do it yourself

8 Creative Uses For Flour Sack Towels

Lorel Hartley cloth diapering, do it yourself, dye bug, imaginative play, product offering, products, projects 0 Comment

What are flour sack towels you ask?  Well, they are large thin towels that are sold in the kitchen section of stores like Walmart.  They also can be found on Amazon.  They make great dye blanks so dye junkies like me love them.  The great part is they can be used for so many purposes! 

Except that most people who see my listings have no clue what for.   So I decided to make a list of all the ways I’ve thought up so far.  Here goes!

1. Use them in the kitchen!  Covering foods such as ferments, rising dough, or anything you want to keep bugs Read More >>

How I Dyed my Sunrise Inspired Walters Wrap

Lorel Hartley babywearing, do it yourself, dye bug, hard work, incredible journey, learning and growth 1 Comment

I caught the dye bug a while back and have been dabbling with different effects ever since.  I am now getting to a place where I can explain how I come up with this stuff.  Good thing, because a few people have asked about this one.

My latest dye creation was inspired by this picture.

 

A sunrise, I think?  Well I just happened to have the right colors for it.  So here goes my best attempt to re-cap how I went about creating my sunrise inspired dye job on my Walters Organic Mini Square Weave Wrap.  Read More >>

How to Make a Pocket Diaper

Lorel Hartley cloth diapering, diaper making, do it yourself 4 Comments

Since my diaper making post was so popular I’ll share how I made my son’s diapers.  I was inspired to make them after reading this blog.  It was my first attempt ever at making a cloth diaper much less anything else.  Little did I know that they would still be going strong after over three years of use.  My original post documenting all this can be found here.

Now these instructions can be adapted in number of ways.  I realize that people just starting out may need more concrete instructions so I?ll share how to make the pocket version.  I?ll Read More >>

Fun with Playsilks

Lorel Hartley do it yourself, imaginative play 0 Comment

The imaginative play possibilities with dyed playsilks are endless.  They can serve as the grassy floor of a forest or expansive blue ocean.  They can aid a super hero as a cape or be used as a princess veil.  They can be waved in the air or used as a blanket.  You get the idea 😉

For Christmas two years ago I had purchased some smaller playsilks from Beneath the Rowan Tree on Etsy.  They were nice and affordable, but limited as far as imaginative play goes. 

A couple months ago I got the idea from The Read More >>

How I Converted Taylor’s Flats to Fitteds

Lorel Hartley cloth diapering, do it yourself, products 0 Comment
What you’ll need to make 1 fitted diaper: 2 birdseye flat diapers An old T-shirt 10 inches of polybraid elastic; either 1/4 or 3/8 inch will work.  I buy mine from Verybaby and Wazoodle. Other supplies needed: Rita’s Rump Pocket Pattern or other preferred pattern Serger Sewing machine Coordinating thread    I recommend watching this video to understand the nature of diaper sewing…

Instructions:
  • Take pattern and use it to cut out a layer from both a flat diaper and the t-shirt.  Be sure to mark
Read More >>