Wedding Favor - Homemade Laundry Soap

This summer I married the love of my life. For our wedding favors I wanted to make something that was a reflection of me (not so much him, but he was okay with that) and that was handmade. My favourite household chore is doing the laundry and hanging the clothes on the line. I love the smell of the fresh outdoors when I bring my clothes inside the house. At the start of the New Year I started making my own laundry soap to save money.  This got me thinking and I decided to tie together the idea of a clothes line and laundry soap. I tried a few variations and with the help of my mother (she suggested the fabric under the lid) I came up with this:

Photo by Emile Olsen.

Photo by Emile Olsen.

Photo by Emile Olsen.

    

         

Photo by Emile Olsen.

   

If you would like to make these jars, this is what you will need:

1 litre Mason jars

Jute twine (heavy duty)

Ribbon

Cotton fabric (light weight)

Thick paper (brown or colour of your choice)

Marker or pen

1" clothes pins

Felt (assortment of colours)

Images of different items of clothing (see below)

Scissors

Pinking shears

Preparation:

1) Glue the clothing item templates onto a durable surface such as cardboard and then cut out. See below.

2) Trace the clothing item templates onto the felt and cut out. For each item of clothing use the same colour.

3) Use inner lid of the Mason jar to trace circles on the brown paper and the cut out.

5) Write the name of each guest or couple on a circle.

6) Cut pieces of twine that are long enough to tie around the Mason jar and to tie a knot.

7) Trace large circles on the cotton fabric. They should be large enough that they create a frill of about two inches. Cut out using the pinking shears.

8) Cut pieces of ribbon long enough to tie around the lid of the jar with a bow.

9) Make the laundry soap. You can find the recipe in my blog post titled : DIY Laundry Soap. 

Assembly:

1) Pin the clothes to the twine using the clothes pins.

2) Tie the clothes line around the jar tightly with the know in back of the jar.

3) Fill the jar with the laundry soap.

4) Place the inner lid on the jar with the fabric centered over top.

5) Place the piece of paper on top of the fabric.

6) Screw the outer lid over the lid, paper and fabric tightly.

7) Tie the ribbon making a bow.

I had a little ornament I bought from Michael's that I strung onto the ribbon, but it would look just as nice without it. I couldn't find the clothes pins at any of my local craft stores, so I ordered them on Etsy. These jars were a lot of work and luckily my maid of honour was there to help me. 

Clothing item templates:

          

                 

Sweatshirt Bears

My husband had a few sweatshirts that he no longer wore and I just couldn't throw them out, just like many of our clothes that get stained or damaged, I save them for crafty projects. I saw this pattern for a bear made from a sock in the book "Sew Me Love Me" by Hsiu-Lan Kuei, and I thought the fuzzy fleece inside the sweaters could work well for the fur for the bear. I enlarged the pattern for the bear and the pyjamas and constructed the bears by hand, even the clothes.  It was time consuming, but I found it easier to manipulate this type of fabric by hand rather than with the sewing machine.

I would highly recommend this book because the patterns are easy to follow which is great for those making stuffed toys for the first time or for novice sewers.

 The pink bear in the middle I made using the sewing machine and decided to use fabric yo-yos for the arms and legs. The body is actually made from flannel and not sweatshirt material.