Thrifty Flair
Thrifty living sometimes means you have to spend money
February 17, 2012
Jennifer O’Connor
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
It’s a paradox of thriftiness that sometimes you have to spend money in order to maintain your delightfully penny-pinching ways.
As I go about redecorating my living room, I’ve decided to invest in some pricier pieces — another wood bookshelf, a large wool rug, velvet and linen for curtains — of such impeccable quality that I’ll never have to buy a shelf, rug or curtain again.
While the pennies in my piggy bank are adding up, I’m making changes to my craft supply budget. Still, I feel the need to sew, knit and paste and have raided my workroom to dream up projects such as the one I recently completed.
I had a tiny rectangle of floral fabric that came in a bag of vintage swatches. I didn’t want to toss it, and I couldn’t imagine what anyone else could do with it (I don’t imagine quilters scour thrift stores to pick up squares piece by piece). Then, as my assorted supplies — ribbons, lace, and silk flowers — fell down off my workroom shelves again I got the idea. I’d make a simple drawstring bag using that bit of floral fabric and some purple and white gingham I had from a previous project to store my odds and ends. I was waiting to have my sewing machine repaired, but I managed to sew this by hand over a couple of evenings.
To make something similar, you will need:
• Fabric (whatever combo of patches you like, as long as you end up with at about a 20-by-14-inch piece).
• Needle and coordinating thread.
• Lace for trim at the top of the bag.
• Ribbon or yarn that will fit though the holes in the lace for drawstrings.
Once you’ve gathered everything together:
• Pin the fabric swatches together, right sides facing each other. I added a pit of gingham to the top of the floral fabric, leaving a quarter-inch seam so the whole piece measured about 14 inches and would match up with the larger gingham piece. Then, I sewed the ends of this larger piece to the sides of the floral fabric, again leaving about a quarter-inch seam, so I ended up with a fourteen-inch long tube.
• Sew the bottom of the bag together, leaving a half-inch seam.
• Hem the top of the bag. I ended up creating a two-inch hem, which I secured by sewing on the top and bottom edges of the lace at the same time.
• Thread the drawstrings through the lace. I cut sixteen pieces of string, each two feet long. Then, I threaded four lengths through holes in the lace top and bottom, front and back, and finished by tying the strings on each side together at the end.
And that’s it. I now have a place for my sewing notions and am making more to use as gift bags. By searching through the supplies I have, I’m managing to find everything I need, so these crafts don’t cost me anything.
For a girl on a budget, that’s delightful.
You can contact Jennifer O’Connor at thriftyflair@gmail.com or follow her on Facebook.