Rags to Riches...well not exactly

Today I had a burst of creativity....or something like unto it. I decided that it had been way too long since I had pulled out my sewing machine and I needed to get it out so that I could sew the patches on Wyatt's scout shirt (I know he has been in for almost 5 months and I am such a slacker for just getting around to sewing them on). But in order to sew today I had to uncover my machine which meant that I had to decide what to do with the mending that was pilling up---mend it now or later. Well, as you might guess, I decided to mend now while I was going through the pile and save Wyatt's patches for another day. So my task began with sewing Gabe's work shirt and fixing a hole there, sewing another button on another work shirt of Gabe's, stitching up a hole in one of his ties, and then there were several pairs of pants that had holes in them. Jacob is very hard up for pants and there was one pair in there that was his size. The rest were actually Katherine's size....although she isn't needing them as much. So I had some decisions to make....do a patch job that was just that a patch or do something more decorative.
A friend suggested that I take the denim patch that I would have put on the outside of the pants on the inside and then make the outside fancy. I was unsure at first because I am not really good at cute and fancy. Patching I can do, cute and fancy...not so much. But as I was thinking about it, I was trying to find some fabric that I could use and came across pieces of a quilt that we had made for a wedding and cut some off to make it shorter. It was just what I needed. Katherine really didn't have a choice and hers was the test. I think that they turned out pretty cute what do you think?















The whole time that I was working on Katherine's pants, Jacob was looking at the rest of the scraps that I had and was asking where his pants were. So I showed him the pants that were going to become his and then asked him what he wanted on them. I would have put the puppy print that I had, but he chose the kitty ones instead. Either way I had to make his today too, because he kept asking when his would be finished. It really didn't take too long. And I feel pretty good about having taken some things that would have normally go in the trash, fixed them up and made them wearable again. I am thankful at this moment in time for my mother who took the time to show me how to sew and then taught me that saving material is okay. If I hadn't have saved those scraps from the quilt I would have just had to do boring old patches that the kids probably wouldn't have wore anyway. But now I have something that is 100% unique and pretty darn cute in my opinion. And if you think about it I saved our family about 15+ dollars by not needing to buy the pants new.

I think that I may have to do more of this, but unfortunately I don't have many more scraps of fabric or pants to put them on. I may just have to break down and get the fabric for a "real" project or two first. Either way I need to do more of this. The satisfaction of seeing the end result and knowing that I did that makes it worth the effort. Granted next time I think I will start a little earlier into rest time as then I won't have to contend with Katherine wanting to push the pedal for the sewing machine when I am not ready for that. We shall see what happens with time.