Make-do Monday

Use it up

Wear it out

Make it do

Or do without

I love that little rhyme. I find it so inspiring! Makes me think of Victory Gardens, darning socks, floursack aprons, and all the things that go along with the good ol' days when nothing was wasted. Of course, some of those "good ol' days" were actually in the Great Depression, which from what I hear wasn't all that nice, but I digress...

The message, still, is one that means a lot to me. It goes along with everything I believe so strongly in. Using every part of the animal whose life was sacrificed to sustain yours. Skin, bones, brains, etc. Everything has a use, a place, a purpose. Saving seeds carefully for the next year, so that you needn't rely on the (admittedly beautiful, and always tempting) seed catalogs. Composting food scraps and manure so that the garden can have fresh life, and the landfill can become slightly less enormous than it otherwise would have been. Frugality. Ingenuity. Creativity.

This weekend I threw a baby shower for one of my dearest friends in the world. The theme was nautical, and I wanted a banner to hang. I had a pile of old fabric odds and ends that my dear mama gave me a year or few back, and so I set out to make something new out of something forgotten. :)

such potential...

a rough sketch and some freestyle cutting...

 

I have literally no fancy sewing equipment. I've been meaning to get a cutting mat and ruler and such for ages, but just haven't put it on my list. So far I've been pleased with the results of totally winging it, so why not "do without" for a bit longer?

 

I'm not a super good sewer (seamstress? much too professional-sounding...). 

...a bit of an "oopsie"...had already cut out the first buttonhole when I realized it was not even close to the right spot...we'll call it "rustic charm", shall we?

I do so love how the little ship turned out!

 

 

Ta-da! There you have it! Here's to keeping the scraps out of the landfill, y'all. Find a way to be frugal today! Use your kitchen sponge until it has holes in it! Wear rags, or become a nudist! Don't wipe!

 

Er, wait...

 

Now, if only I could fashion some sort of a working brain out of my final scraps of sanity...hmmm...

 

 

 

(shared on the Homestead Barn Hop, and the HomeAcre Hop!)