Recycled Clothing – Books

There are a whole slew of books available now on how to transform your wardrobe using the clothing you already own. But, how to discern the good from the ones that arenâ€™t that good? Here are a few of my favorite books that are packed with ideas on how to Recycle Clothing.

Kathleen Maggio’s Altered Clothing: Hip Fixes and Transformations with a Needle and Thread (Domestic Arts for Crafty Girls) is a fun book full of ideas to get your imagination going. I adore what she comes up with transforming shoes and has a cute men’s shirt to feminine top project.

My friend Shannon Okey created Alternation that has some great, stylish ideas to transform your wardrobe. And it is photographed beautifully as illustrated in the above picture.

Generation T by Megan Nicolay is a fun, easy to understand book chock full of great things to do with tee shirts.

Happy Recycling!

Next Pattern:

I am just smitten with this felt gingerbread house bag. This would make such a sweet special Christmas accessory for a kid. It’s a free pattern at Benzie Design, designed by Gracie from Hello Gracie Makes. It’s packed with adorable gingerbread house details, like swirls and stripes and scallops adoring the doors and windows.

And while all those details might seem like this would be a complicated pattern, it’s actually not. The bag itself is made from felt, which makes finishes edges unnecessary. (All of those scalloped edges are just cut from felt, no edge finishing required.) The strap is super simple, made from rope with knotted ends. And all those details are made with some basic hand embroidery stitches. Sparkle felt makes it extra cute.

The striped scallop roof is actually the top flap of the bag. A magnetic snap makes it a secure closure. The rope straps are attached through felt loops at the side of the bag.

They rate this project as an intermediate level, and it should take about 6 hours to make start to finish. That’s doable for a Saturday project or a couple of evenings. Full color photos step you through the entire process.

The project includes a shopping list for all of your supplies. They’ve got a shop so you can order all of them from Benzie if you like and get exactly the supplies used in the project. I noticed it includes a pair of scallop shears, which makes cutting all the scalloped edges for the roof and around the door a breeze.

Finished dimensions of the little felt gingerbread bag are approximately 6 ½” wide x 7 ½” tall. That’s the perfect size to hold a small book, a small toy, or a notepad and some cute pens.

Go to Benzie Design to get the tutorial and free pattern for the felt gingerbread house bag.

Next Pattern:

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