Category Archives: Clothing & Sewing

This category is about clothing and sewing, including sewing projects that go beyond clothing as well as clothing that doesn’t require you to pick up a needle. As you’d expect in a site about simple green living, the posts tend to be about repurposing and repairing. Rather to my surprise, the most popular post here is one on how I took two sets of sheets–one flannel and one cotton–cut the sheets down the middle and sewed them back up with the opposite ones so that we ended with flannel sheets on my side of the bed and cotton on his. Fun! I later learned that you can buy sheets like that.

Fixing an old sewing machine, wearing organic cotton, making necklaces out of old t-shirts, the joys of home sewing… these are some of the topics I’ve covered. I’ve got ideas for plenty more, and with more of an emphasis coming up on clothing. That will be old clothing, thrift store clothing, and other such topics.

Love My Animal Face T-Shirts from The Mountain

holding my rottweiler while wearing my rottweiler dog face t-shirt from the mountain

The Mountain animal t-shirts: 3D dog faces, actually lots of 3D animal face t-shirts, Dean Russo dog art on t-shirts… such variety! No wonder I love them! It all started when I got the Rottweiler dog face t-shirt. Now I add another one to my collection every now and then. These are very well-made shirts… see below for details. The ones I have purchased have been in men’s sizes but they have been fine for me… I’m short and so the rather long shirts end up more like tunics but that’s fine with me. Many of these designs are also … Continue reading →

Crossbody Purses: Practical and Secure, But Comfortable?

Women’s crossbody purses are practical in how you can get into them without removing them and they are more secure for going places than conventional shoulder bags. And they are certainly stylish and available in many colors and in cute patterns. (Some of these bags would be suitable for men as well.)They come in all price ranges, from inexpensive to top-of-the-line designer bags. I will be exploring the inexpensive ladies’ crossbody purses here. How comfortable are they? In a nutshell, picking an adjustable one gives you the best chance at comfort. If you are in a hurry, here’s a link … Continue reading →

Simple But Effective Halloween Costumes

When it comes to Halloween, you could spend a bundle on mass-produced costumes but you don’t have to. Here I’ll give you some ideas for simple but effective Halloween costumes you can put together. They are guaranteed to be unique, since you create them yourself, and chances are that they will cost you little or nothing. Halloween Costumes Based on T-shirts What T-shirts do you already have that could be turned into costumes? You could use an adult’s t-shirt for a girl and have a whole dress right there. Any black or orange t-shirts in the house? If the designs … Continue reading →

Colorful Womens’ Cotton Camisoles Are Useful and Fun

When you go looking around Amazon or pretty much anywhere for women’s camisoles, it’s obvious that black and white are the colors in style. It makes practical sense to have some of those, but my tastes run to colorful womens’ cotton camisoles. By the way, I recently wrote about how wearing camisoles may help to prevent breast cancer. & And just for fun, here is a video about colorful tank tops or camisoles. I haven’t tried these, and likely won’t as I prefer cotton over the nylon these are made of, but I like her point of view about color! … Continue reading →

Sewing Dog Toys, and Making Them without Sewing

I have been looking around for ideas for sewing dog toys, and I’ve found so many good ideas that I am going to make a list here of the articles, with my comments. A couple of them are on how to make dog toys without any sewing. What about adding squeakers inside your creations? You can buy them online… here is a link to a search on Amazon for . I linked to the search rather than to particular ones because they come in a variety of sizes. I ordered myself these in medium. Sewing Dog Toys Here is a page on … Continue reading →

Flannel Sheets on My Side of the Bed, Regular Cotton on His

I love the warmth of flannel sheets, specially on cold winter nights. My husband doesn’t really like them, though he has tolerated them. Then I had an idea… how about sewing up some sheets that would be flannel on my side of the bed and regular cotton on his side? I did that yesterday, with a bit of help from him, and we are both pleased. Here’s how to do it, step by step. The hardest part is simply being sure that you cut and pin correctly. The sewing is easy. Update: I discovered that you can buy sheets like … Continue reading →

Repurposing Old T Shirts for Decorative Necklace Scarves

There are a lot of ways that you can repurpose old t-shirts to make interesting new things. Here’s one example. The other day I raided my husband’s collection of ratty old t shirts. Choosing a red one, I put it on a table and cut the bottom hem off. Then I made a cut parallel to the bottom, from just below one armpit to just below the other. The part of the t shirt above that cut I saved for rags. Then I began cutting strips about an inch wide, sometimes less — I didn’t measure. It doesn’t seem to … Continue reading →

Sewing at Home: Save Money, Earn Money, Enjoy Being Creative

Home sewing is a great project for many people! You can: Save money by mending or repurposing things you already have or you can get inexpensively, like at a free box or thrift sotre Make things to sell at local craft fairs or online at Etsy and places like it Make money by doing original sewing or mending for other people locally Get the satisfaction of doing something creative, whether it’s clothing, handicrafts, or something else. It’s fun to give hand-sewn gifts! I still remember the thrill of my first home sewing project.It was a flannel nightgown that my mother … Continue reading →

Instead of Paper Towels

I just read an article on do-it-yourself paper towel substitutes, where you sew up some fabric towels of the right size to fit on your paper towel rack, and then you attach the towels to each other via snaps, velcro, or buttons. (Could be a great learning-to-sew buttonholes project..) It inspired me, and I thought of doing it next time I tackle my sewing project box. But then one of my kitties threw up, and as I cleaned that up with paper towel, I thought that I’m not at the stage of saying a total goodbye to paper towels. I … Continue reading →

How to Repair a Very Old Sewing Machine

My sewing machine wouldn’t work. Well, it would after a fashion. I could sew a straight stitch backwards. That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I bought my Viking 6460… what, over 30 years ago? REALLY? You mean it’s an antique? What does that make ME? All those colors you see across the top represent different stitches. I have my favorites, and a while back I wanted to do some mending with some of those stitches. That’s when I discovered that I couldn’t. Not to worry, the same thing had happened years earlier and a fabric store … Continue reading →

Wear Organic Cotton: We Eat Organic Food, Let’s Select Organic Clothing More Often!

Do you have anything in your closet made from organic cotton? At this writing, I have exactly one thing, a nightgown. My husband Kelly is ahead of me, with four organic cotton t-shirts. We regularly buy organic produce at supermarkets and farmers’ markets, but it isn’t nearly as easy to go organic when buying clothing. The availability of organic cotton clothing is mostly online, though some large retailers, including Wal-Mart, are beginning to carry it in retail stores. Since people like to try on clothing before buying it, it sells better when we can just go into a store and … Continue reading →

Simple Green Living

With Rosana Hart