The "Oops" Factor, and How To Fix It

So, I've always been creative, but never for hire until about 2 years ago when I started Evelyn's Closet: Custom Tu-tus, bows, and more. The main reason I started making girlie type items rather than scrapbooking etc, was naturally because I was expecting my daughter. I'm a HUGE bargain girl and, as I've previously mentioned before I wanted my sugar baby to have all of the cute ,sassy, girlie things, and still be able to respect my husband's hard work. I.e....his wallet! ;)

Frugal moms listen up! In yesterday's post about DIY Boutique Bows , I mentioned buying only enough ribbon for the project at hand instead of buying entire rolls. I understand that when starting out you may want to leave room for error. I certainly did.  Here are a few ideas for re-purposing scrap, or using what you have to make what you need.

I had an order for a yellow bow. Didn't need to be solid, just yellow. Here is what I did:

I took what I did have. The small yellow wouldn't have made a large enough bow, but the white will.

I stitched the yellow ribbon right down the center of the white with white thread. I don't recommend gluing the ribbons together. Might seem fast and easy, but it makes the ribbon bumpy and difficult to work with. Not pretty to look at.

Proceed with bow making with a perfectly secure, correct size YELLOW ribbon!

Now I have the bow the customer wanted, without wasting what I had left over. Even if I wasn't selling this bow, it would be worth it to use the scraps to make a variety of bows for my daughter. Not just all solids.

Next I had a scrap of ribbon that wasn't quite long enough for my standard bow. Try your hand at a smaller bow. Even if it isn't a size you'd want to use in hair, it might make the perfect embellishment to a dress, or stacking bow (later I'll explain those) Follow the exact same steps you use for the larger bow. It works with this design because you can divide any length into 4 equal parts!

Lastly, don't get discouraged if you mess up, and certainly don't throw out a project. If you cut a fabric too short, add ribbon or another fabric to it and give it a more sassy look. If you made something too long, trim fro whatever end doesn't have embellishments. Here is an example:

I wanted to make this dress (pictured is a 3T) in a 2T. The 3T length is about 4 inches longer than the 2T. (Gotta love those growing babies!) I made the mistake of sewing on the ribbon before I trimmed the fabric, and had to cut off of the smocked top. Easy to cut. Not easy to sew, but it CAN be done! Don't give up because something is a bit more difficult. In the end you might even like the project more than what you had planned.

This is me pinning the top of the smocking so I can stitch it down to avoid the fabric fraying. OOPS :(, but fixing it! :)

All of this to say that crafting can be done by a frugal mommy! I hear all the time that it is just as expensive to make these things as it is to buy them. NOT TRUE.

Be frugally creative! :)

Courtney