Fushia Juice Pouch Bag

The other day I cleaned the outside of 30 fushia Capri Sun juice pouches. Today I sewed them up to make a 4 x 2 bag with a 2 x 2 pocket. It has a velcro closure. It's for a customer who knows my friend Bonnie. Thank you Bonnie for the advertising! I have also been cleaning the inside of several juice pouches this week.

Farmer's Market

I've volunteered for the Recycling Office last Thursday and today at the Chelmsford Farmers' Market. There are so many wonderful produce and flowers there. Last week 90% of my dinner was from food that I bought at this market. It is from 2 - 6 pm every Thursday on the Town Common until late September. If you live in the area, you should go.

Look at all the yummy food that I bought from there today.

While at the recycling table, I worked on knitting a scarf from bamboo yarn.

Notice that I used the plyarn bags that I knitted & crocheted for my shopping.

Back from vacation

I just got back from a 3 week vacation.

I do plan on posting show notes for "Its Easy Being Green" show #2 soon.

While away I crochet a lot of soda tab flowers. I gave several family members juice pouch bags. I tried quilting, but I just wasn't into it. I ran out of the black jiffy thick and quick yarn that I was using to knit a purse in the round. I bought more when I got home. I bought some variegated bamboo yarn and have proceeded to knit a scarf out of it. I am also cross stitching a Mickey mouse head on a t-shirt for my oldest son. I haven't cross stitched since I was pregnant with him.

Disney Bags: t-shirt and fused plastic bags

My family and I are going to Disney World next week. I wanted to make a special purse to use while there. I have this Minnie Mouse t-shirt that just doesn't fit me right. I decided to use that to make the purse out of.

Materials: 1 t-shirt, scissors, ruler, marker, zipper, ribbon, fabric for lining, needle or sewing machine, and thread. I also used a Girl Scout badge.

Directions: Cut the sleeves off of the shirt. Cut them so that the attached sewn edge is still attached to the sleeves (where the sleeves were connected to the rest of the shirt).

You can sew something decorative on the sleeve. Here I have sewn the shirt label on. I sewed a Girl Scout badge on the other sleeve.

Turn the shirt inside out. Pin the shirt on the side edges so that everything is lined up just right. It will also help make sure nothing shifts while cutting and sewing.

Draw a line with the marker and ruler down each side of the t-shirt. Be sure to leave at least a fourth of an inch seam allowance. This line is so that you know where to stitch, and you will get a nice straight line . Its also so that the rounded sleeve holes are removed.

Now sew along that line. Then cut off any t-shirt material that is over a half of an inch from the sewn line.

Draw a line with the ruler along the top and bottom of the shirt (above the bottom hem and below the collar). Sew along the bottom line. Cut along the top line.

Turn the t-shirt right side out. Place and pin the sleeves where you want the outside pockets to be. On the back pocket of my bag, I attached velcro. I sewed one side of the velcro to the pocket before attaching it to the bag , and sewed the other piece of velcro while sewing the pocket on the bag. The sleeves were turned upside down to form the pockets. Carefully sew them in place. Remember to sew them only through one layer of the bag. It takes some maneuvering, but it can be done on the sewing machine.

Lay your bag over a folded piece of fabric (with the right sides of the fabric together). I chose a patriotic fabric to match the shirt. Trace a line around your t-shirt onto the fabric. Now sew a quarter to a half inch inside of that line on the two sides of the bag. The folded part is the bottom of your lining. Cut where your draw line was. Leave your sewn lining right sides together. Place it inside of your bag. Cut your ribbon to the size you want for your handle. Pin it in place on the sides of your bag, between the lining and the t-shirt. Fold the top edges of the t-shirt and lining towards each other so that you no longer see the raw edges. Pin the two layers together. Pin a zipper in place. It is easier to do this when the zipper is open. Tuck the end of the zipper inside of the bag (in the lining), but make sure not to tuck in the pull tab for the zipper. With the zipper open, sew the lining, the t-shirt, the ribbon handle, and the zipper in place. I like to use a zig zag stitch. This part is tricky. I actually left some of the lining showing above the t-shirt on the outside. I had sewed them together with the handle before sewing the zipper to the top edge of the lining.

Also here are the finished tote bags that I made out of fused plastic bags. To see how to steps on how to fuse plastic bags, please look at the older post from this month. The one that says "Disney Store" on it is 3 layers of bags. The Disney store bags are pretty thick to begin with. The Mickey Mouse one is 4 or 5 layers of bags. This includes a thin pink garbage bag for the inside on the tote bag.

"Its Easy Being Green" : Guest Bonnie Rankin

On June 19th Bonnie Rankin joined me on the show. We talked about the 4th R (reduce, reuse, recycle), re purpose. We both have inherited fabric items from loves ones. She brought on handkerchiefs and I had fabric wall calendars. You can view Bonnie's show notes on her handkerchief projects on her blog. You can also check back at a later date on my you tube channel to watch the show (if you missed it, want to watch it again, or you don't live in our area).

By re purposing inherited items, you are able to cherish the memory that those items have on a daily basis. Normally those items might just be put in a box or a drawer and only taken out after long periods of time. We talked about sewing fabric items on the show, but you can make a shadow box for your inherited items. Shadow boxes are also good to hold memories of vacations, family members, special occasions, childhood memories, etc. How does all of this fall into the "green" theme? You are finding a new use for something that would normally not get much use (through touch or through sight). It stops being useless clutter and becomes a part of your life.

Bonnie first washed her handkerchiefs in the washing machine to make sure that they would hold up before she sewed them. She arrange them in groups according to color. She picked out 2 sets of 3 handkerchiefs that went well together to make window valences out of. She folded them in half, over lapped them, and sewed them together in a way so that they could be hung up over her window. They turned out beautifully.

Next Bonnie wanted to make a quilt using her aunt's handkerchiefs. The problem was that they were different sizes, some were shear, and some had beautiful scalloped edges that would be nice to show. The solution was to sew them on a larger piece of fabric (an old light colored sheet). Bonnie measured the largest handkerchief and added 2 inches for each of the 4 sides to figure out what size to cut her fabric squares. This way she doesn't need to worry about how shear a handkerchief is, if it has some holes in it, what size it is, and she can still show off its beautiful scalloped edges. The next set of questions are: how big should she make it? What handkerchiefs should she put together? How should she arrange the squares? Checkerboard, on point, or a combination? Does she place fabric between the squares (framing each square)? What color to use? What color fabric to use for the border of the quilt?

Take a picture of the different arrangements so that you can view them easily. You can more easily see if you like the placement of the squares that way or not. Take a few of the handkerchiefs or a good picture of the group to the fabric store with you. This way you can place it next to the fabric to see what would look the best with it. Think about the color wheel if you are having problems. Look at the color combination with in the handkerchiefs for help choosing fabric as well.

Bonnie then showed us the table cloth that she had made by sewing her Papa's handkerchiefs together. She chose a checkerboard pattern using the white on white handkerchiefs placed in every other spot. Please visit her blog in the link above to see this beautiful yet masculine table cloth.

One thing that Bonnie did not make but that she brought was a little bag that was made from a handkerchief. It looked super easy to make. You just folded it like an envelope, then whip stitch the sides together. The part that folds down had some beautiful printed flowers on it. You could make a clutch or a change purse this way.


I then showed the Swiss fabric wall calendars that once belonged to my grandmother before she passed. When I was ironing them, the room began to small like my grandma. It was wonderful. I showed the fabric that I had picked out and cut to frame the calendars. I also talked about why I chose that fabric. I want to make a quilted wall hanging out of these, because I don't want to risk damaging them by putting them on my bed. I am only going to put together 4 of them, because that will make a pretty large wall hanging. I'll get 3 wall hangings out of all the calendars. To practice, I bought some Christmas themed Irish linens. They are about the same size as the calendars. I then proceeded to sew them together the same way that I would sew the calendars. The problem that I ran into was the edge and the corners of the liens. You could take the time and rip out all the seams so that you don't run into any problems while sewing them. I just sewed just inside all of those seams, paying careful attention when going around the corners. I then machine quilted (in the ditch) the Christmas one. I am going to go back and rip out all of the stitches and do it again by hand. I also want to hand stitch around some of the imagery to show case it. When attaching the binding, I am also going to be attaching a fabric loop to the top back so that a rod can go through it. This makes it easier to hang it on the wall. After finishing all 4 wall hangings, I can change them out on the same area of my home.

This show will air sometime in July. You can check the telemedia website for show times.

You Tube - "Its Easy Being Green"

My husband has put the 1st episode of "It's Easy Being Green" on you tube. This way everyone who does not live in my area can still see the show. It is a 30 minute show, so he had to break it down into 3 video clips for you tube (they only allow 10 minute videos). You can also check back to see if other shows have been posted. So far 3 shows have been taped. No more shows will be taped until mid August due to my vacation, the studio being closed for a few weeks, and the director's vacation. For any show notes or links, please see past posts. They will start with "Its Easy Being Green" so that they are easy to locate.

Here is a quick link to the 1st episode's show notes.

If you do live in or around Chelmsford, MA. show will begin airing on Monday June 22, 2009. It is on channel 8. You can check show times at the telemedia website.
Monday 6/22 8:30 pm
Wednesday 6/24 9am
Saturday 6/27 6pm

How to make large juice pouch notebooks

Since I needed to make large juice pouch notebooks for the teachers of the classrooms that recycle for me, I thought I would take pictures of the steps involved in making them.
Cleaning: 1. Cut a hole where the bottom of the pouch expands. Then proceed to clean it in the sink or in the top rack of the dishwasher. Let it air dry for at least 2 days (until it is completely dry on the inside).

2. Take the plastic straw holder off of the pouch. Remove any remaining plastic from where the straw was attached. Spray some Goo Gone on the pouch where the straw was attached. Let it set for a minute. Then wipe off the stickiness.



Materials need to make a large juice pouch notebook:
- Scissors
- paper (10 to 20 pages per notebook)
- exact o knife
- ruler
- surface to cut on
- 8 juice pouches that have been precleaned as instructed above
- sewing machine with a denim needle and thread (gray works great)

This is what I have my sewing machine set at. I find that the straight stitch seems to tear the pouches easily. I prefer to use the multi-hole zig zag stitch.








I use the lines that are already on the pouches as a guide so that I am always overlapping them the same every time. I like to sew 2 pouches side by side first.



Sew four sets of these to make one notebook.







Then over lap the bottom of one set with the top of another set. I use the top line of the pouch (where it is sealed and still one layer) as a guide when overlapping.




Next you sew the bottom of the 2 sets of 4 (the bottom of the front and back of the notebook).




The sewn group of juice pouches equals 7 inches by 10 inches.





You need to cut your paper so that it is 7" x 10". Cut up to 20 pages per notebook.




Sandwich the pages between the 2 sewn juice pouch panels.






Sew the layers together. I don't like to sew more than 20 pages with my machine, because I have had my needle break a few times on me in the past.



Now you have made yourself a 7 1/2" x 10 1/2" notebook made from recycled materials. You can sew this by hand. I recommend using a small hole punch to make the holes. Then you can use a tapestry needle and embroider thread to sew the layers together. I teach kids how to make the small notebooks that way (it uses only 2 juice pouches).