u/Lady_Cicada

I made a snake out of old toddler socks. I added a bit of scavenged ribbon for the tongue. I used plastic grocery bags as stuffing.

Bonus: the cuffs from the socks have made perfect hair ties.

Upstate South Carolina

I saw this fella outside the garage door dragging the egg sac behind her. Do these types of spiders normally lay the eggs before finding a location for them?

I came across this last night and thought it’d be neat to share. 1983 Sears Christmas Book Catalog featuring My Little Ponies and the Beauty Stable and Pretty Parlor. Names, descriptions, and prices are included on the second pic.

I bought these pants 14 years ago at a thrift store. They started out as work pants and have slowly been downgraded to home pants and then sleep pants. They were worn thin and holey.

I have a box full of precut rectangles from old t-shirts from my kiddos. I had attempted a kantha quilt before with the tshirt rectangles but did not progress very far. I decided to use that quilt as inspiration in mending my pants. I picked out 10-12 different threads and rotated through them each time I threaded my needle. I used an embroidery hoop because things were getting way too wild and wonky without some stability.

It’s pretty much random. I just made sure I didn’t have the same color touching.

I’m so glad I spent the time to mend these pants. They make me so happy. It’s like wearing blankets just for legs.

I made this guy as a gift for my kiddo’s teacher.

Made 100% from upcycled/reclaimed/old items.
-denim from kid’s jeans
-ribbon from stash of rescued trim
-thread is decades old serger thread
-stuffing is cut up plastic grocery bags

I let my kiddo paint the eyes and markings.

I found a pair of brand new (no tags but still had that stiffness some new clothing has) black jeans at the thrift store a few months back. They weren’t exactly what I typically gravitate towards (I appreciate animal print but I am not a huge fan of manufactured holes in new clothing), but for $1 I was willing to give them a home.

I wore them a few times but I wasn’t ever comfortable with my pasty flesh shining through the holes. I’m too old, uncool, and pale to pull off that kind of look. (You know the meme of the pale girl on the beach..no, not that girl…the other one. I’m that kind of pale.)

I needed pants but I do not enjoy shopping enough to make a special trip of finding a new pair. I figured if my main complaint was the holes then I could try to do something about it. I’ve got plenty of thread and tons of old socks. (I think I may have spent more time digging through socks than I did stitching them on.) And now I have some pants I will be comfortable wearing.

My kiddo requested I make a something for his teacher. We decided to go with a dinosaur since her classroom is decorated entirely in dinosaurs. It’s taken me nearly the entire school year but I finally finished it.

I had started out with a slightly different design that was more 2D, smaller, and in brown corduroy. I discovered all my choices were not the best when I was turning it right-side out. The material was shredding and the neck and tail were too thick to push through such narrow openings.

I decided to go a little bigger and in a material I was a little more experienced with. I also opted to go with a more 3D shape. I sketched out the pieces, and cut and pinned them together. And then my brain went on hiatus for months. I wasn’t using a pattern. I was going off what I pictured in my head of how some stuffed animals are pieced together. Why I didn’t just examine one of the many around me, I don’t know.

I avoided the dang thing for months. My kiddo eventually gave up asking if I was going to work on it. And then May came. I knew I had only a few weeks left to try to do something with it.

I managed to stitch it together. I got the tail and head turned right-side out. Then I realized the brachiosaurus I spent months avoiding had virtually no neck and flipper feet.

I chopped its head off and reattached it with a long tube for a neck. I tacked the legs to the body. I made adjustments to the tail because it was looking real weird.

My kiddo painted the eyes and spots and stripes. I tied a ribbon around the neck to disguise the rough job I did attaching it to the body.

I’m so tickled at how well it is standing up on its own. I’m tempted to keep it for myself and send his teacher some chocolate instead.

Materials:
Two pairs of jeans the kiddo had outgrown (big holes in the knees so they weren’t getting donated or handed-down)
Lots of plastic grocery bags cut up for stuffing
Paint (20 years old)
White ribbon (saved from who-knows-what)