from trash to laundry

I found a project idea on Pinterest and decided to give it a go, but I wanted mine to be better.  Of course, I want mine to be better.  My theme song is "Anything you can do, I can do better."  Not because I really can, but it motivates me.  Ok, yes, I CAN do anything better...at least in my head.

I bought a couple wicker laundry hampers a few years ago and they lasted about 2 years...but I've been using them for about 4.  The sticks keep breaking off and coming loose and I think the lid of the one I've been using most only covers about 3/4 of the top now as it continues to un-weave itself.

The project involves painting a basic galvanized trash can and put a fabric collar around it.  Of course, I didn't want just a collar around the outside, I wanted a full fabric liner that I could remove to wash and that would protect the laundry from any rough edges that may be lingering in the metal can.  So that's what I did.

I measured around the top and bottom of the can to get the dimensions of the liner.  There are two seams lengthwise.  I traced around the bottom of the can for the bottom of the liner.  For the decorative collar, I measured twice the length I wanted to fold over plus a few extra inches for the inside.  It's self lined and I added a band of elastic around the under side of collar.  The collar is also a couple extra inches in width to make sure it fit around the outside.

I decided to not do a tutorial, simply because it takes too long.  And if you sew regularly, you'll be able to figure it out.  If you don't sew, you won't attempt it anyway, so there you go.

Spray painting in the winter is a bit of a challenge, but I got it done in two coats with two cans.  I did it in my garage, much to my man's dismay as I left an aqua blue dust covering the garage and most of it's contents.

So there it is.  More projects to come.  I've got a busy January and you'll be hearing all about it.