repurposed

I am continuing on with my little series about my favorite items for repurposed projects. you can read the previous posts here and here.
just to recap quickly, these posts include a list of uses for the item in question, and then a quick and easy DIY "tutorial" (or more like project idea) at the end. 

today: fabric scraps.

As I mentioned last week, I am not much of a sew-er. I have sewn exactly 4 things in my life- a pillow for my grade 8 Home Ec class, bunting for my wedding, a very easy dress (see below) and the small coin purse I made a little while back. 
Yup, that's it. 

I love pretty fabric, but I have never been much of a machine-crafts girl. This is for two reasons- first of all, I don't own a sewing machine. Second, so far I just prefer the simplicity of working with my hands. Plus, I hate cutting things out. Eventually I would love to get a machine and learn how to use it. But we'll see where that takes me.
So. Over the years, I have come up with some ideas for using pretty fabric that don't really involve sewing machines.

• embroider on it. Over the past few months, as I've discovered embroidery, I keep making little designs on scrap fabric. You can see some here and here. I've just been popping them in frames or hoops and hanging them on my walls!
• Bunting! I mentioned this above, but for my wedding I cut up old pieces of lace, stained table cloths, and even pillow cases to make bunting. I loved this idea so much, I even went to the fabric store and bought a whole bunch of pieces from the "ends bin" to make some for our first apartment in Vancouver. 
• plant cozies. Yepp. Just last week, I cut a ruffle off of a top I bought at the thrift store and tied it around my mint plant's pot. Cuteness. Sometimes I even just put a piece of scrap fabric under a plant to add a little something.
• T-shirt yarn. I tried this for the first time last week after seeing this tutorial. I haven't made anything out of it yet but I'm excited to try!
• mini flags. This is super simple. I just cut out some fabric scraps in the shape of flags, and tape them onto the non-pointy end of those BBQ skewers that look like giant toothpicks. Then I add them to my house plants for a little extra colour. 

Today's project is my favorite. 

Awhile back I was given a lovely piece of fabric from India. It was a tunic-like dress that was much too big to wear. Knowing that my sewing skills were limited, I set out to turn it into something wearable that didn't involve too many tricks. 
Basically for this dress, I cut off the top of the tunic just below the seam. Then I had a nice loop of fabric. Next, I sewed black elastic to the top of the loop, and sewed a white tank top I had to the underside. 
The thing I liked about this project was not having to buy anything. (aside from the black elastic) Of course, the project was a lot easier because my fabric already had side seams and a hem. You could probably find a dress suitable to cut up and repurpose in a thrift store or at the flea market. The dress could easily be made from an old table cloth, or even bed sheets if no dresses are to be found.

This isn't a life-altering project, but it was quick, fun, and useful. I wear this dress all through the summer!