New Year, New Uses: Upcycling Everything

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New Year, New Uses: Upcycling Everything

I love to upcycle.  When I started blogging almost four years ago, pretty much everything I made was an upcycle.  I didn't have much money or fabric, but I had plenty of people willing to give me their bags bound for Goodwill.  Over time, I've had the opportunity to work with fabric companies and earn money from my pattern designs to purchase new fabric, but I still have upcycling roots.

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Joining in the Blank Slate Pattern Tour with Cool Cardigans and Coastal Cargos

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***We are proud to be an affiliate of Blank Slate Patterns - this post contains affiliate links***

I am so thrilled to be a part of the FIRST EVER Blank Slate Pattern Tour!!!  I hope that Melissa decides to do one ever year, or every season, .... or every month (hmmmm, maybe too much).  But you can never have too much Blank Slate!

I'm going to blubber for just a second here (so if all you want is to see the cuteness, just scroll down to where the pictures start)... I can count on one hand the bloggers who made me start blogging.  I was pregnant with baby girl when I started reading sewing blogs.  The boys were getting close to a year old and I hadn't sewn anything for them or even really thought about it, but the notion of having a GIRL made me remember that I owned a sewing machine.  As I began to troll blog land I first stumbled upon some of the BIG blogs... I enjoyed (and still enjoy) reading them, but they intimidated me with their grandeur, advertising, and daily posts.  As I kept reading and adding new blogs to my list, I discovered Melly Sews.  There was no Blank Slate yet... just Melly - and her amazing tutorials, and her adorable BOYS, and her witty sense of humor.  I soon discovered that we share a background in costuming, and I felt inspired to share my own creativity through blogging, but more importantly my eyes were opened to sewing for my BOYS.  Melissa soon launched Blank Slate Patterns - and I was thrilled to see the first line up of patterns dominated by unisex or male patterns.  Blank Slate Patterns has quickly become a highly recognized pattern company and is known for having amazing designs that are as educational as they are stylish.  Thank you Melissa for your encouragement, and for sharing your passion for creativity thus inspiring the same in others!!!

OK -on to the patterns!!!!

I picked the Cool Cardigan (and the Coastal Cargos) to feature in today's post.  I have sewn up the Coastal Cargo's before for my son 'B' (the bigger) and know that they fit him well with their more relaxed styling - so I decided to switch them up a bit a make some funky jeans.


Now my 'bias' strip is wider that what is called for in the pattern - but I wanted this width to capture the stripes from my fabric.  That also means that I cut straight strips rather than cutting them on the diagonal, so well just call them binding strips mmm'kay?  But dude, they are cool, right!!!

The Cool Cardigan was what I had my eye on and jumped at the chance to make.  I love the look of cardigans on little boys - the 'cool little man' look - LOVE.  So I decided to do a cardigan for each of my boys.  The trick with them is that although they are twins, their builds are vastly different.  I never know whether the same size in a pattern will fit them both well.  You can decide- but I love it equally on both of them!

A's Cardigan is the classic design (only omitting the buttons on the pockets).  I used a very thin knit that I got at Joanns when they had their red tag fabrics at an extra 50% off.  SCORE.  Both the stripe and solid grey are a 95/5 cotton/lycra blend with stretch in only one direction.  This cardigan is lightweight and perfect for layering... the best thing is that A loves it and cried when I made him take it off for lunch because I didn't want him spilling tomato soup all over it.

B's is a bit more of a re-imagining.  This is an upcycled version made from a women's wool sweater.  I wanted to keep the original cuffs, waist band, and button band intact - so I have to so careful and creative cutting to make it all work.  I was also able to fit the original pockets into my front pieces.  The awesome thing about making an upcycle is that it took me literally 15 minutes or less to sew.  The wool also snapped 3 'jean' needles between the serger and sewing machine in that 15 minutes - but all worth it for an adorable cardigan.
The original buttons extended up further than the curve, but I love the little extra detail they bring in!
So Handsome....







Make sure you head over to Blank Slate Patterns to check out these patterns and many more... you will have a list of 'must haves' instantly.  And this week (10/7-10/11) Melissa is donating 50% of all proceeds to the Komen Foundation to fight Breast Cancer in honor of her Grandmother.