No-Sew T-Shirt Scarf

Seriously NO sewing what-sew-ever :) Same scarf 2 different looks. My oldest daughter works at a trendy clothing store and has a similar scarf that cost mucho $$, I found an ugly t-shirt on the clearence rack and decided to give it a try for less $$.

1. Did I mention ugly? I dont know who designed this t-shirt but it was the most mis-shaped shirt that I had ever seen. ENTER cheap experiment. (thanks mis-shaped-ugly-t-shirt-designer)

2. Cut off bottom edge and top

3. Re-fold the middle piece so the seams meet. Cut from the edge up to 1 inch from seams.

4. When your done making all those snips grab the shirt by the seams (one in each hand, kind of like one of those rubber exercise bands) and stretch gentley. This will make the cut strips roll around the edges and give it a finished look.

That was easy wasnt it!

okay, now I have to get back to work and do some serious sewing. Wait till you see what I'm finally finishing. Its been a long time coming.

Experiment

Its been very hot and sticky around here, so this strappy top that my cousin gave me got to budge to the front of the line at my sewing desk. The main problem was that it was too wide for me so I took it in on the sides. Then I used the trimmed off scraps to make a ruffle for the front.

I cut the scraps in strips. No measureing just guessing. Stuck the little bugger under my machine on a baste length stitch and then scrunched it up to make a ruffle.

I Hand stitch the ruffle on and now a have a cute new top

Mitred Corners

I love learning new tricks! Here's the latest in step by step, because I know I'll forget how I did it :) Perfect Mitred Corners

1. Cut 4 fabric strips, making sure to add extra length depending on the width of the strip. My fabric strips are 3.5 inches wide. So I need to make sure my fabric goes over by 3.5 inches on each side. Mark 1/4 inch in from the striped(bottom)fabric, this will be where your stitch starts on one side and ends on the other.2. You should have a gap that looks something like this on both ends. keep fabric folded back like this for the next step.

3. Repeat the same process with all 4 strips of fabric.

4. Fold in half diagonaly and line up the overhang. In my case the extra 3.5 inches in each side.

5. Draw a line here and stitch on the line.

6. Trim access fabric

7. Press seams down. And you have perfect corners.

That was sooo easy and fun!

Throw pillow Slip-covers

Back in November I bought a pile of brand new dishtowels at an auction and they came with matching placemats. I am not a placemat person. So for the last few months I have been trying to figure out what to do with them. (very sad that it took 5 months for a lightbulb moment) anyways WHY have I never thought of this before! Placemats are readily available nothingness -my apologies to anyone who loves them- I cant tell you how many times I have come across beautiful placemats at yard sales and thrift stores and thought what a waist of cute fabric. Well I will never again want for pillow slipcovers. Below are the simple steps I used :)

Step 1: placemats, seam ripper and a cozy chair

Step 2: Remove the lining, this was lined with an iron-on type stabilizer. It left little pieces of itself behind but no one is going to see the inside of the cover anyways.

Step 3: cut the back into two equel pieces. Then cut about 3/4 th of the way up on the front. Or what ever size you want your pillow to be. The great thing about this is it doesnt require exact measurements

Step 4: Iron out the folded edges on all pieces then fold in twice on the back pieces where you cut them to make a nice seam

Step 5: layer the pieces with Right sides of the fabric together overlaping the two back pieces and pin.

Step 6: stitch all the way around with a straight stitch and then a zigzag to keep it from fraying. Or just surge all the way around if you have a serger.

Step 7: turn pillow case right side out and pop in you pillow!

Freezer Paper Stencil

I can check one more thing off my to do list. This is my first try at freezer paper stencils

1. draw a picture of what you want on the dull side of the freezer paper, and cut out with a razor knife.

2. Iron onto fabric, shiney side down.

3. Paint! I used spray paint and I really like the results. But I would think that fabric or acrylic paint would be just as nice.

4. Sew :) I only waited about 5 mins for my paint to dry (because I am impatient) before I started sewing.

The spray paint I used was actually a rusty brown primer color but looks pink on the fabric ( how lucky for me) so its always a good idea to do a test swatch. I believe this was enough fun that I will have to make some more.

of Rants and Re-makes

Okay, the T-shirt remake first. I am totally in love with the idea of making things from old t-shirts, so when my friend Mira from our daily minutiae posted a pair of yoga pants on her blog I had to give it a try. It was soooo easy and took less than 15 minutes*. I used a size 3x mens shirt and it fits my size 14 kaboose with lots of room to spare. clip off sleeves and top of shirt. Clip down the sides of the shirt, so the front and the back are separate.

Fold each piece in half and stitch up from what would have been the bottom of the shirt to the armpit. Then stitch both armholes together to make the crotch seam, add a waist band and you have a comfy pair of sleep pants.

* NOW about the rant. Remember when I said that it only took me 15 minutes to make these? thats because I was careless and stupid and impatient and unkind to my new serger, I had assumed it was a beast and would cut through all of the old seams and junk and crammed the thing through in a hurry and and *sniffle* I broke-dulled-ruined-??? my blades *sniffle*. TOTALLY my fault, not the machines or the fabrics or the dogs. all mine. BUT and here is the rant. Sewing Machine Manufacturers PLEASE take note: I will pay an extra $1.00 or 2 or 5 or whatever if you would P-l-e-a-s-e give me a separate manual in English! Its not that I dont apprieciate Spanish or French or Slavic. I love them all but NOT when I am mad and doing stupid things to my machine and I live in an English speaking country where I paid English speaking dollars$$ for a machine that I could curse to in English. K? good, now I am off to find out how much extra blades are for my machine :(

UpCycle Wool Mittens Tutorial

With what is left of the sweater from the Wool Hat Tutorial I made matching mittens. I found the Pattern Here and enlarged it 330%. The pattern fits a womens large but could be adjusted to fit other sizes depending on how much you enlarge. I found the directions on the website with the pattern to be very helpful but there were two flaws in the pattern/directions. 1. one side of the thumb is bigger than the other and is very apparent when you match up your cut pieces so I just trimmed the larger one the same size as the smaller. 2. they also call for 4-1/2 inch pieces of elastic, I used 4 inch and liked the fit better.

Cut pieces out of felted sweater, making sure you have a right hand and a left hand. (ask me how I know this is important? you could end up with 2 gloves that fit one hand! not fun) I used pins and paper to identify each peice so this would not happen again. I also took advantage of the ribbing on this particular sweater and made sure that my cuff pieces butted up against it.

Cut 4 piece of elastic 4 inches long and zig zag stitch it to the wrist of the gloves. You will need to stretch it gently as you sew.

Stitch the top thumb/palm piece to the bottom thumb/palm piece

Stitch down the small palm seam.

1. Use a scrap piece of fabric 2-1/2 inch X 1-1/2 inch and fold in long edges 1/4 of the way then in half, it will look like quilt binding or bias tape. 2. Stitch around edges and fold in half. 3. Tack in place on finished side of glove at the elastic line, this will give the option of clipping the gloves together and also adds a touch of flare. 4. Stitch front and back together starting at the cuff and stopping at the thumb. Cut thread and start stitching on the other side of thumb finishing with the opposite side of the cuff. (not sure if that makes sense but that was the best way I could describe it)

There it is a nice cozy glove. You may notice that I added a lining to them in the very first photo, this was just for extra comfort, you make the exact thing from a soft stretchy fabric ( I use a cotten shirt) and insert into the glove stitching together at cuff.

UpCycle Wool Hat Tutorial

Cut the hood off of a felted wool hooded sweater. I found this one at the thrift store for .99 cents and felted it in my washer/dryer.

trim the cut side to match the uncut side like above

stitch together

Stitch each side of your seam down, this will give a nice finished look on the outside of the hat as well as making it less lumpy on the inside.

Use a piece of scrap fabric roughly 2 -1/2 inch by 1-1/2 inch and fold sides in 1/4 of the way, them fold in half (just like quilt binding or bias tape). Stitch around edges. Fold ends in 1/8 inch and stitch to hat, this leaves an opening so you can hang your hat on a hook as well as giving it a little flair.

and there you have it! One very cheap AND warm wooly winter hat.