Frugal Craft Ideas?

[amandajane]

I've recently started sewing English patchwork again :0)

It's great because you don't need a sewing machine, you may already have material in your stash or pieces from old clothes, aprons or whatever fabric holds memories that you could use in a 'memory quilt'.

I'm taking the dive to make a full length coat, a large project but it'll look great when it's done.

I've been searching the net for info, it's not a common craft these days it would appear but I found a lady with three fantastic tutorials on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gePOfMiIxQ

I've made a post about it on my blog, which I've picked up on again, I've been far too busy with Uni!

You can download the template for the hexagon squares on my blog, it is linked in my signature if anyone is interested.

So, anyone else got any frugal craft ideas? I'm sure there's heaps out there :0)

[hermione]

My sister has been doing a lot of patchwork sewing this past year because we have a sewing business (dog clothes and costumes) and are swimming in scraps.

Here is a blog post she wrote about patchwork berets. I wore one of them to pick up my cousin from the airport a few months ago and she thought it was designer . You can get a few ideas from the pics in her post:

Patchwork Berets from Fabric Scraps

We also have a crafts category on our site with various types of craft ideas.

[amandajane]

Cool! I'll check them out :0) The server seems a bit slow at the moment.

[Mary Webber]

It's the season for making grapevine wreaths - grapevines are easy to come by on the roadside if you don't have a home-grown source - and also wreaths of bittersweet - again, free, just don't get run over sprinting to the median strip on the highway to cut some!

I dry lots of flowers, and they're also available reasonably at Farmer's Markets right now, along with Sweet Annie for making the basic wreaths fancier. I probably wouldn't bother except that I know that between Halloween and Thanksgiving I'll want a few decorated wreaths to give to folks.

Then when the winterberries appear on the roadside late November- early December, I'll tuck bunches of those and little sprigs of holly into the grapevine wreaths for the holidays season.

[lucille]

I have been trying to reuse things we end up with via consuming something into craft projects. I started saving olive oil and wine bottles to reuse as decanters and such. They will end up as glass painting projects or possibly some sort of mixed media.

I see really neat ideas various places but somehow they seem to always involve buying tons of things at the craft store. So I have been trying to see how many things we might toss that I can reuse in trying out whatever that new neat idea is.

Paper mache is another one I have done a bit of. I made a magazine holder and have a partially done box. I have been reusing boxes we ended up with. The one I am partially done with is the bottom cardboard box thingy that a 12 pk of Jones soda bottles came in. Instead of buying tissue paper to layer on with the glue I am using old newspapers. We have piles of newspapers from all the free ones that show up. So glue and masking tape are the only bought supplies.

[Johansen8]

I have learned to "tweak" recipes- for example, if I am making chili in the crock pot that calls for kidney beans, and black beans are on sale- I use the black ones!

[click4credit]

Another way of reusing scraps or leftover things is to make a scrapbook. Scrapbooks make a great gift to someone. You can put pictures there as well as a number of other things that could represent a special memory to the recipient

[Catana]

I thought I knew just about every craft there is, but English patchwork is a new one on me. I'll have to check it out. And I love the idea of patchwork berets. I might give that a try after the madness of the the next couple of months is over.

I really wish I'd started reading this forum a long time ago.

My favorite crafty frugality is recycling yarn from sweaters. I used to haunt the thrift stores for the best ones, but my hands are getting to where they're not too fond of a crochet hook any more, so that has slowed down. There's a whole art to choosing, dismantling and reusing the wool or other yarns from sweaters. It's not only a super cheap way to get a variety of expensive yarns, it's great for obsessive compulsives who can spend hours at one task.

[Mary Webber]

I've posted this on the "Let's get started on Christmas" thread, but think it might be good here too. Actually fun for adults to make, this is a also a good craft for kids... quick, easy, cheap, and you'll be surprised how nice they come out.

Take any cross-stitch chart and copy onto graph paper. Work the design putting either "x's" or dots in the charted squares, using whatever size markers work best for the size squares and their hands. Glitter pens are fun to use here too.

These can be full size to give as framed "samplers", or they can be done on card stock to fold and use as cards, or - my favorite - quick-and-cheap-laminated to use or give as bookmarks.

You can also do them on heavy paper, cut and glue to make refrigerator magnets.

[FrugalNYC]

I've made origami crafts and some have mentioned that they would be nice gifts. Thinking about possibly doing that for some office people, especially those that gave the compliment