Five Dollar Challenge

Living with Lindsay is having a $5 Spring Challenge, that being to create a new spring decor item for your home using only $5 worth of items purchased at a dollar store. (Not including sales tax.) In doing this, one may use supplies already on hand: paint, glue, paper, fabric, tools.

Okay, right off I'm disqualifying myself because I've chosen red projects, not springy. But the challenge coincided perfectly with my office redo, and red works better in here.

Recently I showed a pillow I made from a dollar store kitchen towel.

(This pic was taken in my studio on a chair that's older than dirt. Please excuse the quality of both.)

Since I didn't take a picture of the towel while it was still a towel, here's a shot of another I bought at the same time.

I love the stitching in these, though it didn't show up that well in my first shot. So here's another.

I'm sure any sewer can tell immediately what steps I took in making this. Me being a perfectionist and invariably choosing the hardest way 'round, I first ripped the hems on the two long sides and one short side.  Then I stitched a new wider hem on the latter for the buttonholes. After making the buttonholes, I folded the towel into shape and stitched both sides. (I also re-hemstitched each side of the seam allowance to avoid raveling--this is where the harder way comes in. Leaving the long seams in before stitching would have avoided this step.) I then made a pillow insert from muslin I had on hand; stuffed it with polyfil, also on hand; inserted said insert; figured out where the buttons should go; then sewed them on. (Need I say I also had those on hand? I have tons of buttons on hand!) Ergo--a pillow for a buck.

This next project pushes the line a bit. The frame cost a buck at Dollar Tree--that's the dollar store connection--the linen I had on hand (leftovers from the pillow I showed here), and the buttons I had on hand. (See note above.) (The line pushing comes cuz buttons weren't included in the list of things one could use from on-hand items.)

For this, I simply printed out a fleur-de-lis template I found on line (this is the one I used--I enlarged it first to fit an 8x12 landscaped paper), transferred the outline to the linen using a water-erasable marker and handstitched on the buttons. Easy peasy! I wrapped the cardboard backing that came with the frame with batting first--I had that on hand too--then with the button-stitched linen. Next, I hot-glued the batting and linen onto the back. I used a salvaged cereal box to back the frame with, then glued on some brown paper we keep in stock for shipping. Et voila! My dollar wall art.

That's all she wrote, folks! Hope you like my stuffies. (And please forgive they're not soft spring colors.)