how to make a rag rug out of old t-shirts notted onto rug hooking netting from Michaels. It looks super simple and really soft – cut the netting to size, sew 2″ grosgrain ribbon along the edge to keep the netting from fraying (I’ll probably just use some nice plain cotton) – then cut the t-shirts into 1″ x 6″ strips and knot the strips onto the netting. I love the idea of using my kids shirts to make soft little rugs for beside their beds.
April 12th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
I made a rag-rug wallhanging out of my daughters first size babygrows, I posted about it recently: http://gentlytiptoe.blogspot.com/2006/03/its-finished.html and there is a picture there too. I want to make something for my other children now using their smallest clothes, I love that Wee Wonderfuls quilt.
May 4th, 2006 at 12:00 am
This is my favorite way to quilt. I not only use my kids clothes but my own, my husbands and any other stained, torn or whatever clothes I can find. Thrift store prom, bridesmaid and wedding dresses are great for a little something shiny or fancy. I love to use denim, corduroy and old towels for texture. I’ve even used an old teddy bear that had it’s eyes chewed off but was still in pretty good shape. Here’s one I made using basic 6″squares big blue blanket Dismantling the clothes relaxes me and helps me to come up with ideas
I get overwhelmed at the fabric or specialty quilting stores….there’s just tooo much to choose from, I’d go broke if I bought everything I liked.