Five Awesome Upcycling Projects for Sewers

 I am always on the lookout for good ways to make use of old materials. Unmatched buttons, bits of fabric, broken zippers and old notions. The best of the goods get rolled into my upcycled bags, but let's face it. I have a lot of fabric. A. Lot. 

So here's a sampling of good ways to upcycle those crafty bits, like into something exciting! Like purdy hangers, good for those of us with exposed closet spaces. Also, slippery clothing won't fall off.

From Corrieberry Pie

Or a cute little tree! Perfect for lonely little buttons, and that neat wood spool! (Let's not talk about how many empty spools I have in the craft room...)

From Kitsch and Curious

 Several ways to use old zippers? Yes please! I have an alarming number of busted zippers, and plenty of nice metal ones are available from the fly of old pants.

From Passion Make on Instructables.

Mmmmmm, little wee scraps! Stitching onto paper to give fabric a new life and purpose, and trees! (I really like trees, in case you didn't know.) One could of course branch out into any designs that suit the message... but trees are the best.

From Stitched in Color

 And here's the most practical of upcycling projects for the seamstress - a sewing kit! I find that us four-eyes tend to accumulate old glasses, and as I donate old frames I often keep the case, now I know why. See, just planning! I'm totally not a hoarder...

From Tea Rose Home

Now get out there and re-make cool things!

It Be-hooves One..

AKA How to Turn Your Boyfriend into a Goat.

Well, kinda... For a group costume with some friends of mine, we settled on A Midsummer's Night Dream. We had Titania and Oberon, Queen Mab, I chose to be a fairy (cobweb is best for the season!) and it was decided to make him Pan. (Decided without asking him of course!)

For hooves I started with a pair of his tall boots, covered the bottom with plastic and started layering paper maché. I put a small armature of cardboard underneath to make them less foot shaped, and of course a wicked goat needs cloven hooves...

For the maché mix I simply used flour and hot water. I put it in the fridge overnight while waiting for layers to dry. It's somewhat magical how sturdy paper fiber and flour can be!
I cut off the plastic above and below, and used tape to clean up the edges. There were several coats of black and brown spray paint to seal things and make them shiny, then I added some bone texture with acrylic paint.

Just add fake fur! Lots of fake fur, and ears and horns made from stage latex. Attach a fairy to him and enjoy an evening of Shakespearean cavorting! I hope everyone is enjoying the Halloween costume season, I've been sewing everyday for two weeks to get things ready...

Strap-ons

Ha! Made you look! Today I'm sharing with you all my process for adding some leather strap details to clothing. I'm using the finished object for steampunk cosplay, and the straps are not only aesthetically pleasing but useful for attaching tools and such. Some things of note...
1. Do not use your good fabric scissors to cut leather. Ever.
2. Tools like a good awl and a leather hole punch make life easy.
3. you can use normal sewing notions, go for big needles and heavy thread like button or quilting cord. Really large needles will be tough to pass thru the leather tho.

I purchased leather already cut into long strips for this project. After determining the placement of my straps I cut them a little longer than the distance they are to span. Add quite a bit extra if you think you will want to use them for securing large objects. Using a few layers of cardboard I punched sewing holes in the send of all my straps. A piece of scrap wood also works well for this, but don't use an awl directly on a table or your leg...

I hand stitched the straps in place using the punched holes and button cord. If you're having trouble finding a hole from the backside of the leather use a second needle to show you where it is. I doubled back on the holes so that all of them have thread going from both sides. Not only does it look neater to have a continuous line of thread, but it makes it a bit sturdier.
I bought commercial buckles for this project. One can also make your own from some hardware store pieces (D-rings and heavy gauge wire in case you really want to punk it up). I took strips of fabric, doubled them over for strength, and poked a hole in them. The middle bar goes thru the hole and the two sides of the fabric strip are sewn down. Then I used the leather punch to create a row of holes. You can also use an awl if your buckle is small, but a punch makes nice clean holes.
I added these to a corset I made, but any garment could use them. Leather straps would also work well on bags and purses, even some household sewing! I've made friends with the local leather warehouse, and the possibilities are endless!

Pricing 101

This is the sheet I handed out at a recent pricing workshop, I wanted to share some ideas about pricing craft products as part of running a crafty business. There are dozens of different systems to use for pricing, but I wanted to share an overview of the process behind setting your numbers!

There are several important aspects of determining your price, your cost basis, your market, and the value of your items. Cost basis is the easiest to determine, and usually a large portion of the price. Your market and perceived value depend on the type of item you make, and your branding.

Cost

Has three main components - Materials, labor, business expenses. The addition of all these things creates your cost, charging less than cost means you are losing money! Here's an example worksheet

Yarn prices, per batch. (For this example it's a batch of 5 2oz. 100yd. skeins)

Cost of fiber - $2.00 per ounce. For 10 ounce batch__________ $20.00.

Cost of dyes and materials - three dye baths, $.50 each ________$1.50

Labor - $7.50 per hour. 2.66 hours spinning, 3 hours dying _____$42.45

Total $64.00 (yes, I rounded)

Divide that by 5, and each skein has a cost basis of $12.80

But wait! What about other business cost?

I have a spinning wheel, dye pots, skills and experience, electricity and other utilities at my studio space (also known as the living room). And that's just the cost of making stuff. You can build these cost into your cost basis using complected algorithms, or you can be like most small business owners and estimate. Often people use a added percentage (cost x 1.25, or adding %25), but depending on the materials cost this may not be accurate. If you do have a studio space, or equipment that you rent, you can determine how many hours you use them for each item, and add the cost that way.

Note, we still haven't touched the other parts of your business!

As small business owners we are doing many other things besides creating. We package and present our products, often taking photos and/or modeling them. We market and promote, this may be just talking our items up around town, it might be buying advertising. We seek out venues for our product, and often staff craft fair booths or retail co-ops. These are hours we spend selling our products, and we need to be paid for them. There are also the cost of packaging, labeling, storing etc.

The price you came up with in your cost basis, is generally going to be your wholesale price. And most people double that to determine their retail price. If I determine my cost basis to be $15.00, then my yarn should be retailing for $30.00.

WHAT!?

No really, that's the math. If you don't believe it, count it a different way. Keep track of all the time you spend in a week working on your business. Figure out how much you actually produced in that same week. Now determine your cost in a way that adds that in. For example, If I made only yarn, and had made only that one batch of yarn in a week, but I spent an hour a day doing some kind of business activity, that's $52.50. If you think you couldn't spend an hour a day trying to sell 5 measly skeins of yarn...

So we've done that math, and our cost basis is $127.50 that's $25.50 per skein. Not too far off. Depending on your overhead and promotions you might find that way of calculating gives you a bigger number!

Reality Check

Now the question must be asked, is anyone going to buy that yarn for $30? or $25.50? Would I buy that yarn for that much? Now we have the issues of market, and perceived value. One thing to remember - Not everyone is a crafter. We have the bad habit of undervaluing our work, because "hey, I could make that". If you make something, and it's amazing, and it's well made from quality materials, there are people who are willing to pay what it is really worth.

But the yarn? In my pricing I've had to be mindful of other crafters and my market. I am not interested in being the cheapest yarn out there, there are too may people undervaluing themselves for that. I'm not interested in being the most expensive either, for some brands and products that's the goal, but not mine. When balancing the cost and value, I settled on selling my yarn for slightly above cost basis. Not because I don't like money, but because that's the most that many people are willing to pay for it.

That leads to the last aspect, Value.

Value is different that cost. Cost is concrete, based on the amount you pay for materials, and the amount of labor. Value is created by branding, promotion, packaging, utility, beauty etc. When a certain person finds a certain item, and it resonates with them - Price becomes no object. Sadly we do not have dozens of these people clamoring for our good at all times, so we must create a price that is with the range of perceived value for our target market. If your market is wealthy fashionistas, they will see an increased price as increased value. If your market is young mothers they will be more concerned with the utility to price ratio. If you don't think your market will buy your product, you need to try and raise the value of it in their eyes.

Or, reduce your cost.

If you find yourself doing these calculations and you're getting numbers that seem totally untenable, try to adjust the input numbers. For my example, I can try to source wool roving for cheaper. I can try to do larger batches so that the dying time is split amongst more product. I can try to spin faster. Note that I came up with a hourly labor cost, the amount I pay myself. It's somewhat arbitrary, but it's what I was making at most of the jobs I had before I started my business. I didn't think it seemed right to pay myself less than other people had paid me (even if I have the perk of working for an amazing boss).

*Can your materials be sourced for less without sacrificing quality?

*Can you make things in a more efficient manner?

*Can you outsource something?

*Is your labor cost realistic?

*Can you make a simpler product?

Do not, ever, for any reason, sell your goods under cost. This is tough, but if you lose money doing something it's a hobby not a business. You may find that your price doesn't cover all the hours you spend on your business, work to decrease your cost, or to do more with less time. Don't make a business plan that involves selling hundreds of items to turn a profit, let Walmart do that. Some of your items may be break evens, and some may be very profitable, but you should not price with the intention of it being profitable "someday".

Tutorial - resizing a vintage skirt.

After finding a pile of lovely skirts at an estate sale, and when getting home and discovering that they are all about 24 inches around... I headed for the craft room! I only needed to add a few inches to make this fit at the waist, and since they're pleated there is plenty of extra to go around.

I carefully cut the stitching back on a few pleats until the skirt was the correct width. I decided no to iron down the pleats, since leaving them gave the illusion that the skirt was still pleated all the way around.

I used a piece of wool felt in nearly the same color to fill the gap. These skirts have a sizable hand turned hem, so if I wanted a perfect match I could steal some strips from the bottom and tack the new edge down.

I top-stitched it all in place, and made a new button hole for the existing button. I never even had the touch the zipper in all this, I just made sure that when buttoned the sides still line up.

And now I have a trio of cute vintage pleated wool skirts! My mother remarked that they are exactly what she would have worn to High School (back when girls were not allowed to wear pants, can you believe that!)



On this red and blue plaid there had been a long overlap on the closure, so once I unfolded it a bit it didn't want to sit closed, I just added a zipper to it. I even went dancing in this skirt, it spins like a dream and the waistband is sturdy enough for that kind of excitement.

You don't have the make the changes where the skirt closes. This skirt had a cute little strap closure, so I opened the waistband in the same manner on the far side from the closure. It is always best of change the sizes of garments on the side so the drape of the front and back aren't changed too much.

So never be afraid to grab a good deal just because you can't try it on, there are lots of things to do with that clothing if it doesn't fit quite right!