It’s Earth Day my lovely readers, and do you know what that means?  The end of the De-Stash Challenge!

I’ve kept my promise, I haven’t bought any fabric since the challenge began, on March 17th.   Those of you who know me well, know that isn’t the easiest thing for me :-)  I’ve only been seriously tempted once, but I was good and put the fabric back…  Unfortunately, I haven’t had as much time to sew as I would have liked.  I did manage to complete a shirt for my DH and sew two shirts for myself.

I also found some great stash-busting projects.

We played with our fabric stashes.

One of my friends suggested a great place to donate part of your stash to.

I created a reversible, recycled totebag that’s perfect for reducing your stash and your closet!

Dyeing fabric can be a fun way to use some of your stash that you don’t like the color of anymore.

Did participating in the challenge change any habits or make you think about how much fabric (or yarn, or beads…)  I’ve gotten better about not wildly buying every piece of fabric I love (working for 4 years in a fabric store was bad for the stash!).   Just being a little more aware of what we’re consuming is a good thing

Here are all the links to create your own recycled reversible totebag:

Part one - the t-shirt

Part two - cutting it out

Part three - sewing and construction

And here’s the finished totebag:

And if I want to reverse it - here’s how it looks:

Of course, ironing probably would have been a good idea to…  those little pesky details

I left you yesterday with the lining cut out - now it’s time to sew it!  Sew the sides of both the t-shirt and the lining (separately) to make two bag, open on one side.  Take the lining and slide it into the t-shirt, wrong sides together.  Make sure to match the seams:

Fold the lining over once, so it touches the edge of the t-shirt.  Fold it a second time, so you’ve got a 1 inch “cuff” along the top of the bag.  Pin, and sew the cuff down.  Using the lining to create a cuff will make the finished bag stronger - that way the handles are sewn into woven fabric, not knitted t-shirt:

I’m using one inch wide nylon webbing for the handles.  I’ve cut two lengths, approximately 16 inches long and seared the edges using a match (in a well ventilated area please).  You can also use a narrow zig-zag stitch to keep the nylon from unravelling.  Mark where you want the handles to attach and pin them:

I’m using a box stitch to sew the handles on - it’s incredibly strong.  I sewed three times across the top and the bottom, and then once on the “X” and the sides of the seam:

You can also see the stitch I used to sew the cuff down in this close-up.  That’s actually a stretch stitch, but it’s strong and great for things like totebags.

I’ll show you the finished totebag in the next post

In my last post I showed you the t-shirt I’m going to use to create a reversible totebag.

To begin, lay the shirt out onto a flat surface and smooth all the wrinkles out of it.  What happens when you cut wrinkled fabric?  You end up with funny jagged lines - not good!

Cut the sleeves off, following the shoulder seam.  Cut a straight line across the top of the shirt, just underneath the collar.

Cut off the bottom hem (I actually cut off about 2 inches from the bottom of this shirt)  Now trim the sides to create a square or rectangle.

Place the right sides together and sew the bottom of the t-shirt/bag.  Don’t sew the sides just yet :-)  Patience is a virtue…

Open up the t-shirt (it should be one long rectangle now) and lay it on top of your lining fabric.  I recommend using a tightly-woven cotton or cotton blend for this project.  It’s going to prevent the stretchy t-shirt from getting deformed when you stuff library books into the bag

Cut the lining out, using the t-shirt as the pattern.  I’ll show you where to go from there in my next post…

Earth Day is coming up right away (April 22nd) and in honor of that, I’m going to show you how to make a reversible totebag using a t-shirt.

Did you know that fabric accounts for big proportion of landfill space these days?  Apparently, some counties in California have as much as 800 tons of fabric thrown into the garbage every year!  That’s 800 tons for one county - not just a state…  And to top that off, fabric doesn’t decompose easily, so it’s going to be sitting around for a long time.

What can we do?  Well, you can do things like use old clothing to make new things - like totebags!

I’ll show you the how-to in my next post - see you soon

Hello my lovely readers - it’s the last week of the De-Stash Challenge!  I haven’t bought any fabric, but last week was so busy that I didn’t get a chance to make anything either.  Don’t get me wrong, it was a fantastic week - but I was out every single day and my studio definitely got ignored.

How is your challenge going?  I’ve set up a new poll on the right sidebar to vote for how you’ve done

My friend Terri suggested a great place to donate your time or yarn to: Blankets for Canada.   Some craft stores even have drop-off bins for them too - very worthwhile!

So my lovely readers, how is the de-stashing going?  I’m still being a good little de-stasher and haven’t bought any fabric for myself.  I will however need to buy some fabric to complete a commission…  I’m not sure how this works into the De-Stash Challenge, but since it’s technically not for myself, will you forgive me?

So what happens if you’ve got fabric that you don’t want anymore?

You’re not going to just throw it out, right??

There are lots of different organizations who can use second-hand fabric!  Ask your local women’s shelter, play schools, artist co-ops - there’s even a re-using center in my city that accepts fabric.  Some stores even have a fabric recycling program - MEC will accept polyester fabric and turn it into fleece garments.