Jelly Jar Sewing Kits

One thing I have plenty of is used jars from my kitchen.  Ever since they stopped recycling glass jars in our area I just can’t stand to throw them out so they have been piling up in boxes in my pantry.  This month’s Sustainable Pinterest Challenge was a perfect excuse to upcycle a few of the small jelly jars in to adorable sewing kits.

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This post is part of the February Sustainable Pinterest Challenge hosted by Julie from Sum Of Their Stories.  The challenge is to recreate an idea from Pinterest that also has an sustainable aspect to the project whether through recycling or repurposing. 

 

 

This month I am excited to join in with the following talented bloggers for the challenge.  A link to all of their projects will be at the end of this post.

Julie | Sum of their Stories

Gail | Purple Hues and Me

Terri | Terri Steffes

Ann| The Apple Street Cottage

T’onna | Sew Crafty Crochet

Julie | Treasures Made From Yarn

Lydia | Life Beyond the Kitchen

Allyson | Southern Sunflowers

Mel | Decor Craft Design

Donna | Modern on Monticello

Linda | Crafts a la mode

Niki | Life as a LEO Wife

 

So Easy DIY Sewing Kits From Jelly Jars

Jelly jars, spaghetti sauce jars, salsa jars, and every other leftover jar from the kitchen you can name, I probably have it in a box right now.  I hate the thought of throwing them in the landfill so I either try to avoid buying anything in glass jars or I just keep stockpiling them in boxes.  Thankfully in North Carolina where my family lives they still recycle glass so every trip I make home to visit I load up the boxes of assorted glass jars and take them with me.

 

 

But I still need to find more ways to reuse as many of these jars as I can, so projects like these jelly jar sewing kits are a great idea. 

The inspiration for these jelly jar sewing kits came from this Mason Jar Sewing Kit pin from DecorHint.com.

This was a great solution to not only use up a few of the jelly jars I have in a box, but also lots of craft items out of my stash such as fabric swatches, cotton batting, and magnets.

 

This is such a fun and easy DIY!

 

For this project you will need:

• Used jelly jars – or purchase new
• Canning jar lids with the separate rim and lids 
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Fabric swatches
• Poly-Fil Cotton Fiber Fill Batting
• Pencil
• Magnetic Strip
• Scissors
• Sewing supplies like miniature scissors, spools of thread, buttons, needles, thimble, etc. 
• A printout of these Emergency Sewing Kit Tags or make your own. 
• Twine

 

 

To start, I had to soak the jars in warm soapy water to help make removing the labels a little bit easier.  It also took a couple of treatments of Goof Off to remove all of the sticky glue.

Originally the jelly jars came with a regular one piece jar lid, but for this project I needed the jar lids that have separate tops and rims like for canning.  Thankfully I also have plenty of them in my craft stash that will fit the jelly jars. I might upcycle the old lids in to coasters or something in the future. 

 

 

 

In my craft stash I selected several swatches of fun and colorful fabrics.  I even pulled out a brand new shirt with a cute little turtle design to use.  Yes, I cut up a new shirt! 

 

 

While you are shaking your head at me, let me explain.  My daughter ordered this shirt for her husband as a gift and had it sent to my house.  I mistakenly laid the package on the kitchen counter in eyesight of our German shepherd puppy, who considered the package a gift to him.  When I realized my mistake, the shirt and package had already been carried to the back yard and were full of holes, as you will notice in the photo.  Needless to say, I ordered my son-in-law a replacement shirt and this one went to my craft stash. 

The fabric was too cute to just throw out!

 

 

Out of my craft stash I also choose acrylic paint to coordinate with the fabric swatches.   I decided to use multi surfaces acrylic paints so it would be easier to apply and cover the glass jars.

The jars took three coats of paint and were then sealed with Triple Thick Glaze clear coat spray.

 

Riverside Designs 

Making the pin cushion for the lid.

For the next task for the jelly jar sewing kits, the separate rims and lids for the jelly jars will be used to make pin cushion tops for each sewing kit.  

To start, trace the outline of the lid with the pencil on the back of the fabric swatch. 

 

 

Then create a second circle to cut out that is at least 1 inch wider or more than the first circle.  The pin cushion top is created using these two cut out fabric circles.

 

 

Each pin cushion top requires two fabric cut out circles to cover the lid.

 

 

Apply hot glue to the top side of the metal canning lid and attach a small amount of the fiber fill to the lid.  

 

 

 

 

Then flip the lid so that the stuffing is upside down on to the back side of the larger fabric swatch cutout circle.

 

 

Fold over a section of the fabric over the rim of the lid and use hot glue to hold in place.  Repeat this step around the edge of the rim leaving just one small section open to be able to stuff in more fiber fill as needed.  Then glue down that edge as well.

 

 

Glue the smaller fabric circle, decorate side up, over the back of the lid to hid the folds of the other fabric and to give the inside a finished look.  

 

 

The magnetic strip can be glued to the inside of the jelly jar rim or to the inside of the lid.  Or not at all.

Cut a small 1-2 inch piece of the magnetic strip that will be used to hold needles and pins inside of the jelly jar.  Here you have two choices, you can either attach the strip to the inside of the glass jar to hold the needles and the pins, or glue it to the inside of the fabric covered lid.  I chose to glue the magnetic strip to the inside of the lid to make these things easier to find.

 

Insert the fabric covered lid – now turned pin cushion – inside the metal rim with the pin cushion on top.  

 

 

 

Fill the jelly jar  with sewing items you may need for emergency repairs like missing buttons or torn hems. These items can easily be found in miniature sewing kits or shopped for individually.  I had a small pair of scissors from an old sewing kit to use for this kit but to fill the others I may purchase several folding travel scissors as well. 

 

 

I made six little jelly jar sewing kits for this project so that I could use them as gifts this year.  

 

 

For fun, I created little gift tags with a funny reminder as to why you always need an Emergency Sewing Kit.  These will be perfect little gifts for a couple of college girls in my church that I am their “adoptive’ mom this year as part of our College ministry.  

 

You can easily download a copy of the Emergency Sewing Kit Tags. 

 

Be sure to visit the other creative sustainable ideas from the other bloggers who participated in the Sustainable Pinterest Challenge this month.

 

 

Hugs,

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

 

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