Random Blogging

Reconstructing an Infant Costume

[ Posted by krista Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:08:50 GMT ]

Here is something i have been wanting to do and finally got a chance. There are some finishing touches i need ideas for but i think my son loves it so far.

Posted in Tutorials, Craft, Sewing, On the Cheap | Tags costume, Recon, tutorial | no comments

Recon inspiration

[ Posted by krista Tue, 23 Oct 2007 11:31:24 GMT ]

I am in love with the unusual looking kind of clothing. If anyone remembers junkyard wars then you will remember the futureistic recycled looking clothes they wore there.  I have a facination with this and have founs someone to be inspired by. Her high collars are very inspired and the mixtures of materials and cuts it to die for. She has a very keen eye when it comes to embelishments and this makes me so jealous!

the pic links to myspace page for Jodito and then there is her craftster link here 

maybe i will be ambitious soon and try my hand in the remaking of clothes that would be less of a standard and more into the unusually hip :) 

Posted in Month of Recon, Sewing, Fashion/Clothing, On the Cheap | Tags idol, nspiration, Recon, reconstructed | 1 comment

Good idea to add to the recon work

[ Posted by krista Sat, 20 Oct 2007 11:15:43 GMT ]

I just came across this blog that someone pointed out in a comment and i read about how she made fabric blocks.

see the article and blog here 

Picture BY: nikki on http://craftnerd.blogspot.com 

I think this will be a great idea to add to my cache of things to do for the month of recon!!! 

Posted in Kids, Homemaking, Month of Recon, Craft, Sewing, On the Cheap | Tags blocks, Kids, Recon, reconstructing, Recycling, sewing | no comments

HA! I made a beer cozy from a Breastfeeding bag and old cell phone!

[ Posted by krista Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:42:47 GMT ]

Now that i got your attention I will show you how!

things i used..

Breastfeeding cooler bag  (sometimes they come as a gift from the hospital)

scissors, needle, thread, sewing machine, all that kind of stuff.  

sillicone adhesive caulking.

marker

drill and small bit

nips for cutting heavy plastic  

old cell phone holder with belt clip or anything like this.

All of that made my husband a beer cozy good for wearing on your belt in istuations where you have no cup holder.. like mowing the lawn ... :)

also this cozy will keep the beer cool and the sweat off the table.

Posted in Tutorials, Month of Recon, Craft, Sewing, On the Cheap | Tags Bag, Beer, cheap, cozy, funny, Husband, Recon, vinyl | 1 comment

Recon clothing Preggy pants into headband

[ Posted by krista Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:47:20 GMT ]

Months worth of recon begins!

I start by pulling my hair back. I do have headbands in my bathroom but i am not satisfied with their legnth, the tightness, the color, durability and so on. I like cloth headbands but they do not stay put. So.. i made my own from some maternity pants.

Posted in Homemaking, Tutorials, Month of Recon, Craft, Sewing, Fashion/Clothing, On the Cheap | Tags clothes, headband, Recon, reconstructing, tutorial | 1 comment

My recon challenge!

[ Posted by krista Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:11:03 GMT ]

Now i plan on doing something a little big for me. As everyone who is a regular reader knows i am a reconstructing clothes newbie and now i am an addict to it. I have been saving lots of clothing in storage for no reason other than memory and the "just in case" state of mind and lately i have attacked the storage and now am on a mission. I have been doing a lot of reworking and tutorials for what i have done but now i am challenging myself. I will be doing a months worth of recon self challenge. I am challenging myself and others to do a months worth of recon. Personally i will do it and post every bit of a day in a recon addict when it comes to what i do, how i do it. I will do every step for a month.

This will start next week so keep checking. I have a wedding shoot to do and edit for this weekend but will be getting things ready to do this.

My first steps is to make sure all the clothes in our house are cleaned. so i must do all the laundry. then i need to go through the kids' closet removing all the stained, damaged, out of season clothes and then all the clothes that do not fit. I need to make sure to mend the small things like lost buttons, severed seams, and so on. Then I need to go through my husband's and my clothes and do the same. I need to then collect the storage clothes, blankets, towels, retired bedding, blankets, old fabric scraps from sewing and crafting, basically everything that can be sewn.  I will then collect it all in one are, organize it and then get to work! I will document everything that i use and also my total purchases too for supplies if i have to make any purchases. I will then also show shots of the sewing area, showing everything that i have done collecting, showing all of my mess, showing also my pile of storage reducing in size. I think this will be exciting and could go past a month. So please keep checking back! and i will be creating a category just for this month's challenge.. 

Happy recon everyone! and i hope to hear for everyone! 

Posted in Month of Recon, General News | Tags Challenge, Recon | no comments

Guide to reconstucting clothing

[ Posted by krista Fri, 12 Oct 2007 13:29:28 GMT ]

Finally i made somewhat of a guide. Tell me what you think!

Reconstructed clothing guide.

Why reconstruct clothes?
-to recycle
-to save money
-to lessen the amount of storage
-to clean your closet
-to make items personal and one of a kind
-to save your favorite clothing from the trash

How do you start?

In my opinion you should start small to get the hang of it. Take a piece of clothing and add something to it. A design, some trim, some kind of flair.
Or You can do something else small like take something away, take out a hem for a rough edge, take off the lace trim, take off the design.

A slightly more advanced thing to do is modifying structure. Subtract length, to sleeves, pant legs, the bottom of a shirt Subtract the size of the shirt by taking in seams. You can do other things like change the collar type of a shirt, add a collar, add a layered collar. Maybe add some sleeves, modify the type of sleeve, add fabric to the sleeves.

Then even more advanced is for more experienced sewers. You can use a pattern to make modifications, completely rework items like making one item into another.. Example, make pants into shirt, make shirt into skirt, make skirt into purse. You can even do something like cut open all seams and hems and think of the item as just plain fabric use a pattern or just freehand it.

What I do is think of something I might want or need and raid my storage for supplies to make that item. Or when i get bored I look for something in storage that I  like and see what i could make out of it.

If you get stuck just do some simple moves.. fold it, look at it, imagine it as something else, take out a seam and then look at it again, take off trim, sleeves anything else and look again .. it will come to you !

And most important!
SAVE ALL YOUR SCRAPS! things that come in handy..
trim, elastic, strips and pieces of fabric, decorative items, snaps, buttons, lace, patterns and everything else! These all could become something. even if you cannot work it as an item itself it could be an add on to another item.

I hope this might help someone make the effort to get a little creative and crafty :)
And if someone has any additions to this guide then please help me by sending suggestions. 

Posted in Homemaking, Tutorials, Art, General News, Craft, Sewing, Fashion/Clothing, On the Cheap | Tags Clothing, craft, craftin, Guide, Recon, reconstruct, sew, sewing | 5 comments

Reconstructed clothing : Vest from pants

[ Posted by krista Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:17:24 GMT ]

Trying once again to dress my younger one.

So many resources for fabric in our storage. I found lots of sleep pants, almost too many for my son to wear one a day for a month!

So now to make something else that he might need. I know he needs a little bit better looking clothing than the p.j.'s and cutsie baby stuff. I thought i need to start manking him something that is a little more grown up and kid looking., not baby.

I thought to myself that a vest could be the best thing because he has a lot of shirts that have that food stain that i cannon get rid of and a vest can cover that very well and extend the life of those shirts.

Now i start the easy vest from fleece sleep pants

Posted in Kids, Homemaking, Tutorials, Craft, Sewing, Fashion/Clothing, On the Cheap | Tags Clothing, Kids, Pants, Recon, reconstructed, tutorial, vest | 1 comment

Reconstructed clothing: P.J. makeover

[ Posted by krista Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:15:59 GMT ]

I did promise to have the tutorial up yesterday but the fates were against me again. But through a lot of work i got it all ready for everyone.

But please do not laugh at the crappy drawings and the lack of terminology. :)

But here is the tutorial to remake frumpy p.j.'s

Posted in Homemaking, Tutorials, Craft, Sewing, Fashion/Clothing, On the Cheap | Tags Clothing, p.j., Recon, reconstruct, reconstruction, s, sewing, tutorial | no comments

Reconstructed Clothing : Salvation of the Nursing Bra

[ Posted by krista Wed, 03 Oct 2007 20:12:22 GMT ]

I Had my second Child Recently and was left with the maternity clothes and the post partum Fat clothes in my basement. I have been slowly going through them to see what i can do and i made my wat to the one thing i have so many of yet so little of. Let me clarify, I have many nursing bras that are almost like new and not many standard bras that are in the same decent condition. I decided to revamp the nursing bras.

Posted in Homemaking, Craft, Sewing, Fashion/Clothing, On the Cheap | Tags bra, clothes, Clothing, Recon, reconstructed, recycle, sewing | no comments