Tag Archive for 'sewing'

DIY: The Polka Dot Stray-Button Purse

It’s Sunday and rainy. My remedy? A little Colin Hay and sewing. I have a lot of stray buttons lurking around my place, so I figured why not make a stray-button purse (drawing a little DIY inspiration from SuperForester Iman’s brilliant creation)?

Here’s what I used:

tools

finished

Look what I have created!!

What a thrill. I used my hands! I made something I can use! I’ve unearthed a new drug and its name is Craft. Raid your house for scrap material or an old T-shirt and make something, anything. It’s a great feeling to hold something in your hands that you yourself have produced. I wish I’d cottoned onto this earlier. I could’ve been a polka-dot-purse-selling craft mogul by now. (BTW, I’ve neglected to include the exact steps used to make this as I’m very sure there are much better ways to go about it. Sew however you see fit, I say.)

April

Bags For the People: ‘Sweatshop’ DIY Canvas Bag Making Party. July 18th, 1 – 6PM, 303 Grand St. BK, NY

picture-5

Just got a link from SuperForester Severine about Bags For the People, who are throwing a free DIY canvas bag-sewing soiree called “Sweatshop” on July 18th from 1 to 6PM @ 303 Grand in Brooklyn, NY

Sayeth the BFTP site:

“Bags for the People is a non-profit organization that provides people with a sustainable alternative to plastic bags.

Bags for the People began with three friends who worked at the Union Square Farmers Market in New York City. These three friends, Megan Talley, Glenn Robinson, and Kelly Martin, wanted to make a positive impact on the exorbitant use of plastic bags that they witnessed each and every market.

In an effort to curb plastic bag usage, Megan, Glenn, and Kelly, began making re-usable bags from recycled clothing and fabric that were to be given out for free at the market.

Why free?

Our bags are free so no one is excluded from actively participating in this simple lifestyle change. We want our bags to be a truly positive experience that will create dialogue and instill environmentally conscious thought while cutting back on plastic bag usage. Furthermore, for us, it is about our environment and making positive change, not making money.”

Wait, wait… Let me get this straight… You make the bags out of recycled materials, teach others how to make the bags on their own, AND you give away the bags you make? About making positive change, not making money?

What do we call this amazing new America we’ve suddenly found ourselves in?
A place where people willingly (and thrillingly) choose idea-sharing over profit?

World 2.0

I don’t know when exactly it began (it was wayyyy before Obama,) but here it is.

I love this newly undiscovered planet.

Here’s the Bags For The People site.
And the 303 Grand site.

Thank you, Sevvy for the tippy tip tip!

SuperForester Iman Presents: Build – The Little Rice Sack That Could!

Wow! Would you like to know how to to turn one of these:

Into one of these?

Here’s the newest member of Team SuperForest, SF’er Iman, to teach you how!
Take it, Iman:

Hello SuperForest,

Iman here once again!

Coming at you straight from San Diego where I have just completed my second post, hopefully the second of many to come. Once more let me thank you! You beautiful reader, for this world (and blog) would not be the same without you. I hope you find the message of this post as handy as I have.

First, get an empty rice sack…


Cut it like this.


Then, sew up the side, like this…


Flip the top over to make a lip and sew it like this.


It should look like this.


Another strip of rice sack, bent over…


And sewn shut…

Sew this handle onto the top lip, flip the whole works inside out, and there you have it:

The Little Rice Sack That Could!

Hooray!

(Amazing Iman. Such a helpful post!)