Bath Towel Savers

We got the Bath Towel Saver tip from our mom.  Whenever all of us kids and our families get together at our parents for a long weekend or the Holidays, there is always an over abundance of bath towels being used.  If you are like our mom or most people, you have matching guest towels.  With all those towels it can get confusing as to which towel is yours.  Our mom thought it would be helpful to have something to put on the towels that identified which towel belonged to which person.  She wanted something that would be easy to use, big enough to see, and not permanent.  That’s when she thought to use clothespins.

They are easy to put on and take off of the towels (even kids can do it), big enough to be seen but not too big that it screams “Look at me,” and it’s not permanently put on the towels.  This is what she did.  She took enough clothespins (one for each person in the family), painted them (each family has its own color), and wrote each persons name on the front and back of the clothespins.

Simple enough.  So now every time we come for a visit and use bath towels, we hang them to dry, find our clothespin with our name on it, and pin it on.  No more forgetting which towel is yours!  You can leave the clothespins plain with just a name on it.  Or jazz it up with some color!  The choice is yours.

The merrellgirls visit their parents quiet often in the summer (a couple of times a week) to use their pool.  After being out in the hot sun, playing with kids, and swimming you need to freshen up before heading home.  We use our clothespins to keep track of our bath towels for the week.  Can you image the laundry our mom would have to do in one week if we didn’t use the clothespin system?  It’s a good idea she thought of this!

This is perfect for guest the visit frequently and stay for long visits!  It’s also great for beach towels by the pool.  Kids are always in and out of the pool, this way they will use one towel and remember which one is theirs.  So go ahead and try the Bath Towel Savers.  All you need is clothespins, paint (optional), Sharpie marker, towels, and guests!  We hope you like the Bath Towel Savers!

– merrellgirls

Reuse your husband’s old t-shirt!

I finally got my husband to clean out his closet and dresser drawers and he accumulated quite a pile of clothes.  So before I donated them, I picked out some nice t-shirts that I wanted to add to my wardrobe.  These t-shirt were in good condition, he just didn’t wear them anymore.  All I needed to do was tailor them a little so they would fit me better!

I like to sew, but I don’t really know all the correct techniques of sewing.  I pretty much make it up as I go.  I did take 2 sewing classes in high school so I know the very basics.  I try to do things as simple and easy as I can.  So forgive me for not knowing the correct sewing techniques or terms.

This is what you need:

Big t-shirt (husband’s t-shirt)

Smaller fitted t-shirt (for tracing template)

Sewing machine

Thread (similar color as big t-shirt)

Fabric pen/marker (a washable pen/marker that is used for marking fabric to tailor clothes)

Scissors

Straight pins

Here is what I did:

This is my husband’s shirt which is too big and wide on me.  I just wanted to take it in on the sides and under the arms.

 

1.  Take your husband’s shirt or a big t-shirt and turn it inside out.   Lay your smaller fitted t-shirt on top of your bigger t-shirt to be used as a tracing template.  Use a fabric pen/marker to trace the outside of the smaller fitted t-shirt.  I made little dash marks along the outside of the smaller t-shirt.  I only traced the sides of the shirt and the under arms.  I left the length of the sleeve as is.

2.  After tracing the smaller t-shirt, take straight pins and pin along the trace marks.  This is to hold the t-shirt together while sewing.

3.  Next, sew a straight stitch along the trace marks (if you prefer another stitch, go for it, I just usually use a straight stitch).  Remember to back-stitch at the beginning and end of the straight stitch.  When finished sewing both sides of the t-shirt, turn it right side out and try it on.  If you like the fit, turn the shirt inside out and trim the excess fabric fairly close to the stitch you just sewed.  If you feel the shirt should be taken in some more, sew another stitch in closer to make it more fitted.  There you go, now you have a new fitted t-shirt!

Here is my new fitted t-shirt!  I kept the sleeves the original length.  But you can always hem them up to a shorter length if you like.

I hope you enjoy and get a new use out of your husband’s old and beloved shirt!

Reuse Old Candles

I light candles all the time.  They smell great and I think they help warm our drafty house.  When the wicks burn out and there is still a lot of wax left in the jar I hate to throw the candles away.  So I usually use those candles for my candle warmer, they still smell great but I don’t get the extra heat.  Then I got the idea to put a new wick in my old candles.  Its a pretty simple idea, I know, I just love the fact that I get more use out of my candles.  Heres what I did:

Get an old candle (one with the wick burnt out).  Remove the old wick and silver base it is attached to.  If you cannot remove the wick and base wait until the candle is somewhat melted, it will be much easier to remove.

This candle is so full of wax because I would use this candle on my candle warmer and add wax from other candles to it.  I would take candles that sit on a candle plate and when their wick burnt out I would add it to my candle warmer candle.  If you do this make sure you take the sticker off the bottom of the candle and any remaining wick out of the candle.  Also try to use similar smelling candles.

Melt the candle on a candle warmer until the center of the candle is melted all the way through to the bottom.

Buy a candle wick at a craft store.  I got mine at Hobby Lobby but I’m sure you can purchase it at any craft store.  Take the wick and stick it into the melted candle.  I did not use another metal base to attach the wick to.  I didn’t have one and I figured just sticking the wick in would be fine.  Try to get the wick to reach the bottom of the jar.  Use a pencil or pen to wrap the wick around and balance the pencil/pen on top of the jar.  Try to place the pencil/pen so that the wick is in the center of the candle.

Let the candle cool.  When the candle has completely harden take a wick cutter or scissors and cut the wick to 1/4″.  Then light your candle and enjoy an extra use of your old candles!

Shoe Refashion: Two ways to refashion your shoes

Along with the blessing of my daughter I was also “blessed” with bigger feet!  I don’t know if this has happened to anyone else but for me it has been a bit of a problem.  My shoe size changed from a 10 to a 10 1/2, which I cannot find at all!  So, I have been looking for 11’s which is also a challenge.  Now you might think that this is a great excuse to get a new wardrobe for your feet but when you are on a tight budget it is not that easy.  So, I was on a mission to get some new cute shoes for under $15.00.  I found some plain black casual shoes at Wal-Mart for $9.97 and bought some supplies to spice them up for $3.00.

There are lots of great tutorials online to make fabric flowers you can use to refashion your shoes.  I used a tutorial from Emily’s Little World to make these flowers for my shoes.

Spiral flowers

Supplies

• Shoes
• Coordinating fabric that doesn’t fray (For both of my flowers I used black leather I found from JoAnn’s, t-shirt/jersey knit fabric works well too.) If you choose a fabric that frays you might want to use a fray block first.
• Hot glue gun and glue
• Scissors
• Felt in a coordinating color cut into a circle (about the size of a quarter for big flowers and a nickel for the small ones)
• Thread and needle (optional)

Step One

To make the spiral flowers, cut one strip about 1 inch wide and whatever length you want.  I made my bigger flower using a strip about 16 inches long.  If your fabric isn’t that long, don’t worry!  You can use 2 or even 3 separate pieces and glue them together (I will explain how in step 4).  For my smaller flowers, I used strips about 8 inches long.

Step Two

Take your strip of fabric and fold it in half lengthwise.  Hot glue it together making sure to only glue the bottom ends together.  Don’t let the glue get on the top part near the fold!

 

Step Three

Cut little slits across the entire length of the now folded strip creating oblong loops.  Make sure you only cut about half way down the strip starting from the folded edge.  Your glued edge should not be cut.

Step Four

Once the whole strip has slits cut, starting at one end roll the strip somewhat tightly into a spiral.  Hot glue the last 1/4-1/2 of an inch into place.  If you think your flower isn’t as big as you would like, just take another strip that has already been cut and slit and match up one end with the end you just glued.  Roll the new strip around your flower and glue the end like you did the first strip.

Step Five

Load your flower up with hot glue on the underside and press on your felt circle to keep the flower nice and secure.

*Now you have your cute spiral flower.  At this point you could attach it to a clip for your hair or a pin to put on your bag or keep reading and I will tell you how I attached it to my shoes!

Step Six: Attaching your flowers

You can attach your flower in several different ways:

1.  If you want to detach the flowers at some point it might be good to hot glue your flower to a shoe clip using another circle of fabric to secure it to the clip.

2.  Another option is to hand sew the flower to your shoe.  This can be pretty tough (depending on the type of shoe you have) to get a needle through your shoe.  I would suggest using a thicker needle like an upholstery needle and a thicker, heavy-duty thread like a button and carpet thread.  **I use Button and Carpet thread for most of my crafts.

3.  Good old hot glue is also a great way to keep those flowers in place.  Make sure you use a good amount of glue to attach the felt on the bottom of the flower to your shoe.

I decided I didn’t want my flowers going anywhere so I sewed a couple of stitches and then finished using the hot glue.  That’s it!

Now go and spice up those boring old shoes!

Refashion Baby One-Piece Outfit

My little cutie is always outgrowing her one-piece outfits before she gets to wear them very much.  I don’t know if she is super long or if they just don’t make them very long.  But they usually end up either all “capri style” or I can’t even snap them at the bottom.  Both versions are not so cute!  So, I thought I would do a quick and easy fix and turn it into a shirt.  It is super easy sewing for a beginning sewer!

Here is the cute one-piece outfit my friend gave me after her little ones outgrew it.

Here is what I did:

I just held up the outfit to my daughter and marked it where I wanted the bottom of the shirt to be.  Be sure to allow an extra 3/4 to 1 inch for the hem.  Once you have your line marked cut the bottom part off (you can save it to make hair accessories or embellish the shirt with flowers or ruffles later). If you are using a jersey knit (like a t-shirt material) you could just stop there and keep the edges raw.  I wanted mine to look a little more finished so folded a hem and sewed up the bottom. That’s it!  Now you have a new cute shirt for your little cutie!

*I also decided to use a double needle to give it a more professional look that lays down nicely.  If you haven’t used a double needle you should try it for sewing jersey knits and other fabrics, you will really like the results! This site gives a great tutorial and tips for using the double needle, Make it and Love it!   Give it a try, you won’t be sorry!

Roman Shades

I decided that I wanted Roman shades in a couple of rooms in my house.  Well I wasn’t about to buy them, they can be so expensive, and you know how we like to save money.  So I got the brilliant idea to make Roman shades.  So I searched online to find the quickest and easiest way to make Roman shades, and I think I found it.  Little Green Notebook has a great DIY for making roman shades out of mini blinds.   It has easy to follow directions and there is no sewing involved!  If you want to make the Roman shades click on the Little Green Notebook link above.  I’m going to show you a couple of Roman shades that I made and give a few tips that I learned from making them.  Now remember this was my first time making the shades, so they aren’t perfect!

These were the first shades I made,  I’m not the best at measuring things or cutting things straight.  So my first tip would be have someone help you with measuring and cutting if your anything like me.  My wonderful husband helped my with the other shades!

For these shades I lined them with room darkening fabric.  I recommend using the room darkening fabric for rooms such as the bathroom or a bedroom.

Again I used the room darkening fabric for these shades as well.  As you can see, the Roman shades fit perfectly into a window, when measured and cut correctly, and look really cute!

On the Little Green Notebook site she suggests using fabric glue and not hot glue.  I used fabric glue and it did a great job, especially on the white shades I made (the first pictures).  Those shades rarely get used so there isn’t much wear and tear on them.  They other shades, however, are used daily.  They are pulled up in the morning and down at night, so needless to say, the glue isn’t holding up so well.   I know she says not to use hot glue but I needed a quick fix for the fabric that is not glued to the mini blinds anymore.  We’ll see how the hot glue holds up.  What I suggest doing is sewing the fabric to the mini blinds.  Just one vertical stitch on both sides of the shade where the fabric is folded over.  I did not do this to my shades and I wish I did.  My sister made some and she sewed the fabric the the mini blinds and they seem to be staying together just fine.  Now if you decide to sew your fabric to your mini blinds make sure you get the cheap plastic mini blinds and not the metals ones.  I got my mini blinds at Walmart, they can range anywhere from $5-$15 depending on the size of your window.  Also use a strong needle that will sew through the thin plastic.

If you use the room darkening fabric, you might want to sew it to your printed fabric, that way it will hold together better than gluing it.  Just make sure you leave the bottom open (meaning sew the left side, top, and right side) that way you won’t get an air bubble in between printed fabric and the room darkening fabric.  I didn’t do this so I have an air bubble in my shades and they don’t lay very smooth.

I think those are all of my tips I hope this is helpful!  Let us know if you tried making your own Roman shades!

-Kiley