Fall Apparel: Knit Strips Scarf

I've seen a lot of those scarves lately that are basically a bunch of strips of knit fabric bound up into one scarf/necklace. I thought they were really cute and I wanted one, but of course I didn't just want to buy one...I knew I could make it!

It's super easy...all you need is an old t-shirt you aren't wearing anymore!! (and of course altering supplies such as scissors, sewing machine and thread)

Here's my old t-shirt. It was in my highscool- "I'm-a-punk-rocker-and-like-all-black" phase.

I just cut off the top so I had the straight trunk of the shirt left.

From there I cut the strips. I cut them about 3/4 - 1 inch in width

And there they are.

I stretched them out a little at this point so the rolled into themselves a bit.

And there they are... again.

Now figure out how long you want them to hang down. Put them around your neck to see how far they go. decided how much of the length you want to take off, if any. If you do want to take some length off, then bunch them together, and make one big cut in a single line, then trim the ends to however long you decided you wanted them.

 Now you're ready to sew. Make sure that the ends are rolled up before you sew each one down. This ensures they stay rolled after they're sewn into place.

Sew them one at a time, one right after the other.

 Repeat for other side. This is what it looks like when you're finished with this part.

Now, with it laying flat, as pictured above, loosely roll it up a little on each sewn end, so it it looks like a tube, and matches the picture below.

Once you have a straight tube of sorts, take just one of the ends, and twist it once or twice, depending on how twisted you want it. See below. I twisted it once.

Join ends together now, keeping all your rolling and twisting in place in your hands until you reach the sewing machine. Sew the ends together.

Now all you need to do is to make a little covering to go over the ends that you sewed together. I just used a block of fabric from the sleeve of the same t-shirt. I didn't take pictures of me attaching the strip on, but just cut it as wide as you think you need it to cover up the ends, and sew it around the scarf. You can then hand stitch it in place so it doesn't travel down the scarf.



This is what it looks like attached.

And then you are finished! Here she is!

$2 Dollar Book Wreath

I found this fabulous idea over at "Living With Lindsay" and just had to make it. Many of you have probably already seen this done, because it's gotten pretty famous on the web. Not only is it a super-cute idea, but it's 2 dollars to make!!!! Well, here is my version of it. You can click here to get the full tutorial on it.

By the way, With this post I'm taking a poll. I decided to try this wreath with a ribbon, but I'm not sure if I like it. I think the ribbon might be a little dressy, while the wreath is a bit industrial, but my husband likes it with the ribbon. So let me know what you think,

with the ribbon, or without?

Copy Cat Design/Another Refashion

Does anyone else remember the Favorite Tee from the Gap? They may still have it, I don't know, but it used to be the biggest wardrobe essential before Down East Basics came up with the Wonder Tee. They were just basic, crew cut tees in long sleeves and short sleeves, and different colors. They lost their steam when The Wonder Tee came out with a more up to date neckline and body length. That's about when I lost my steam with them too, having a need for a longer tee shirt to fit my afore mentioned large frame.
That didn't change the fact that I had literally a dozen of them, just laying around, waiting to be worn.
Around the same time I was pondering what to do with these shirts, I was looking around at one of my favorite idea stores (I say idea store because I can't afford to shop there, so I just get "ideas" from it), Anthropologie, and was noticing their cute little dresses, that were just so basic, yet chic and comfortable. It was this one that really caught my eye:

It was then that a little light bulb went off, and I realized i could make a sleeved version of this dress with one of my "Favorite Tees". I had a different idea for the top, however, because I wanted to save this beautiful circle ruffle for another top. Here's what I did to re-create this lovely piece:

First, I cut the trunk of the shirt across where I wanted it to hit.

I then, used the bottom that I cut off to cut 4 2 inch thick strips. (It doesn't really matter how thick, just as big as you want your ruffles.) I then took them to the sewing machiene, where I adjusted the tension on the machiene to the highest tension, and the stitch length to the longest length. I then only had to sew one straight line on the edge, and it came out like this:

I then sewed each ruffle to the top half of the shirt, starting with the bottom ruffle. This is how it turned out once finished with that part:

Next I found another "Favorite Tee" that I had used the trunk of to make the gaucho pants I posted about earlier. I used just one of the sleeves for the mid section, evening out the width before sewing it on.

Later, after this next picture was already taken, I decided to put vertical gathers in it every 4 inches or so. I did this by attaching elastic that was cut about an inch shorter than the width of the band, and stretching it out as I sewed down the width of the black section.

After that, I found some material that I thought would look cute with it, and cut it to the length I wanted, leaving the width the same as it had come. I hemmed up the bottom, then I measure the right size of elastic to fit around the t-shirt at the open end. I attached this elastic to the top by using the same method for the gathers above. Then I folded it in half with the wrong side facing out. I sewed the sides together, then turned right-side out again. I then attached the skirt to the top, and was just about done when I decided I wanted just a little more flare. I found this tutorial for fabric flowers, and took some black satin to make it, and I sewed on the pearl beads after I was done. I also hot-glued felt to the back to kind of seal it all in, then I attached it to a pin.

The finished product:

Just add some black skinny jeans and some pumps, and your ready to go!

Re-Fashioning Again...Skirt

I love pencil skirts. They are so sleek and classy, and can go with virtually anything. I've had the hardest time buying one. Not a whole lot of places sell the type that I like, that is, one that is a dressier skirt, rather than having zipper, button, etc. on the front like jeans. Anyway, even when I would find the dressier kind, they'd be too short, meant to hit above the knee, which of course in itself is not what I want, but it also means that it hits my 6'1" frame mid-thigh.

Well, I finally found this beauty and snatched it up. It hit me just above the knee, but that was the best I could find. So I decided to dress it up AND lengthen it by adding some pretty trim.

Now of course, since I had EXACTLY what I wanted for the trim in mind BEFORE actually shopping for trim, nothing met up to my vision. So I made the trim myself.

I made it using black satin. First, I measured how much I would need. For this kind of trim, you need 3 X the length of the measurment of whatever you are trimming. I cut the strip 4 1/2 inches wide. I then hemmed the strip, then pleated it by ironing folds into it. After ironing, I sewed the top of the strip to keep it in place. All I did after that, was treat it like normal trim and sew it to the skirt! Pretty fun and simple!



This one is so you can see the fold/iron pattern:

Are Those Pants...or a Skirt???

They're Gaucho pants! I decided to make some for my little Sienna Buggeroo. She was lacking in the pants department, and since I think gauchos are pretty much the most comfy pants in the entire world, I decided to introduce her into their lovely world! I got this idea from another site, but forgive, me, I can't remember where, I happened to be craft-blog-surfing, and forgot where I was at, but if any of you know where these are from, please let me know! Anyway, the great thing about these gauchos, is that you make them from an old shirt that you don't wear anymore! You'll need some measurments of your little girl; you'll need the waist, the hips WITH the diaper (if not potty trained), the distance from croch to waist, and the inseam to where you want the pants to hit at on her leg. So here we go:

1. Get your measurments
2. Find an old t-shirt (with enough material to cover your measurements), and lay it flat, smooth, and all the seems where they should be.
3. Cut the shirt (through both sides) as pictured below. Make sure the part that will hit her hips is 1/4 the measurement of the diapered-hip measurement. Each top cut should measure 1/4 of the waist. The curved line should be the croch/waist measurement, and from the tip of the curve down to the bottom should be the inseam measurement.


4. Unfold each piece and place together, wrong sides out.
5. Sew together at the curves only
6. Now re-position the pieces so that the curved seems are both in the middle of the front and the back.
7. From this point you should be able to see the pants shape, so then you sew each leg up to the croch, or curved seems.
8. Flip it back so that the right side is out, and you pretty much have it, except for the top.
9. What I did for the top was, I sewed elastic (cut to about an inch smaller than the waist measurement) to the top of the waist in a smocking fashion. Then I cut out some more of the shirt to make a "binding" to cover the top of the waist.
10. There you have it! Now put them on your little girl and admire!



The Top Binding

Mary's Baby Shower

This was fun to plan. It was a headline theme. Everything was pink and black with newspaper!

I know I already posted this, but it kinda goes with everything I'm posting about

These little "suckers" are rolled up baby washclothes, secured with a satin pin (flathead pins) and stuck into treat bags (or cellaphane) and tied tight with a ribbon to keep the stick in. I made the little sign under it, and taped it to the stick.

This is what the little tag at the end of the favors says

Those are Booties on the top of the cake

A little onesy I made Mary with an iron-on transfer.

Baby Shower Invites

I finally finished the invites for my sister Mary's baby shower. I used recycled newspaper, and paper grocery bags. The rest is pretty self explanitory.

Gift Wrapping

I decided to get creative this year with gift wrapping, and make it through without having to buy too many boxes. I ended up recycling cereal boxes, granola bar boxes, etc. to use for the presents. I used the grocery bag bows that I wrote about previously, and I used brown grocery bags for some of the wrapping paper. It was pretty fun coming up with different things I could do to make the presents look nice, without buying everything for it. Granted, I did buy wrapping paper and ribbon, but it was fun to not have to depend on it. Here are some of the things I did:

I also used regular string, and scrap from scrapbook paper that I had lying around, as you can see above.

Gift Bows

I found this cute idea from another website. Such a good way to recycle those grocery bags that stack up. Here's the website for instructions:

Gift Toppers