Goodwill Basket Purse Redo

So I took my mother to her local Goodwill store yesterday so that we could drop off some items and, of course, pick up more items. As I was perusing the basket section, I saw this sweet little basket purse that was desperately in need of some love. For $0.50 I had to take it home and at least try to fix it up a little.

Here's some before pics of the sad little purse.






It's difficult to see, but the elastic that was holding the basket together was pretty much shot. The plastic flower on top was one of the first things that had to go. I replaced the worn out elastic with some heavy gauge crochet thread. I wanted to add some kind of a liner to it, and I was originally going to use the cute floral fabric shown in the photos, but I saw that my mom had cut some adorable blue plaid short sleeves off of a shirt of hers and I thought that would be perfect as a liner. It was also a lot less work since all I needed to do was to stitch up the cut opening of the sleeve. The remaining opening was already hemmed and ready to be used. When I finished stitching up the cut opening of the blue material, I placed it in the basket and stitched it in place around the basket opening. I also added two small stitched through the bottom of the lining, just to secure it to the bottom of the basket. I also used some of the blue thread that I used to stitch the bottom of the lining fabric to weave around the little loop that goes around the button.

  

I think it turned out to be a pretty cute little purse. It fits my wallet, keys, and my phone, which sometimes is all I really need.

For $0.50, some thread, a recycled shirt sleeve and a little time, I think it's a pretty good investment.

Wooden Sesame Street Count Puzzle

So what do you get a little girl that likes the color purple, puzzles, and most importantly, the Count from Sesame Street?

Well since they don't make a Count puzzle, or at least no one around here makes one that I could find, you end up making her a very custom puzzle that no one else will have.

I hope she likes it! I certainly enjoyed making it with her great-grandfather's expert help.

Flannel Shirt Refashion

Recently, on a trip to our local Harley Davidson dealership, or should I say our local Harley Davidson clothing store, I saw this cute yet slutty looking flannel halter type shirt for sale. I didn't bother looking at the price tag because I already knew that it cost more than I was willing to pay for it. What I did look at was the overall construction of the shirt and I thought, "I can make that"! This is a commonly occurring thought that I have whenever I go shopping, but this time, I followed through with it and I would like to share my creation with you.

Denim Sandbag Recycling

I was perusing the Sew Mama Sew blog this morning and I saw a post there for a contest about reusing various materials such as burlap and denim. I was trying to think if I had reinvented any of these materials lately, and then I remembered my blue jean sandbags. Yes, I said blue jean sandbags.