Upcycle Living

During these movement-controlled days, besides worrying about the shortage of surgical masks, the accumulating disposal of the one-time use masks is also a concern - not to mention the money we would have to keep spending on buying them. As I have more than usual free time on my hands, there is really no excuse why I shouldn't look into learning to make some washable reusable face masks for ourselves. After studying the structures of the existing surgical masks and what other people have shared online, I have made a few for the people around me. What I have done is to add a pocket to some, in order to slot in a filter pad if needs be. Another add-on feature is the adjustable clip-on straps so that there is no need for elastics bands over the ears. The main reason for this is that the elastic bands would dig in to the back of the ears and could be painful over time. Secondly, I am making all these with existing materials I can find in the house, and I just do not have them at hand. ...

Fabric scraps. What can you do with them when they are neither big enough for another top nor small enough to ignore? I got one piece just like that, with really lovely print. Thankfully, I've also got a bit of the old Ikea blanket left from making the stuffed toy snake . When Ikea blanket scrap meets another fabric scrap, we get a new wine bag! Great for shopping for anything that come in a glass bottle. The old Ikea fleece blanket serves as an internal lining that will stop the glass bottles from knocking each other, while giving the bag a soft spongy feel. 1. Iron out both the fabric scraps 2. Trim the fabrics into equal size, leaving excess on the sides for the printed one. 3. Double-fold in the side of the printed material all around, securing by ironing. 4. Wrap over the trimmed old Ikea blanket, fold the excess sides around it. 5. This is how it should look now. 6. Fold the layered fabrics in half (printed one face out) and stitch the bag up,...

Since making the  Passport Boarding Pass Holder  from the old Cancer Research bag, my sore fingers have had some good rest so it's time to do something with the remaining material. Using the same method as the  Passport Boarding Pass Holder , I made an iPad case: I've used an old worn out vest (the size was just nice) as the lining,  so that the case will have some kind of padding as extra protection for the iPad. Securing the padding (old vest) with rough running stitch on both ends.   After doing proper back stitching on both ends, fold into half and stitch on both sides. Turn inside out. Unused hair rubber bands stitched under buttons to make loops, then stitch 2 buttons on the other side. In our memory, but now serving even better purposes: The Cancer Research canvas bag before the make over

I bought a really nice canvas bag from a Cancer Research shop some years ago. Love it but don't use it enough, mainly because it's a little too flat (no gusset) and I'm a girl with many things. I've been trying, but can't seem to make it more useful than just fitting a couple of thin folders in it. So I had 2 choices: force myself to take it out regularly and let it get dirty, OR, don't use it and let it get dusty and mouldy. Such a dilemma. During my recent travel, I was rather annoyed by the fact that I have nothing in the right size that can house both a passport and a boarding pass. They are either too narrow for the passport or the opening is too short for the boarding pass, and I'm quite skeptical about folding it. After some window shopping/market research trips to the shops, all I could find are either very expensive leather goods, or the cheaper PVC version that won't last a year. I decided that I'd put my little fingers to good use an...

My hoarder nature has lead me to collecting all sorts of bags: free bags from magazines, complimentary bags from merchants, reusable shopping bags, shoe bags, etc. I do use some of them for my food shopping, but one can only carry so many bags so a lot of these bags end up hibernating in the cabinet. Since my last multi-compartment handbag announced its death, I have yet to find one that looks decent and serves up to my expectation of a handbag. Whilst waiting for Bag O Mr. Right to turn up, I've been using some of these free shopping bags, but there is one problem: they all don't come with any compartments. I thought maybe I could create something out of what I have in the house. These are what I used: A good sized black shopping bag I received free from a magazine about 5 years ago (I took off all the sequins on the bag to keep for future craft use) A small black M)phosis (a clothing label in Asia) shopping bag 1 of the 2 non-woven black shoe bags that came with a pair of sho...