2.03.2012

Crafting - Old Tshirts

Skylar was out last Monday for a teacher workday, so I decided to pull out the sewing machine and get crafty.  My kids from time to time will ask for me to get it out, so I gave in.
I have been seeing DIY bracelets and headbands on Pinterest.  They are made from old T-shirts and this "re-purposing" was right up my alley.  I didn't have to go out and get any supplies - WINNER!

While I was gathering old T-shirts (which I had already saved some, just knowing this occasion would arise), the kids dug into the fabric stack and wanted to "do something" with it.
So before the T-shirts could get used, I had to make numerous "sleeping bags" for the stuffed animals.

Both of my kids have a thing for stuffed animals.  They love them. Sean and I particularly do NOT like them and that's probably why they love them, isn't that always the case?
Anywho......
They both have these small ones called "Whimsys" so Jaden wanted to sew a multiple sleeping bag for his:

Skylar's thing is WebKinz stuffed animals, so we fixed them up:

Jaden decided that he wanted individual ones:




So now on to the T-shirts:
There are a ton of tutorials out there, but I kind of just went with it:
I cut strips of the shirts out - started out with smaller strips maybe 1 1/2 inches wide and about 12 - 18 inches long.  
This was my first:  an old purple shirt turned into a bracelet for skylar.
Since the fabric is stretchy, I just sewed the ends together and she just doubles it and slides it on.  She says it is VERY comfy and loves to wear it and tell that it came from a T-shirt.

You just take 3 strips, pin together with a safety pin at the top, leaving about an inch at top and then braid all the way down.
For Skylar's I just sewed the ends together to make one big loop.  She twists it one time to double it on her wrist.
So I made one for myself - This first one I cut wider strips. 
For mine, I made a loop on one end, hand sewed, it was too thick to go under the needle on the machine.  On the other I attached an extra button that I had.  

This one is thicker with a bigger button and only doubled on my wrist. 



This one is with skinnier strips and is tripled on my wrist with a smaller button.  This one is my fav.
The loop just goes over the button.  They are indeed very comfortable.

So I went on to make a headband.  Longer strips and I just machine sewed over the ends, leaving a few inches of the 3 strips hanging down at the ends.

So then i got REALLY crafty and made flowers.  
But that's where it ended - ha.  My creativity was draining out, my house was a wreck, stings everywhere, fabric scraps, thread stuck in the carpet and my kids long had lost their interest.  So these flowers are just that, fabric flowers.  They are not adhered or attached to anything.  

Oh, I did attach one thing:  a pom-pom ball onto a headband for skylar.



So here is a peek at a very slow, ongoing project of mine.  Hopefully I'll be able to post the process and the finish product soon.




1 comment:

  1. Once again....great genes, great family. Wish I had an ounce of that ingenuity. :) Is that going to be a million dollar table? Okay, maybe $50.

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