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Gorgeous recycled bird wings and a giveaway!

Check out these great wings! After some conversations with my sewing friends, we determined that making wings was a big challenge. I ended up buying a pair from another crafty etsian for little f's dragon costume (he wore that vest for 2 years!). My friend, Colleen came up with an easier solution for her seagull made of recycled sweaters. But this design is brilliant! I want to make these! I can see a gorgeous butterfly using this same concept. What will little f want to be for halloween this year?

So I read her etsy profile and sent out a request to learn more about the domestic goddess behind these folksy upcycled pretties and patterns. Jay responded right away, and it turns out that she is smart, creative and quick with a background in fashion design. With three kids to homeschool, she still finds time to create these awesome patterns and take great photos! I bought the Every Which Way reversible coat pattern and have some ideas for making it more boyish. Wood grain fabric, maybe? This skirt is on my list too, but I think I want to make one for myself...

How did you learn to sew and what inspires you?
I come from several generations of Sewists. One of most treasured pieces is a hand-sewn quilt from my great-grandmother! To study the consistency of her stitches and detailed embroidery is absolutely amazing to me. 

I was initially given some sewing basics from my mother but then really developed my skills later as an adult. After purchasing a new home, I was suddenly inspired to create curtains and slipcovers to decorate until my heart's content. 

Then along came my peeps and I realized that I just couldn't find and/or shop for the type of clothes I desired for them to wear....soooooo, I broke out the ol' sewing machine and got crafty. (sound familiar?)

When wearing their one-of-a-kind outfits about, I got a tremendous amount of compliments and requests of where my kiddos got their clothing. This really transitioned me into the direction I'm into now with pattern making.

Creating clothes on my own and tweaking existing patterns, I began to study and polish my pattern making skills. After many experimental years of bloopers and happy accidents, I would say now, that I am a pleasantly confident Sewist. :)

I have a sweet little working set-up / studio of 3 sewing machines and 2 sergers. I'm in sewing heaven!



Oh, if only I could teleport. I would love to visit that studio! Since we can't all visit her studio, Jay is willing to offer a FREE pattern to one lucky reader and to offer 20% off any pattern in her shop for everyone! The code backtoschool will be valid through midnight on July 31. How cool is that?

Here are all the ways you can enter the giveaway, just leave a comment here for each one before midnight on July 31. Winners will be posted here the first week in August.
1. Visit Chickenhill on etsy and tell us your favorite pattern.
2. Become a follower of recycled+revamped
3. Be a fan of recycled+revamped on facebook
4. Tweet about it
5. Post on your blog about this giveaway
6. Invite your friends to comment and or follow!


Happy sewing!

hat workshop at the community sewing studio

We "hat" a great time at the workshop yesterday! Amy, Nadia and Sonja came to the community sewing studio and taught us about using the color wheel to choose colors. Then we followed the instructions on from Anna Kata. We used dress shirts, pants and t-shirts for their fabric and cut out circle for our hats. It seemed that stretchy fabric made the best hat band. Then we added some circle flowers and vintage buttons. They turned out great! Thanks girls, for fun day in the studio!

community sewing studio class - pants to skirt, part 2

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For a longer skirt, we cut up the inseam and pulled out some stitching.

Some possiblities for an insert in the front of the skirt and some applique for embellishing.

A lightweight pair of pants and a pieced skirt:

Measuring for length and then for width of the flouce, to be sure it's the same size as the bottom of the waistband section of the skirt.

Using a pinking shear to trim the edges so they don't fray.

The next artist class is the Make your own Hat Workshop with our friends Nadia, Sonja and Amy Daniels Moehle. We are going to be making Greta Garbo inspired hats from recycled materials. Nadia will also show you the color wheel and talk about how to choose colors.

It's on Sunday, May 22, 1-4pm, at the Grow Benzie community sewing studio, $20. Let us know if you can make it! It's warm and green in the greenhouse too, so stop by and see what's growing.

grow benzie sewing studio fundraising veggies

Next sewing bee at the sewing studio at Grow Benzie is Friday, May 13 at 7pm. Come join us for some wool veggie production to help raise $$ for new sewing machines! Veggies are available for $5 each at Mecca in Benzonia.

Hope to see you there!

community sewing studio clothing swap

Welcome to the clothing swap! We had so much fun, imagining what could be made with some of the things that were donated. Thanks to all who came and to those who dropped off donations!

Here are teachers Nadia, Sonja and Amy Daniels Moehle along with Gretchen and Gwen Eichberger, enjoying their swapped goods.

This was a turtleneck dress that we converted into a robe for Sonja. All it took was a scissor and a few minutes of conversation! She will toasty warm now!

 Kari is wishing these were a bit larger...

Checking out some of the gorgeous fabrics that have been donated to the studio. Perhaps this would entice you to come visit us?

When all was done, we donated a few boxes to BACN and sorted the rest into categories for our projects - t-shirts and knit materials, wool sweaters and pants, cotton pants and skirts to make into kid's pants and dresses.

When you get to Grow Benzie, come around to the back and you will see the door here!

community sewing studio kicks off spring schedule!

 Want to learn to sew? Beginning classes are held on Wednesdays from 4-6pm starting April 11 and Mondays from 6-8pm starting April 13. A 6 week session is $40 and there is still room to join us at the Community Sewing Studio at Grow Benzie, for ages 8 -80! You can join our group on facebook too.

Just need a machine so you can work on a project? Come by for our open studio. It's only $10 and there's one this Sunday, April 17, 1-4pm or Sunday, May 15, 1-4pm. Grow Benzie is located at 5885 M115 in Benzonia. You can get a complete schedule here. We need to prove that our community can support this venture so tell all your friends, or better yet, bring them along and sew with us!

This is Mary Ann Hendricks. She has spent hours and hours making this dream a reality! At our clothing swap she was hanging up the recycled valances and has been known to vacuum when everyone else was ready to leave. She is amazing!
Special thanks to my dear friend, Marcy Patterson Grudzien at mecca who helped us paint and get things organized for the big open house! And to Pam Smith for her help too, helping us clear away the dust and refold all the clothes. There are so many other who have helped us out and I want to thank them too!

There are sewing bees too to make the wooly veggies that we are selling for $5 to raise $$$ for the studio and new sewing machines. Join us on Friday, April 15, 7-9pm and Friday, May 13, 7-9pm. This is also a great time to stop by and make donations of clothing, fabric or sewing notions.

Look for us on the lower level in the back of the house at Grow Benzie. There's a sweet little deck by our entrance!

our community sewing studio gets some press!

From the Traverse City Record Eagle on Sunday, April 3, 2011

community sewing center success! 35 tablecloths completed for big event!

We did it! In a few weeks time, a couple of dedicated volunteers took a big pile of cotton fabric and old tablecloths and made all these tablecloths for the big Ho-Down fundraising event, which was a huge success! Not only did we keep plastic from being used, we also saved $8/table in cloth rentals. Now we have great tablecloths to use and or rent for future events.

Using bandannas for our guide, we cut out 22" squares of everything, and combined them with a few larger pieces on each cloth. Then they were hemmed and pressed for the big event.

You can see how nice it is to sew in this space, with the big windows and door to a little patio.

Classes start this fall for basic sewing, and revamping kid's clothing from adult cast-offs. I'm thinking we'll have to try these simple skirts that Amanda described yesterday.

One of my crafty friends came by and organized our shelves for us. She is an interior designer with a great eye for organizing. She also helped me with the curtains. Thank you so much, Marcy!

Starting this fall, we are having a denim drive, so bring your old jeans! All jeans are welcome whether they are torn, tattered, stained, dark, light, colors, etc... You can see the flirty skirt that I love in action here, and a preview of the long wrap skirt which is quickly becoming my other favorite jean skirt.

Check out the new Community Sewing Studio!

For those of you who live in the TC area, here's a great new opportunity! A couple of sewists set up a cool place to sew in Benzie County. It's in the house next to Grow Benzie, on the lower level.

We have tables, chairs, sewing machines, a tall cutting table, shelves, thread, a variety of fabrics and clothing to recycle! Right now we are sewing patchwork tableclothes for a fundraising event with Top Chef Hosea Rosenberg and Song of the Lakes at Grow Benzie at the end of this month. If you are interested in helping out, let me know!

In the fall, we plan to have classes and open studio sewing times available. You can catch me at the Great Lakes Bioneers Conference at NMC in October, where I'll be teaching a workshop called "How to sew on a button and other life skills for recycling your clothes." It will be on Sunday morning.

OOooh, I'm so excited! One of my friends mentioned to me a song we used to sing at camp which talks about how it only takes a spark to get a fire going. I want to thank Sharron May for connecting me to this amazing opportunity! Time now to fan the flames...

growing pants - making pants to fit a growing boy

What have I been doing lately? Trying to keep my little guy in pants that fit. Without diapers, his pants are falling off his slim hips. And his pants that do fit are floods, so I've been sewing fabric onto the bottoms.

This pair of jeans was way too big in the waist, so I cut it off just below the belt loops. The turtle fabric is a wide strip sewed into a circle, twice as tall as I wanted it to end up and the same size as the waist of jeans, with a little extra for seam allowance. After sewing a loop of elastic that fit his waist, I put it inside the circle of turtle fabric and folded it in half. Using my serger, I finished the edges of the jeans and the turtle waistband. Then I sewed them together!

revamped shirt with wristwarmers tutorial

Here's a fun little tutorial about recycling and revamping a shirt by lengthening a shirt to make it a tunic, adding sleeves to warm your wrists, and reshaping a neckline.

One brown shirt, bearing the logo of my favorite little chocolate shop started the whole thing. The fit just wasn't quite right, and it languished in my closet waiting for inspiration.

The inspiration was this pink striped shirt. It had been attached to a tank top as part of a tunic, but the tank wore out so I cut it off, along with the hem of the sleeve on the chocolate shirt. Cut the wristwarmer section either part of the body or the sleeves of another shirt, adding about 1/2" for seam allowance. These are about 8" long but could be longer or shorter depending on how you like it. Fold the wristwarmer section with the right sides together and sew a tube that is wide enough to fit over your hand. If you are using a shirt sleeve, stitch along the seam to make a tube. The idea is to make sure that the openings in the sleeve and the wristwarmer section are the same size.


Slip the wrong side of the wristwarmer onto the sleeve so they are right sides together. Stitch with a stretch stitch (it looks like a little lightning bolt) or use a serger. Turn right side out and try it on. If it needs tightening, you can turn it back to the wrong side and stitch it again, making the tube a bit smaller.

For the neck, cut the collar off the shirt. Try it on and make little cuts or pin before you cut it out since stretchy shirts look different on your body that when they are laying on your cutting table. The new neckline could be square, v-neck, scooped or asymmetrical.

Cut 1" strips of fabric for the trim on the neckline. If you want a ruffle, stitch down the middle of the strip with the longest stitch length on your machine. Pull one of the threads and gently squish the fabric along the stitching to make either a tight or loose ruffle. Lay trim pieces along the newly cut neckline and stitch with a stretch or zig zag stitch.

For the bottom, cut off the shirt hem and measure the length you want to add. Cut and sew it into a tube that is the same size as the bottom of the shirt. Turn it wrong side out and slip it over the shirt so the right sides are together. Stitch with a stretch stitch or serge.