Nifty Thrifty Girl » sewing

sweaters, sweaters…everywhere…

niftythriftygirl — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:07:52 +0000

…and not just because it is frigid outside, but because I am obsessed with recycling old sweaters! I just made another trip to my local thrift store and loaded up with another batch of wool sweaters (and a few cotton ones, too). I have great plans for all these lovely sweaters…

Oh, so many things to be made…purses, pillows, coffee cozies and needle caddies. First, a few pillows:

I’d better get off the computer and back to work. Needle caddies coming up next! Stay tuned for updates. Many of these pieces can be purchased from my etsy shop…but some will not be listed as I have to work on my stock for this year’s Farmer’s Market booth.

Stay warm!

time to get cozy

niftythriftygirl — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 13:46:07 +0000

I recently scoured my local thrift store with a friend and brought home several wool sweaters. I love to recycle old wool sweaters, felt them and make purses or pillows out of them. The sleeves of the sweaters usually go unused, until now. I found that the felted sweater sleeves fit perfectly over a coffee cup or travel mug. I embellished each cozy differently with crochet edging, embroidery and felt accents. How fun to have a cool, recycled cute cozy for your coffee! You’ll be the envy of all your friends!!

Did you know that it is estimated that 14 billion cups of coffee are served every year wrapped in a single-use, cardboard coffee sleeves which ends up adding up to 2.8 billion pounds of trash? Ugh. That makes my stomach sink. But…YOU can save a tree, be proud that you’ve used an up-cycled item…plus, look super stylish with my new coffee cozies!

The coffee cozies are great eco-friendly gifts for under $10 and are now available in my Etsy shop. You can click the “SHOP” tab above or click on my Etsy showcase on the right sidebar. Valentine’s Day is upon us so grab your coffee lover a cute coffee cozy!

poof! a pouf!

niftythriftygirl — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:57:24 +0000

Last weekend I had the pleasure of spending a relaxing weekend with my bestie girlfriends at a former ski lodge-turned-private home. Besides all the food, drinks and laughs that we enjoyed, we spent Saturday afternoon crafting. What joy! It was the perfect setting…a snowy afternoon, roaring fireplace, and plenty of craft space on the spacious dining room table.

I decided to get out the Amy Butler Gum Drop Pillow pattern I’ve been holding on to for over a year – just waiting for the perfect time/space to make it. Since I wasn’t sure how well the crafting of this pillow would go, I only used a smidgen of Amy Butler Fabric and filled in with some inexpensive polka dot fabric. I opted for the large version of the pillow, and yikes!…what a monster it is!

The pattern is super easy to follow, and quite simple to make. It does take a ton of stuffing, so be prepared to buy a 5 or 10 lb. box of polyfil. I purchased the 10 lb. box so I could make more pillows because now I’m hooked!

I’m off to buy some more lovely AB fabric because guess who loves to snuggle on the big pouf? I think he deserves one of his own…