Sewing With a Tiny Budget

One of the many indoor projects to tackle this winter is organizing the house after a rather unorganized move. We kind of just threw everything in the room it goes in but didn't really put much away in any sort of organized fashion! Since it was still Summer when we got here we focused on outside things, like working on the barns and land, and put off the inside stuff until it got colder out. Well, here we are, it's colder! So this weekend I thought I'd get started. I've been doing some sewing for Christmas gifts and every time I open my sewing cupboard it's a source of frustration trying to see what I have to work with so I decided to start the organization there, and while I'm at it, I'll share some ways I can afford fabric on our one-income budget.

This is the mess I was starting with!

This fabric is some scrap stuff my Aunt sent me (sooo thankful!) that I use for Quilt squares. I also save any salvageable pieces from blankets or clothes for quilt squares since you only need small pieces for this. Unless of course you are making one of those beautiful pattern quilts where everything matches. I'm more of a hodgepodge-quilt kind of girl (partly due to that one-income I mentioned!) . 

This stack is mostly pillowcases. Farm Girl in the perfect size for those cute pillowcase dresses and they are wonderful for something easy and cool for her to wear in the summer. They're super easy and quick to make and there are lots of tutorials online if you don't know how to make them. Most of these pillowcases cost about 50 cents at garage sales or Goodwill. 

These are remnants from the bin at the fabric store. They are usually about two dollars per yard, and there are a surprising amount of things you can make with just one yard! Our closest fabric store now is a really tiny one in a neighboring town, so I will have to stock up on these on my rare trips into one of the bigger towns/cities.

Another good way to purchase inexpensive fabric is to buy sheets and curtains in patterns you like from yard sales and thrift stores. That's where most of this pile came from, most of them for a couple dollars or less. It's not a great view, but if you can see the second one from the top of the pile, that one is a curtain made out of a canvas type fabric that I am going to repurpose as seat covers on a couple little chairs I'm fixing up for Farm Girl's birthday.

I made some fleece pants for farm boy last month and he loved them. He said he only wants clothes made of fleece from now on because they are so warm and soft! So I will be using this stack of fleece to make more pants and tops for the kids. These are mostly fleece blankets from second hand stores that were one or two dollars. They work great.

And finally there's the never ending pile of of stuff to be fixed. some of it is just old quilts that need new backing and clothes to be repaired, but the more fun stuff is out-grown tee shirts that can be repurposed into skirts and headbands, or tank tops to be made into bags. 

Now a tiny corner of one room is organized, and I can sew without  digging through a mess to find what I need.

Do you have any good ideas about where to get inexpensive fabric? If you sew, you know one can never have too much fabric!

This post is on the Homestead Barn Hop over at theprairiehomestead.com, http://www.sewmanyways.blogspot.com  and on Wicked Awesome Wednesday http://www.handymancraftywoman.com.   Also - See more at: http://www.dudesustainable.com/2013/09/green-living-thursdays-18.html#.UnuTg3A3tOE