Little Homeschool Blessings: Homeschool Fashion Study: Stewardship & Thrift and Boot Cuffs & Scarves

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ~James 1:17

For our family, dressing fashionably is also about being good stewards of the blessings we've been given. Thrift shopping, using hand-me-downs, looking for beautiful items in unlikely places, and being careful of how we care for the clothing that we do buy are all ways that we try to save money. While not everything that we've been given has fit us properly and clothes do eventually wear out, we try to find other ways to use those things. Boot cuffs and scarves are fairly easy to create and you don't need much sewing skill to finish them off.

One option for creating book cuffs is using sleeves from men's dress shirts. Poppa sometimes wears out the collars in his button-ups or gets ink stains in the pocket. The sleeves make lovely boot cuffs. You can leave them just as they are or you can add lace to them.

Depending on the size of the sleeves to the leg, you may need to add extra buttons or sew in different places so that they fit properly. These fit the younger set best.

Another option for making boot cuffs is to salvage sweater sleeves. Just cut the sleeves out. You can do fairly short cuffs, cutting about 3 inches below where the cuff sticks out of the boot or you can make some that go down to the ankle. To stop fraying, you can hem the bottoms or you can put on no-fray. You can leave them as they are or add embellishments like buttons, ribbons, and lace. These sleeves were from a hand-me-down sweater that didn't fit anyone properly.

You may even wish to head out to the thrift store and see if you can find sweaters that would be perfect for this at a fraction of the cost of new boot cuffs.

Another thing that is easy to make from materials that are worn out are scarves. Have an old flannel sheet? Use the part that isn't worn thin to create a simple scarf. Simply cut out a long rectangle, fold in half inside out, sew it down the length, turn right side out, and fold ends into the scarf and sew to close. We were actually given some scrap flannel material. I think the pieces may have come from my grandmother's scrap box.

The girls made the scarves themselves.

Li wanted to wear one for you too!

For our mission boxes, the girls asked for materials to make special things to donate. Ceesa got a blanket kit. She was making a lap blanket so she had some material left over. Perfect for scarves too!

These are even easier and no-sewing is required. Just trim off the length and width that you would like and cut about 2 inches up at each end to make fringe.

These make lovely gifts too!

And now on to the fashion show...

I can wear this outfit lots of places...to church, evening services, out to dinner, and to a homeschool mom's get together.

Both the sweater and the pants were given to me. The cami underneath the sweater has lace at the bottom. I have two camisoles like it, this color and a peach color. I really love them! They lend some femininity to any outfit and make shirts that might normally be too short just the right length.

Ceesa's dress is one that we purchased when we were on a hunt for dresses that were a length that we were comfortable with. We found some of these in long sleeve and short sleeve. She added a scarf from my closet.

She generally wears this to church, but she could also wear it concerts or plays, too.

Jo-Jo's outfit is another hand-me-down collection. She wears this out with friends and to various homeschool events and to Wheel's birthday party.

I love the detail down the front.

Portfolio Assignment: Find simple patterns for making your own scarves and boot cuffs. Collect them in your notebook. Make a page for writing down all of your ideas for reusing and re-purposing clothing.

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