I don’t know about your kids, but mine can get very attached to their clothing…especially those with their favorite characters on them (grr).  It can be very difficult to get them to let go of a heavily worn t-shirt, even when they have nicer, newer ones ready to wear.  Since we have been a mostly “paperless” household as far as paper towels and paper napkins are concerned for some time, I started recycling their favorite t-shirts into dinner napkins as a way to get them to “let go” as well as keep their newer clothing in better condition by encouraging them wiping their hands on the shirt napkin rather then what they are wearing.  

When Ani decided she was ready to turn her favorite “Dora” t-shirt into a napkin I cut off a sleeve and her what-can-i-do-with-this-scrap instinct just kicked in (no wonder where she got that from!).  She first placed the sleeve on her wrist, thinking cuff, but then I came to realize it was the perfect size for a doll skirt!  And TADA, a new collection of doll clothing, 4 unique angle skirts that we decorated with scraps of ribbon and trimmings.  Here’s how!  (and keep
reading, because we didn’t stop there…we literally recycled this entire shirt into a number of fun, useable items!).   

We started with 2 of Ani's size 4 t-shirts.  I find these sleeves are the perfect size to fit a 16" doll, which could be an American Girl or My Generation doll.  In our case, they are a selection of random dolls from Ani's "posse".  I would imagine with an adult size t-shirt, this could even apply to a baby skirt.  The great thing about t-shirts is that the knit material is stretchy enough to fit over multiple shapes and sizes of dolls.  Alterations can be made for better fit, depending on your skills.  I try to make projects simple enough that Ani can do them easily and independently, within a time frame that acccounts for a 4-year-old attention span.  But I could see these getting really fun adding in sewing machine skills and additional fabrics, etc.  We'll keep it simple, but you can get as creative as you want!

We cut off the sleeves passed the seam with pinking shears.  If you don't have pinking shears, regular fabric scissors will do just fine, and make for a more raw, edgy look to the skirt.  The great thing about knits is that they don't fray, so there is no need to finish a hem.  Do this with both sleeves on the shirts.

Next we use scraps of ribbon and trimmings to decorate the skirts.  We simply glued these on with fabric glue, which was easy for Ani to do independently.  It's ok if the glue gets a little messy on the edges, because it will dry clear and flexible.  Again, if you wanted a more "professional" look, these could easily be hand or machine sewn on.  Depending on what kind of glue you use, this may be a way to make it last a little longer.  We used professional grade fabric glue, but it is not readily available in craft stores, so may be a little harder (and more expensive) to acquire.  This is the part where using what you have can get really creative and fun!

These are the 4 finished skirts we created...probably in less than an hour, using recycled and found materials:

After we did the doll skirts, I continued to cut up the t-shirts and ended up with a child apron, napkin, doll or child cuff, and a doll (or baby) bib, that I think also looks cute as a little shirt or cape style garment for a doll.  I cut off the big solid front and back pieces for the apron and napkin, then I was able to use the side seams and bottom hemmed seam for the apron neck strap and waist ties.  There was no sewing, just tie the neck strap onto the shoulder area of the front piece, and snip slits on the waist sides, string the ties through and knot on the side.  I'm sure you could find additional uses for the remaining items.  Very little of the t-shirt was lost to scrap.  Enjoy!

When we received our bread machine over a year ago, I thought it was the bees knees.  Chris had tried his hand at bread making many times, with some success, some epic fails, and very little consistency.  I, personally, can’t remember ever making a loaf of bread in the oven.  But this new homesteading life has brought about a lot of changes, many of them returning us to the basics of our food sources.  But bread takes soooooo loooooong.  So this bread machine, of course it was the answer, right?  Not really.

Yep, it’s “easier”.  Easier in the fact that you load up the ingredients into the pan, put it in the machine, press a couple buttons, and POOF!  An hour and a half later, bread…sort of.  Sometimes it was perfect, tall, spongy, and tasty.  But more often than not, it was dense, short, and tasty (always tasty, it is bread after all).  Where was this inconsistency coming from?  This was a machine, machines are supposed to be the modern world answer to perfection, speed, and consistency.  But it wasn’t there. 

I’ve spent many periods of my life wishing time would pass faster, wishing things would happen faster.  Most of that time was also spent frustrated that it wasn’t happing that way.  I wanted the success of bringing a business to the point of financial stability, but didn’t appreciate the journey.  Each little step; my first client, my first sale, my first month turning a profit; it was never big enough to make me stop wondering and wishing when I would feel really good about it.

Most parents experience moments of wishing their kids would grow up just a little bit faster.  Wouldn’t life be easier if he could talk? Won’t it be more fun when she can run?  When is that day when I can just sit on the bench at the playground and chill out while my kids play without me worrying that they are going to fall and hurt themselves?  And when those days come, they bring new challenges, which can sometimes lead to wishing the time away again.

Now that life has slowed down, I am experiencing something that was almost foreign to me before…patience.  I realize a day is just a day, and I can choose to spend it however I want.  I don’t have to do everything fast, I can just do whatever I decide.  The process is the success.  It’s still hard to wait for that garden to start producing come summer (summer is coming again, right?), but the kids can grow at their leisure, I am enjoying the moments that Ani isn’t in school, and the fact that Kai can’t ride his bike yet.  It means I still get to enjoy this time…knowing that the next step is coming, when it comes.  I enjoy every new venture, new creation, and new step in self-sustaining our existence…I can see the power in every step, and am not interested in spotting the finish line…this is a marathon I intend to run as long as I can.  I figure the longer the better…more scenery.

Two weeks ago I got tired of rushing through my bread making.  I decided to see what I could do without the bread machine.  I got off my bookshelf a beautiful book called “the Tassajara Bread Book”.  From page 15 to page 29 are the instructions for making a basic loaf of bread, complete with diagrams.  Chris and I followed those instructions carefully, slowly, and patiently.  In total, I think it took about 5-6 hours.  From making the “sponge”, to kneading, resting, punching, folding, shaping, resting, and baking we saw this bread through, and it was the only thing we really did that day.  We were like kids waiting for Christmas whenever the timer would beep letting us know we were ready for the next step.  And when that bread came out of the oven, I was in awe.  It was perfect, quite likely the best bread I have ever had.  On one of the very first pages of the book is a dedication from the author, Edward Espe Brown, that reads:


Rock and water

Wind and tree

Bread dough rising

Vastly all are patient with me.


The world is patient with all of us, giving us nothing but time to experience everything we want to.  I am finding it much more rewarding to work with rather than against the world.  Take a walk, build a fort, make bread…from scratch, in the oven.  Oh, and get your hands on this bread book, you won’t regret it.