Upcycle old sweaters by felting them in the washing machine

Frugal crafters have found a new use for old garments to create a versatile fabric for hats, mittens, electronics cases and many other projects. Felting is the process of turning knitted wool fabric into a dense, solid piece that's easy to craft without the danger of edges unraveling. While you can felt any wool garment, the easiest method is to use sweaters found in thrift stores or your own dresser drawers. Turn wool sweaters in solid colors or intricate patterns into attractive felt pieces, using a simple method with your washing machine.

Things you'll need:

• 100% wool sweaters
• Sharp scissors
• Old pillowcase
• Washing machine and dryer
• Laundry detergent

The process:

1. Turn the sweater inside out. Cut off all the seams from the body of the sweater. Seams and other pieces will felt, but not at the same rate as basic knitted fabric. Felting is a process of shrinking, so uneven shrinking can result in unattractive felted fabric.

2. Remove all the ribbing from around the bottom of the sweater, the end of the sleeves and around the neckline.

3. Cut off any decorative pieces that may be on the sweater, such as appliqued flowers, stitched-on bows, buttons, zippers or pockets.

4. Put all the pieces of knitted fabric into a pillowcase. If you want to experiment with felting the seam fabric and ribbing for decorative pieces, put them in the pillowcase along with the sweater fabric. Knot the pillowcase to keep all the pieces contained.

5. Place the pillowcase in the washing machine. Add half the amount of detergent you would normally use for a load of laundry. Wash the pillowcase with sweater pieces on hot for the longest time setting available.

6. Remove the pillowcase from the washer when the cycle is finished and inspect the fabric inside. If it is felted enough for your design plans, lay the fabric out flat and allow it to air dry. If you would like the fabric to felt further, making it tighter and thicker, place it back into the pillowcase, tie the case shut and place it in the dryer. Dry the fabric on a medium-heat setting.

7. If your fabric is still not felted to your liking, repeat the entire washing and drying process to create super thick and sturdy felted fabric.

Many crafters felt their fabrics by simply washing them in the washing machine and drying them. While this method works perfectly well, the process of felting creates a large amount of lint which can clog up your washer hoses and dryer vents. Place the pieces into the pillowcase and the large clumps of lint will accumulate at the bottom of the case.

Use your new felted fabric to create applique flowers to decorate outerwear, to make hats and mittens or to craft soft and protective pouches for cellphones, eBook readers, MP3 players and other personal electronic gear. Felt is soft, tough and easy to work with. Attractive handmade felt may become your favorite new fabric for crafting!

Danielle, who blogs on behalf of Sears and other prestigious brands, appreciates a good wool sweater on a cold, winter afternoon- even more so when it’s one she’s made on her own. Read her work ateatbreathblog.com.

Crafting With Tape Measures: Featuring Danielle of EatBreatheBlog

Danielle from EatBreatheBlog is sharing a crafting tip using old tape measures. A great way to recycle!

Crafting with Tape Measures

I’ve long been interested in incorporating repurposed art into my home – that is, the sort of thing I could make myself out of found objects. I seized the opportunity when I moved to the New York City (NYC) area and moved into a home that needed a lot of attention. As the NYC remodeling expert I hired went through my home with her team, I found myself inspired by the tools of the construction trade and decided to use some of them in my renovated home.

The first room the crew worked on was a workspace where I could work on messy projects, like gardening. I tried to be artsy with screwdrivers and hammers but the result was nothing I was eager to display in my home. I found success, however, when I started working with cloth tape measures. I decided to make something small for a few rooms in the house, wanting to incorporate a design theme through my space. I had hung up photos that spoke to my interest in gardening and decided to replace the thin sliver of matting with sections of measuring tape. All I needed to do was section off the tape and glue it in place. Doing so gave the pictures a unique look and proved to be a conversation starter.

The remodeling crew also worked on the kitchen, which is where I decided to hang a dry erase/corkboard to keep track of coupons, recipe cards, and notes to myself. On the dry erase half of the board, I cut up a measuring tape to form a 1-10 numbered to-do list. I glued the individual numbers down and drew lines with a permanent marker to separate each list item. My initial idea was to use the numbers for a grocery list, but it didn’t take long to realize that would prove problematic when it came time to actually go to the store.

The final project the remodelers worked on was refurbishing a room with great natural light and turning it into a study/library. The crew assembled some bookshelves for me and I created my easiest craft – cloth tape measure bookmarks. My initial idea was to glue tape measure strips along the length of the shelves but doing so made my home’s design theme a little too overwhelming. (I’m glad I taped them in place first to see if I would like it.) For the bookmarks, all I used was a selection of measuring tapes, glue, and a sealant (I used Mod Podge) to protect them from getting grubby. Now wherever my books go, so will the bookmarks.

Ideas for crafting with tape measures abound. I’m glad I was inspired by the work crew that came to my home (and I’m still trying to make that screwdriver art a reality). Working with the measuring tapes was easy and fun to do, not to mention inexpensive. I plan to add a few more details to my home, but for now I’m happy with the projects I’ve completed.

Thanks for sharing this fun project Danielle! Don't forget to check out her blog,EatBreatheBlog. Lots of great information on health, wellness, and life.

Would you like to do a guest post on A lil bird? We would love to have you feature a project, your blog, or anything that strikes your fancy. Email us at alilbird3 (at) gmail (dot) com, we look forward to hearing from you!

Tidy Tips: Upcycling Bread Bags

Like many of my tidy tips, this is another one of those I learned from my Mother. Speaking of my Mother, last weekend I threw their Golden Anniversary party, and everyone said it turned out wonderful! I thought everything went well, as soon as I have pictures back I will share them! Anyway, for as long as I can remember my Mother has saved her bread bags. They get the most use out of them around Thanksgiving and Christmas. That is when my Mother makes her famous rolls, she always makes tons extra, because we all love them so much, and then sends us home with an upcycled bread bag full of delicious rolls.

Lately, finances have been SUPER tight around here, so I have been using my bread bags for lots of things, for example, I buy a big block of cheese at Costco, then put it in a bread bag with a bag clip to keep it fresh. My favorite use lately though, has been to use them for recipes. One of my favorite treats is Muddy Buddies, the recipe tells you to put the coated cereal into a gallon bag and shake it up with the powdered sugar. I just can't get on board with buying gallon bags, I can do sandwich and snack, but I can't justify the money or waste buying more bags. SO, I use my bread bags, it works PERFECT. I have also used them to make sweet potato fries, I found that recipe HERE via Pinterest.

Just so you know I am telling the truth, here is my example. Depending on what mood I am in, I will either just shake out the bread crumbs or sometimes I will wash the inside of the bread bags with hot soapy water. Today, it was the shake out method. Here is my bread bag, ready to go.

For the buddies, I do a cup of powdered sugar on the bottom of the bag, and the other cup on the top, it helps to evenly distribute a little better.
The key is to leave a bit of air in the bag to shake everything around, shake it up good! My son likes to help me with this part, even at 15 months, he does a good job!
Here is the proof, perfect muddy buddies.
These ones are actually lemon buddies, YUM! I found this recipe via Pinterest as well, I am addicted it is true! Now I LOVE LOVE LOVE lemon, I am talking if my dentist hadn't forbid me from eating lemons, I would eat them like an orange, I love them that much. That said, this recipe needed a tiny bit more lemon than the recipe called for. So to remedy my lemon addiction, I added a little bit more lemon juice on the top of the buddies after they were done. These are an amazing, yummy summer time treat! Don't worry I still love the good ol' regular ones too. You can find the lemon buddy recipe in its entirety HERE.

Happy Upcycling!

Quirky Tidy Tip

I am kind of embarrassed about this post, it is SO ghetto! My husband thinks it is a great thing to share, I am not so sure. I have a ton of projects going on right now, but I also have a very busy 11 month old, so they are not getting done as quick as I would like....enter this crazy post. I have a lot of weird, quirky habits and this is one of them. I somewhat upcycle my butter wrappers. This is another one of those tricks I learned from my Mother. If I use butter or margarine in a recipe, I fold up the wrappers to use for later. I have a stash in the fridge by the butter.

They really work well when things need a little grease, for pizza and cakes especially, I find they work better than using Pam. They have just the perfect amount of butter residue.

I know I am a total weirdo!?! Do you have any crazy quirks? PLEASE share so I know I am not alone, or maybe I am?