Upcycle: Elbow Patches

Good day!

Sorry about the long absence guys. I hope you didn't miss me too much. I have been busy looking for work and it's very tough at the moment. Eek. It was hard for me to get creative and I have been doing my best to stay focused on the task at hand - Find Work!

Anyways, this is a short and easy tutorial on adding patches to your clothes. It gives your shirt/blazer/cardigan such a sweet touch. At first I planned on adding heart-shaped patches but it just seemed like they would not suit that particular blazer. Maybe next time I'll do a tutorial on that ;)

It was raining today and I was a little blind from no light coming into the house. I apologise in advance for some photographs (most!) being out of focus. I couldn't wait another day to show you how to add patches to your clothes! You'll forgive me! :)

 

 You will need:

- Long sleeved item
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Pins
- Sewing Needle
- Thread
- Felt or Fabric Scraps
- Tracing paper 

Grab your tracing paper and fold it in half. Use a pencil to draw half of an oval. Grab the scissors to cut an oval following the pencil marking as a guide. It is a good way to get a symmetrical shape instead of a dodgy oval. You now have your oval patch template!

 

Place the template on your piece of felt or fabric and secure with pins. Cut out the shape out of the felt with scissors. Use the template for the other piece as well.

Having drawn the template by hand, of course there will be some 'unevenness' to it. Make sure that you are using the same side for both pieces of material when cutting them out. For example, if you place your template on your first fabric while it's facing up, do the same for the other fabric so that the shapes coincide. You'll see what I mean when they are in front of you.

Place the patches on each side of your clothing's sleeves. If you like you can try the item on to find the exact spots to place the patches. I did and if you do so, be careful not to hurt yourself inserting the pins to secure your patches.

Don't forget to fold your clothing to check if the patches match up perfectly before sewing.

I chose the overcast stitch since I was using felt. I think it is both pretty and easy to work with. I folded the sleeve in to have a better grip of the patch.

This is what the result should look like. Cute? Try it out!

Get creative guys! Let me know how you went in the comments.

This post is dedicated to Divya Ruhee. One of the best people I will ever know.

Upcyle: Magazine Jar

Hello there!

I hope you are having an amazing week. On my side, I ordered some lovely plastic hairbands from Ebay and the good news is that they arrived two weeks early! As you know from experience, hairbands and bobby pins love running away. To keep them safe, I am reusing a glass jar that used to have yummy onion relish. I am quite excited to show you how I redesigned their new house!

I first washed the jar then let it soak in soap water overnight to get rid of any food smell.

Let's begin! You will need:

The jar

Lovely magazine cutouts (large enough to cover the lid, obviously :D)

Scissors

Mod Podge (I have the 'gloss' version)

A sponge or a paintbrush

A pencil or an embossing pen (I created one using an old pen and a sewing pin with a 'ball' head. Simply remove the ink tube, push the pin inside the writing side of the pen and voilà!)

Firstly, place the lid on top of the image to draw its shape with a pencil/embossing pen. I preferred the embossing pen because it is simply invisible. If you use a pencil, make sure you are only slightly marking the paper.

When you're done marking the shape of the lid, proceed to the cutting of the image LEAVING A GAP OF 2CM around the lid, the gap will later be folder inside the lid.

Stick the paper to the lid using Mod Podge and make sure that the edge of the paper is even on every side of the lid. Cut 1cm sized petals around the lid with the scissors.

Apply Mod Podge evenly on the petals and on the inside edge of the lid. Fold each petal inside.

When the lid is dry, apply a layer of Mod Podge all over the paper to protect it.

 And you're done!

 If you enjoyed this tutorial, please share!

How will you use your jar? Let me know in the comments!