Make and make do: chugging along.

Well, here are some of the most recent things for the make and make-do project. Except the third picture; that's the only hint for the November surprise project. The top photo is the pixie hat I made for Rose's pond fairy Halloween costume. It's a Knitty pattern - "Pixie Hat" modified to be slightly big on a toddler. The second photo shows Rose in her skirt made from sewing scraps and an upcycled shirt of her brother's appliqued with another sewing scrap. This week I've also made Badger a pair of Fall Pixie shorts (for Halloween), a squid shirt - part of the great cephalopod project (more pictures next post) and an upcycled hoodie of Badger's for Rose. Whee! All this and I've been knitting a birthday project for my brother. Whoo-hoo, I'm a mad woman.

Giant pile of fabric!

I have finally finished overcasting the edges of all of the fabric that I need for the make and make-do project. This does not include all the polarfleece. Four different types of polarfleece. Two days of nothing but overcasting, so that all of the fabric can be washed. It's a lot of fabric. Now, I get to do 4 loads of laundry to wash all the sizing out and pre-shrink it all. Woo-hoo!

The totals are in: Make or Make-do project list

One might wonder why, besides the obvious economic climate, a person might choose to embark on a massive family clothing project. Well, I am the mother of two young children and haven't worked outside of the home since 2002. My lovely husband got laid off in January after 15 years in the industry because of the downturn in the economy. We have been living frugally since then, even before then. However, after 8 months of job-searching, things are still not looking up. I have started to teach knitting and crochet classes to a few private students - but much of the teaching has been volunteer work at the local library. My husband has been trying to get a small business together as well.

Thankfully, I come from a long tradition of DIYers. My mother and her grandmother sewed and cooked and knitted or crocheted. I am grateful that they taught me. I have always cooked and sewed for myself and my family to supplement what we bought. For the past 10 years or so I have been knitting and for the last year I have been crocheting. Now, the need is greater - so I'm stepping up with my skills. Besides - no sweat labor (besides my own) and no items left for the landfill.

I have decided to be a part of the make or make-do list myself and get some projects that I had planned or had supplies for made as well. After looking at my knitting and crochet list as well as the sewing list here are the totals for the year's worth of clothing:

Knitting/Crochet

• 2 baby sweaters
• 1 shawl
• 14 hats (for 6 people - Rose, Badger, DH Matt, one of my brothers, his wife, and myself.)
• 2 pairs of fingerless mitts
• 1 pair of baby mittens
  
• 3 pairs of socks (2 baby, 1 adult)
• 2 purses (1 crocheted)
• 1 top half of sundress

Sewing

• 2 pairs of shorts
• 2 pairs of polarfleece pants
• 3 coats (1 polarfleece, 1 brocade, 1 faux suede)
  
• 9 1/2 dresses (bottom half of sundress included)
• 7 skirts (3 baby, 4 adult)
• 2 longsleeve shirts
• 2-3 hats (1-2 sunhats, 1 polarfleece cap)
• 1 pair of wrap pants
• 1 gauze top

Upcycled or Reused items

• 6 baby shirts
• 2 of my tshirts
• 1 tshirt for my brother
• 6 baby pants

The other big making project.

I have decided that, for economy's sake, I will be making all of my daughter's clothes for the fall, winter, and spring. I'll also be making a good bit of clothing for my son as well. Jeans, however, are easier and less expensive to buy resale than make. Besides - lessen the landfill burden, right? I already have some sweaters started or planned to knit for Rose, as well as hats, legwarmers, socks, and a blankie. I'll be sewing her dresses, some long-sleeve shirts, leggings, and a coat. Badger will be getting a pair of red polarfleece pants at the very least. He's also outgrown many of his knit hats, so he gets at least three more. I need a few patterns, but the goal is to recycle some of my tshirts as well as using fabric that I already have. Rose and Badger will both need regular socks, and Badger will need a new or resale coat and possibly some more jeans, but other than that everything else will be made. So the goal for the day is to take advantage of the 5 for $5 pattern sale at the local fabric store and possibly get some more elastic - but that should be all I need. I'll post as I finish things, but I'm going to have to make a list of all that I have to make because my knitting queue alone is long. Thankfully, I don't expect that it will get really cool until December, so I have a few months lead time.

Upcycled Cephalopod Shirt #1

Well, I'm progressing on my brother's upcycled shirt project. I found a tshirt with a nice, but moody, beach scene - perfect for his Cthulu Is Sleeping shirt. My mom and I went to the cloth store and found a lovely swirly green fat quarter of fabric for his head and body as well as a smale scale hawaiian print for his shirt. I will also have to put on some linen-weave fabric for sand. The tshirt has a large logo for the Vietnamese-American Aerospace Professional Assoc. on it and I'm covering that with a large oval of the green with Cthulu's face stitched over it. We also found a tropical drink themed Hawaiian shirt that I will be using for a margarita for the guy. Updates soon.