Thrifty Gifting Part 3: Embellished Cowl Tutorial.

Fabric Flower Cowl

Yoyo Cowl

These cowls are one of the easiest items you can make. They're great as inexpensive gifts or as a treat for yourself! First, head to Target or Walmart. Peruse the $5 scarves, and choose the color/pattern you want.

$5 Walmart Scarf

I was able to score this one for $3!

 

Next, remove any tags.

 

And any frills...

 

or tassles.

 

Fold ends together so the right sides of your fabric are inside, and stitch together about 1/2 inch from the edges. 

That's it! Your cowl is finished. Embellish with a fabric flower, or yoyos.

 

Remove any leftover cats from your gift boxes, and place your awesome gift inside!

 Gift giving made easy.

Thrifty Gifting Part 2: Bath Scrubber and Peach Scented Bath Soak

Total Cost: $2

I originally saw this tutorial on Flaming Toes and decided to give it a go. I had an empty bottle and lots of fabric in my craft supplies, and my pantry was stocked with all of the Oatmeal Green Tea Bath Soak ingredients, so all I needed was a new washcloth (I'm nowhere near thrifty enough to give away a used one). I picked up this grey cloth at walmart for $2, along with a 50 cent measuring spoon. Bonus: I only needed half of the washcloth, so I can make a second set for myself!

I didn't have all the teas in the bath soak recipe, so I just used some that smelled good to me: A white tea with peach, and some plain green tea.

I threw them in the coffee grinder with some oats, and then into the food processor with a bit of cornstarch and some dried milk. The end result was looking pretty and smelling like peaches!

 

I just dumped it into the jar I had on hand:

 

And put some coordinating fabric on the jar to spice it up:

 

For the bath scrubber, I sewed a tube for the handle, inverted it, and attached it to my backing fabric. I ruffled the wash cloth by running a stitch through 2 sides and gathering, then sewed the washcloth to the backing, right sides together, leaving a space to invert it. After inverting it, I closed the space with a top stitch. And voila! Finished bath scrubber: 

 

I added some fabric to pretty-up the spoon, and am now the proud owner of a thoughtful and thrifty gift for my mom. 

 

 

Of course it just wouldn't be right to give it away without making sure it works, so I'm off to the tub!
(not with the washcloth, obviously. Ew.)

Thrifty Gifting Part 1: Baby Sweater Boots.

Total Cost: $0, plus fabric I had on hand.

I absolutely love giving gifts. However, my husband has been laid off for almost two years now. Needless to say, we don't have a lot of cash after we pay our bills, but I didn't want that to stop me from giving thoughtful gifts that the recipients will (hopefully) use.

Personally, I love handmade gifts because they take a lot of time and thought. I'm hoping the people on my Christmas list feel the same way! The first thrifty gift I made was inspired by this photo I saw on pinterest.

 

This pattern is on sale at I Think Sew for a pretty decent price, but as I am trying to keep costs down I decided to make my own pattern. Hopefully, I can perfect it and post it here someday. From the photos, it appears that the sleeves of a suit coat were used to make the boot tops. I wanted my baby boots to be sweater boots, so I figured why not use the sleeve from an old sweater? This one to be exact:

 

Rescued just in time from my trusty "to donate" box. Lately I've been feeling the grey and yellow, so I had a few coordinating fabrics to choose from for my boot liners.

Once I chose my color, I constructed the liners and outers separately, and then attached them at the toes and the "rims" of the boot tops. I wanted a bit more color, so I rolled the outer boot top down a half inch and let the liners show out the top. A couple of yoyos (tutorial here) in contrasting colors made a great embellishment.

 

Bonus: Little Z was more than happy to be my chunky baby leg model.

Finished baby sweater boots: may be coming to a Christmas tree near you!

I had a lot of sweater left, so I made a second pair for my Etsy shop. I can't wait to try this pattern out with my old worksuit coats.