This might be a little crazy, or maybe it's a lot crazy. It's a slippery slope when you enter crazy-land, and you start doing things like making bags for the bath toys by sewing together empty mesh bags from onions and avocados. We really did this.
I've been saving the empty mesh bags for awhile, and suddenly the other day it dawned on me that it would be so much nicer to store the bath toys in a drainable, waterproof bag than it would to store them in this slimy Rubbermaid-type container we've been using. So a few nights ago for bedtime project, Ninna and I sewed this bag. Of all the bedtime projects we've done, and there have been many, this was the one about which she was the most unbelievably excited. She was my ever-present partner during the entire making, and she was so excited to go into the bathroom and try it out when we were done. She was even excited the next day for the chance to open it and dump the toys out into the bathtub.
This was an easy, albeit somewhat irritating project. The mesh holes kept wrapping around the sewing machine components as the "fabric" pulled through, and the nylon thread broke a few times. The actual shape is pretty wonky and uneven, but I figured it wouldn't matter since it was just going to be stretching out to hold a bunch of bath toys anyway. To make it we did the following:
1. Removed all tags, bindings, and metal findings from the bags
2. Cut them into flat pieces to become our "fabric"
3. Sewed them into a bag shape on the machine using transparent nylon thread
4. Hemmed around the top
5. Sewed three cords at the top to tie at all together
6. Laughed at how totally absurd it looked
After we replaced the Rubbermaid bin with the bag, the bin sat on the counter overnight. I wondered what we would do with it, and in the morning, when we embarked on planting our first seeds for this year's garden, I realized it would be the perfect bin to fill with soil for indoor planting on the dining room table.
I love when things work that way. I truly believe that the amount of "stuff" in our little house is more than enough to meet all the material needs of the three of us for years to come. I realize that sounds idealistic, but I see it on a daily basis. That's not to say that I don't ever choose to buy anything, but it does mean that I try harder and harder as time goes by to really question whether we need to buy a certain thing. I could have easily stopped at a Babies R Us and grabbed a $10 bath toy holder. But why? I already brought in enough "stuff" to handle this need when I bought the veggies, and to get really technical, I actually already paid for this as well, given that the cost of the bags is built into the cost of the veggies. And by making this bag, I then freed up a bin that could be shuffled around in the musical chairs game of our possessions.
I love repurposing, and I find that the more I do it, the more obvious other repurposing possibilities become.
And now I'll sign off from crazy-land, where I now not only sewed plastic onion bags on my sewing machine, but spent 521 words telling you about it :).
EDITED TO ADD: If anyone else feels compelled to make one of these, send me photos and I'll post them. I'd love to see someone else make this craziness.
6 comments:
I love you!!! You are an inspiration and you always make me smile- I've had it with the bath time toys- and though my kids don't have many I just threw out all the squirty toys because I think no matter how well I clean them they're still gross. (Should have read this post earlier...) I've decided that Z is just as happy just dumping water over his head with a cup and the bigs have graduated to showers! Much quicker, less water and I don't need to help much! ;-)
Jaimie, great idea. Like Laura I took out the bath toys because the plastic holed box got gross along with the toys and then I started saving my hubby's ear plug cords from work to use to crochet a plastic bag (tell me that's not crazy!) but he got moved to a section that no longer needed ear plugs and I didn't have enough, but this, I could do.
I'll link you from my blog if you don't mind and let my readers know of your idea and send them your way next week.
MJ--I don't think crocheting the cords is crazy at all! We need more thinkers like you! That's just my kind of project. I'd be so honored if you shared my idea! I've subscribed to your blog for awhile and love your ideas.
I love this. I have been saving my garlic/lemon/whatever bags for just such a re-use! Thanks for sharing!
P.S. We're all a little mad here ;)
That's a great idea. The bags would also be great for toys at the beach. When you get ready to go home, put the toys in the bag, shake and most of the sand should come off instead of going into the car.
Hi Jaimie, I have just found your blog...in a rare moment of decent Internet connection and a desire to do some on-line perusing. This cracks me up... I made a similar item a couple of years ago and since you well know I do not sew and am not nearly as crafty as you, I simply took the onion bag and wove a brown shoestring along the edge of the hole opening and tied it. Voilà, a cinch bag. Not lovely, but it definitely worked until, like Laura, I just recently decided to get rid of most of our bath toys due to grossness factor. Jen
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