Patchwork Fun

In the post-holiday-season mad crazy rush on the malls and stores, I met up with a couple of my friends for lunch (at a mall, of course). It was the week between Christmas and New Years, and the place was packed. After lunch, we roamed around, grabbed cupcakes and tea, and shopped a bit. We started talking about consumerism. The whole holiday season, in fact, had reminded us of how consumerism is such an extremely wasteful enterprise. I told my friends about how I patch everything (even my bras) and they were shocked - how had patchwork never occurred to them! So I'm writing this now to say, Guess what? You can patch anything! Below, I've compiled a list of items you can patch with tips on how to:

• Duvet covers, sheets, etc. (My dog loves to chew on duvet covers, so now I buy patterned covers and patch them wherever they need it. You can barely tell!)
• Jeans/pants (These are super-easy to patch, and can be done either inside or outside. Make your pants funky by sewing on a colorful outside patch, where you can see the whole patch from the outside. I once patched a pair of grey velvet pants with magenta satin patches, and those pants lasted years! Another idea is to cut patches in shapes, like stars or hearts or circles. Depending on the jeans, the patches could become the coolest part of them.)
• Flannels, comfy shirts, etc. (These are also really easy to patch, and can be done multiple ways. I tend to patch shirts on the inside so they last longer, but these can be outside patches, too. I will occassionally patch over an old logo or saying on a tee-shirt with an awesome piece of fabric so that I can save the comfy tee for another few years. I patch those pieces outside, and they always come out good.)
• Hoodies/sweaters (Hoodies are easy to patch, since they're usually all cotton & sweatshirt material is easy to sew. Depending on where the hole is, you can use inside or outside. For sweaters, it definitely depends on where the hole is. If it's the elbows, they can be patched with elbow pads, like jackets, or outside patches shaped like elbow pads. They can be patched with inside patches, too. If the hole is in a less conspicuous place, I usually use an inside patch. Make sure the thread matches the sweater really well, because the texture will already be a bit different, and off-color thread can be an eyesore on a sweater. If you don't have any thread that remotely matches, use a complementary color so it sticks out! Make it fun!)
• Bras (Yes, I mean it, you can patch bras. When the wire comes out, fold a patch in half and sew it on. It may not be perfect, but it's great for around the house. Also, I had one bra where the straps were ripping off, so I folded them over and sewed a triangle patch on the corners so that the non-ripped piece of the strap was patched to the larger part of the bra. It's not a bra I wear out to dinner, but I wear it around the house and out to the park all the time.)
• Patchwork (You can make anything out of patchwork, a towel or a bedspread, a skirt or a top, a child's doll or outfit. Save random material for a while, and you'll find you have tons of fabric for patchwork. The plus side is, patchwork is beautiful!)

Patchwork is fun, and exciting! Every time I find a small piece of fabric that looks like it will make a good patch, I'm stoked to see what I can patch with it. There are so many uses for patches, and you can save your favorite clothes for years to come!

Saving Paper: Re-using Greeting Cards

Every year, we all send out dozens of greeting cards. Usually, we save some, display some on the mantle or the fridge, but most of them end up in a pile to be recycled. I began buying recycled cards in order to be a little more green, but I still ended up recycling so many cards that I received. It seemed so wasteful that I had almost given up and decided to send e-cards instead. Then I went to a friend’s house during the holiday season, and she had streamers made of cards strung up throughout her house. At the top of every doorway and even hanging from one window sill, she had ribbons strung which were holding old greeting cards. I was amazed at her ingenuity in re-using old Christmas cards as decorations. Her idea only works for horizontal cards, however, so I began to give some thought to new ideas of re-using greeting cards to decorate. This is the list of ideas I’ve come up with:

• Postcards:  If I receive a card which only has writing on the one panel inside, I cut the front off of the card and use it as a postcard. I draw the lines and boxes on the blank side and leave the design from the front of the card as the front of the postcard. Then I can mail someone a postcard! It costs less in postage, too.
• Streamers: My spin off of my friend’s idea was to create streamers from all kinds of cards: vertical, horizontal, even photo cards. I simply punch a hole in the top and bottom of each card and string a ribbon through the holes. The ribbon covers the back of the card so that the front design can be seen when the streamers are hung. In order to avoid the streamers being too heavy, I usually cut the card in half if it is a folded card and use only the designed half. These streamers look beautiful all over the house, and they can be used year after year. The greatest part is that you’ll never run out of materials!
• Gift Tags: Never buy gift tags again! You can use any portion of used greeting cards for gift tags, and they look beautiful. Simply cut out a square or rectangle from a used greeting card, making sure one side will be blank or mostly blank, and you can use the blank side to write the names To and From. If you find a card you really love and there are no one-sided blank spots, you can cover the not-as-good side with plain paper, or with a blank spot from another re-used greeting card!
• Paper Ornaments: For those of you who want to be even more creative, you can cut ornaments out of old greeting cards. Simply make a stencil of an object, such as a snowflake, leaf, pumpkin, flower, tree, or any object that relates best in your household. Using the stencil, you can cut out many matching and non-matching objects out of received greeting cards. This is a great, easy craft to do with children, and then you can let them color on the blank side if they wish. You can even use a little glitter glue on the edges to make it extra special.

Being eco-friendly can be so much fun, and it can be a money-saving adventure in these trying times. Kids love craft projects, especially when they know you’ll be displaying their beautiful artwork around the house. These ideas are just a starting point. If you think of more great craft ideas to re-use recycled greeting cards, please comment below and let me know. Happy Recycling!