Maximize Closet Space

 Hello Readers. There is never enough closet space, or at least it seems like that to me. I really wanted to make the most of my little closet. I think we all want to get the most from our space so let me show you how I organized to get the most out of my closet space. 

 I couldn't make the closet larger so I had to maximize the space I did have. 

 

 

When the seasons change and you need to wear different (Heavier or lighter.) clothes, it's a great time to clean up the closet. My closet is not that big so I really need to keep it neat and I wanted to try to make the most of the space I had. I also couldn't afford an expensive closet makeover so I tried to be as cheap as I could. 

The first thing I did was bring my jackets to the front. In summer I put the jackets in the back of my closet but it is colder now. I am going to need them easy to access so they went in front.  

 

I want more room available so I decided to put some summer stuff away. I got a plastic tub/tote and labeled it so I would know what was in there. Keeping my summer items in the tote will protect them and keep them dust free all winter.

 

 I gathered the summer items that I knew I wouldn't need. I wouldn't need any swimsuits, or summer shoes and bags. They can go up on a high shelf out of the way. 

 

I put the tote up on my highest shelf but I can always get something out if I need to. Sometimes the shelves can be too high to reach easily. So...

 

I keep a step-stool in my closet at all times to help me reach the high shelves. It helps when I change over season to season but also helps me reach things without having to go down to the storage room to find a stool. I like this one because it has a handle to hold on to when I use it. It keeps me from falling off the stool and breaking my neck. 

 

I also put my warm sweaters in front and used this plastic tote on it's side to keep them neat. The pile of sweaters would fall over if the tote didn't keep the piled upright. I wanted to stack them up high to use that space as much as possible. 

 

Next to the sweaters is an old shoe box where I could put extra hangers. I wanted a place to put them to keep them all together in one place when they were not in use. When I do laundry and need to hang up clothes the hangers will be ready to grab. 

 

My next step was to create a place to hang my scarves. It's cold in the morning, I am going to want to grab a scarf. This is designed to go on the back of a door but I had another idea. 

 

 I hung this from the front of the upper shelf. It stays on securely and I can use it to hang scarves above my sweaters. Its a great use of that open space.

 

I put the scarves on the rack and it's great to be able to see them all and grab them easily.

 

I turned to focus on the other side of the closet. There is a set of shelves that I like to use for shoes and belts. The belts hang on the tips of the vertical poles of the shelves them selves. I didn't need to do anything, just use the architecture of the shelves themselves. I also wanted to fit in as many shoes as possible on these shelves and use all the space. I came up with another shoe box idea. 

 

The shelves are taller than they need to be for shoes. There is more space in there that can be used.

 

I cut one of the long sides off a shoe box to open it up. 

 

I used the shoe box like a little shelf. 

 

One pair of shoes can go under the box and one pair of shoes can go on top of the box. It is a much better use of the space. 

 

I hope that you can use some of these ideas to get and stay organized and maximize your space. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

Use a Blind as a Sink Skirt

 Hello Readers. What could I do with an unused blind? I had this Roman blind that my sweet mother-in-law gave me. It was pretty but all my windows were covered. I have held onto it for a while but I wanted to use it for something. I finally thought of a great idea. I could make a skirt for my utility sink with it. 

 Do sinks need skirts? I thought this one did.

I wanted to hide under my not-very-cute utility sink. It looks like this one, it's useful but not pretty.

 This blind is made of thick fabric and really well put together. It was about 35' x 60'. It was large enough to make a great skirt for my sink. 

 You can see the strings and pulley system on the back of the blind. 

The first thing I did was remove all of those strings and loops. I didn't need any of this in my sink skirt. 

I also took the out the pieces that gave the blind structure and the wood that would be used to hang the blind on the wall. I didn't need any of this either. 

Then I measured to get the size I needed. Your sink will be different than mine. I was only covering 2 side of my sink because it is in a corner. The area of my sink that I wanted to cover was 45' wide and 34' tall.  

I cut the blind down in size as needed. I was cutting it into a rectangular shape. It needed to wrap around the side and front of my sink and I wanted it to hang down to the floor, or just above the floor. 

 I used my serger to finish the cut edges. It would connect the 2 layers of the blind and keep the fabric from fraying.  

 I wanted to use Velcro to attach the skirt to the sink. With Velcro, I could take it off the sink to clean it if I needed to. I used this Velcro that had sticky adhesive on the back. 

 

I cut my Velcro pieces 45' wide to wrap around the rim my sink. 

I peeled the Velcro off the paper and stuck one piece of it on the sink. I pressed it to the sink firmly and it really stuck to the sink well. 

I stuck the other side of the Velcro to the top edge of the skirt. It didn't stick to the fabric as well as the plastic side of the sink.

 

  I sewed the blind and the Velcro together to make sure they stayed together really well over time as it hangs on the sink. 

 I attached the skirt to the sink and it stayed on so well. I really wanted to hide the area under the sink and this skirt did that well. 

 

  I can just pull it over to reach under the sink. 

I think the skirt looks really nice and I loved how easy it was to put it all together. 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

 

 

  

 

Lengthen a Miniskirt

 Hello Readers. I found this fun bright yellow outfit at the Goodwill bins. That was a fun detour on a road trip. When I got home and washed everything, the skirt was shorter than I planned.My mini had gone micro mini on me. How could I fix a skirt that was too short? Let me show you what I did. 

How could I add length? I had a plan. 

 

This skirt was dry clean only. Did I follow directions? No. Do I usually discard directions? Yes. Is it a problem with authority? Probably. But we aren't going to solve that problem today. Let's focus on the skirt. The lining is longer than the skirt now. This will not do.  

 

I decided that the first step would be to shorten the lining. It needed to be hidden under the skirt. This picture shows the nice black piping that trims the waist. It is a nice pop of contrast and it gave me the idea to finish this skirt. 

 

I simply turned the hemline of the lining under and sewed it in place. I folded the edge under by about an inch. That would be a safe length to make sure the lining did not show when I wore it. 

 

My next step was to actually make the skirt itself longer. I used my seam ripper to carefully remove the hem stitches and see how much fabric was in that hem. This took a little while and I worked slowly so that I would not damage the fabric of the skirt. There was about 2 inches of fabric folded up in that hem. That would make a difference in how short the skirt looked when I wore it. I ironed it to make it lay flat for my next step. 

The fabric was finished, cover-stitched around the edge so it would not fray but it was a little rough and untidy looking. My solution for that was bias tape. I chose some narrow black bias tape. This bias tape would look a lot like the piping at the waist of the skirt. 

 

 

I used the bias tape along the hem of the skirt. Bias tape is folded (Like a taco.) and the edge of the skirt fits in the fold. (Or in the taco.) I sewed the bias tape to the skirt with black thread to match and blend in. Since I am not turning any of the fabric under, the full length of the skirt will be longer when it is worn. 

The bias tape along the hem looks like a narrow black line of trim that has always been there. The length is good and the outfit is just great with a longer skirt. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

 

Fall Leaf Jacket

 Hello Readers. I love fall and I was feeling the fall weather and I decided to make a jacket with a fall theme. I wanted fall colors and fall vibes. Let me show you what I put together. 

Feeling those fall vibes yet? 

I found these two fall place mats at a thrift store a few weeks ago. I loved the colors and I had this jacket idea. I could tell that the place mats were quilted cotton, so I knew I could sew through them. (I don't think this would work with plastic place mats.) The place mats were only $1 each so it was not a huge investment. 

 

I already had this denim jacket. I knew I wanted to do something on the back of the jacket. The place mats were mostly orange on one side and had a ore golden paisley pattern on the other side. I went with the orange side for this project but the other side would work too. 

 

I have had this leaf shaped dish (Similar size dish here.) for years but another object or stencil you can trace would work. Use whatever you like. My leaf dish fit in my place mat so I knew it would work for my plan.

 

I flipped the dish upside down so that I could trace it easier. I used a marker so it would show for this photo but you can use chalk or a pencil that will wash out later if you prefer. I just traced all the way around the leaf. 

 

I cut out the leaf shape from the place mat with sharp fabric shears that could cut through the thick quilted fabric easily. My place mats were really heavy weight and not easy to cut. I just took my time and cut around the leaf shape slowly. 

 

I pinned the leaf shape to my jacket with a lot of pins. (Similar here.) I needed it to be held in place as I sewed it to the denim. I placed my leaf on its side a bit. That way it looked a little like a falling leaf. 

 

I went to my sewing machine. I used matching pumpkin orange thread and I set my machine for a zigzag stitch. I wanted to sew all the way around the leaf. Using a zigzag stitch that went back and forth across the cut edge of the leaf to cover the edge with the stitching. 

 

I sewed around the leaf twice. I did that to make it secure and also to cover the edge better. You can see some of the white quilt batting showing around my leaf. When I sewed around the edge the second time, it hid that white at the edge better. I liked having a very heavily stitched border around the leaf. It doesn't have to be perfect, don't stress about it too much. This isn't the Mars Rover, it's just a fun jacket. 

 

Here is my finished jacket. The leaf is a fun pop of orange. I liked how it fit on the back of the jacket and the color was perfect for fall. 

 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. Maybe you can make a fun jacket too. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add Elastic to a Dress

 Hello Readers. Big loose dresses are so comfortable and fun. They don't always suit me well. An easy fix is to add elastic to the waist. It's just as comfortable but it has more shape.

Before and after. 

This cotton was nice and light and the color was perfect for fall. It even had pockets. It also had a waistband or a waist seam. I could add elastic around the waist by sewing the elastic on the seam inside the dress.

 

I turned the dress inside out and used my sewing machine to sew the elastic to the waist seam. I stretched the elastic as I sewed and used a zigzag stitch so that there would be some stretch around the waist. 

 

Here is a look at the inside of the dress. You can see the white elastic along the waistband. 

 

The dress has a new shape and it will still be comfortable to wear. 

 

I liked the new fit and it only took about 15 minutes to finish this sewing project. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.