Friday, February 22, 2013

Upcycled Dress and Jacket from Feed Bags

Feed for my goats and ducks comes in woven polypropylene bags with a cute photo label. During the summer, I sew them into tote bags to sell at the farmers' market. During the winter though they stack up a bit and I can try new things with the extras.

The first project was a party dress made from the Layena chicken chow bags. It took two bags for the full skirt and another bag for the top. Though we did line the top with soft cotton fabric, the seams were still a bit scratchy and the dress is so stiff it stands up by itself!

The next project was a simple zipper jacket made from Purina goat chow bags. It took three bags, though I think an adult jacket would take four. Those goaties better eat up, because I think my mom wants one! I wore this to a downtown art gallery walk and got lots of complements, especially from artists who like to use recycled materials.


It's kind of tricky sewing with these feed bags because once you sew a seam it makes holes in the cute photo label and so the piece is ruined if you make a mistake. Luckily my mom helped a lot, and the patterns were very simple. Another thing is when wearing these feed bag clothes I rattle when I move which attracts all my pets who think I have food for them.

2 comments:

  1. Hi, Cynthia and Mary! We met you this past weekend and were simply impressed with you. We also love the soap and I will be trying the jam soon. You're a very talented young lady, and it's great to see how creative you are! All the best! :-) The Couple from Seattle.

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  2. Hi Cynthia and Mary, great to read your article about the clothing you sewed with the woven polyprolene feed bags. I am trying to make some shopping bags with this same stuff. I wondered if you had some tips on the type of needle, thread and thread tension to use when sewing this material?

    Thanks

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