Wordless Wednesday: t-shirt upcycle: The workout shirt

Welcome to Wordless Wednesday! 

(Am I doing this wrong, since I'm including words?)

Anyways, here we go!

Ta-da!!

Thanks for following along!

~Patricia

Easy T-shirt Bag Tutorial

Hey Y'all! 

The other day I was at our local natural parenting store, just browsing, scoping out the toddler carriers, when I saw these interesting bags made out of t-shirts. The concept is to basically cut off the sleeves and neck of the shirt, and to sew up the bottom.  The idea was so simple and easy, I decided to make one myself!

Last night I had an hour to spare, so I dug a t-shirt out of my upcycle bin, grabbed some scissors, and got to work! 

Got your t-shirt? Let's begin! I got this one from my mom, and while I love the color, it ended up in the upcycle bin.

I started by cutting off the sleeves individually. I then folded the shirt in half so I could make sure the sleeves were cut evenly.

I then lined up the arm holes, folded the shirt in half and then cut the sides down so they sloped.  I was aiming for an Envirosax shape, which is this awesome brand of reusable bags that roll up that I've admired for years. 

I sewed the bottom together.  I saw a cool version on my Pinterest that uses fringe from the t-shirt as  the means to the shirt together.  You can check that version out here.

I decided to add some bias tape to the edges of the arm holes and around the other edges, just to give the bag a little more structure and contrast. I didn't even pin it on first, just opened the bias tape and sewed it on.

I think it turned out super cute!  I also decided to match up the arm holes and sew the t-shirt from front to back, instead of from side to side, like is usually shown.  I just like how this looks better!  I'm excited to try it again with a shirt that doesn't have anything written on it, I think it'll be awesome!

And there you go--ta-da!!

Super easy and fast! I think this took under an hour to make, and that includes stopping to adjust my Stitcher radio podcast and trying to find the box where I store all the bias tape. :)

Don't forget to follow along and thanks for reading!!

~Patricia

Easy DIY Knee Patches

Hello all!

Today I am so excited to give you a brand new tutorial:

I don't know about your kids, but my daughter G loves to wear leggings. So much so, that she is constantly ripping holes in hers! That girl can play hard. I was searching around on Pinterest for ideas, but I couldn't find exactly what I wanted...mostly because I couldn't think of exactly how to describe it. This is a problem I have quite often on Pinterest and it mostly leads me to finding a lot of other cool stuff that I wasn't really looking for.  It's kinda like shopping at Target, am I right?  You don't need anything, yet you end up getting a cart full of stuff! 

So, after figuring out the easiest way for me to patch up my daughter's leggings, I thought I would share it with you!  Here's what you'll need:

Items Needed:

Leggings with holes (or just leggings, if you want to jazz them up a bit)

knit fabric to cover the holes 

Sulky Totally Stable (Amazon link, or you can get at JoAnn's)

Iron

Sewing machine

Scissors

Coordinating Thread

Ready? Let's begin!

Let's start with the knit fabric you'll use to cover the holes.  I think it's important to use knit on knit leggings, as they both will allow stretch.  I tried to fix these pants before with a piece of felt, and it did not last one wear.  This particular fabric came from a pair of Wonder Woman PJs that my sister and brother-in-law got me for Christmas one year!  I cut the bottoms off the pants to make them into insta-shorts and used one of the legs to make an awesome grocery bag holder. (You can read about that here.)

If you don't have some cool printed fabric laying around (this is a great project for using up all those scraps!), you can use a cookie cutter or just freehand a cool shape on some knit fabric or an old t-shirt.

Next, you'll want to cut 2 pieces of your Sulky Totally Stable , making them a bit larger than your shape. BTW, this stuff is awesome for keeping your knits in place while sewing them and it's under $2, so it's worth it to pick some up. I've had mine for a long time, and use it mostly when doing monograms and applique. 

Using your iron, iron the first piece of Totally Stable over the hole, following the directions on the package.  Then place the fabric patch on top of the Totally Stable and place the other piece of Totally Stable on the very top and iron it down.  You'll be sandwiching the fabric patch between the two pieces of Totally Stable, and since they are ironed down, you don't have to worry about using any pins! 

I then took a pen and outlined where I wanted my sewing line to be. I basically traced over the black lines of the stars.  If your fabric patch doesn't have distinct lines like mine, you might consider tracing the fabric patch on the Totally Stable before you iron it down, and then match up the lines while ironing. 

Don't worry, the Totally Stable is tear-away, so when we're done sewing, we'll rip it off and it won't show!

Sew!  I sew with a vintage Singer Featherweight machine and it only has a straight stitch, so I went over the star twice to really secure it.  If you are sewing with a machine where the arm can come off, take it off and sew that way, because it's a bit of a pain to have to scrunch up your material the way I have to.  But it's worth it!

Don't forget to trim your threads from the front and back!

Now it's time to tear away the Totally Stable.  I tore the outside first, then gently pulled at the inside of the star to tear off the Totally Stable on the inside of the star.  I did not tear off the Totally Stable on the underside of the hole, since I thought a little extra something would help to prevent future holes.  You can also trim back the hole on the inside so it matches the shape of the fabric patch.

And then......

Here's a close-up! 

So there you have it!  Easy DIY knee patches for your leggings! Let me know if you have questions, or if you try this method and it works for you, please let me know!

Don't forget to follow me on Pinterest by clicking here! 

You can also follow my blog by signing up for updates and new posts by filling in your email on the right, or by adding me to your blogger dashboard. 

Thanks for stopping by!

~Patricia

Easter/ spring shirt

Does anyone else do this? It's the day before a holiday, probably at night, when you realize...Hey! There are soooo many cute things on Pinterest that I could've made for my kid to wear/do/eat this holiday...I better get started!

Guess there's no time like the present!!

This is exactly the thought I had last night after the kids went to bed. I happened to have one solid color T-shirt in C's size, so I looked frantically around at my pins to see what I could whip up in an hour or two.

I found this adorable t-shirt on Etsy, and I decided to make just the bird portion of it, mostly because C has a long name, and I didn't feel like being up all night. :)

I had all of these fabrics in my scrap pile, and since I already had the shirt, it cost me nothing! I used an iron-on stabalizer to firm up the shirt, and Heat-n-bond to put the fabrics in place.  I then just sewed around the fabric, instead of doing a true applique; this saved time and will fray the fabric up a bit after washing, hopefully giving it some nice texture.

Scroll down for some photos. I even had time to make some cute hair clips for her (which of course I forgot to put in her hair this morning). I already had the ribbons curled for it, so that was a time-saver too.

Happy Easter and spring to everyone!

DIY Christmas tree onesie

So I took a little break from blogging for the month of December, but that didn't mean that I stopped sewing or creating. Nope, not at all!  Rather, I was just too busy doing all the other stuff that a family has to do in December, besides taking some time to slow down and celebrate the real meaning of the season.

And so, my next few posts are going to be about Christmas.  Maybe you can get a head start on your presents for next year (!) or maybe these will just inspire you to modify and make something even cooler for Valentine's Day. Because there is always another holiday right around the corner! 

The Christmas Onesie:

If you're not following me on Pinterest yet, you really should (let me know, and I'll follow you back!)  I found this idea on there, but of course when I tried to go back and find it again, I couldn't!  I just had to go off of my memory and just make it up as I went along. For your benefit, here's a brief synopsis of how to make a ribbon Christmas Tree onesie. 

Cute, huh?

First you'll want to do a test-run by cutting your ribbon to the right lengths and setting everything out.  As you can see, my original idea involved a lot more buttons than the final product. I also was going to use a shiny green ribbon, but then decided against it. I also heat-sealed all of the ribbon edges to prevent fraying.  But, the material of that particular green ribbon wouldn't heat-seal (it kept lighting on fire actually), so I skipped it. 

And here's how NOT to make it. When starting this project I forgot one very crucial step. Which will happen when you are going off of a picture in your memory and not directions. Crucial-step-do-not-forget-or-your-project-will-be-a-mess:  Stabilizer. Yep. Just a simple iron-on stabilizer makes a world of difference when you're sewing on a knit onesie.  Obviously, I had to rip out the first four rows and start completely over after using my trusty iron-on stabilizer. I use the tear-away kind, and it's kinda fun to rip it all off when you're done sewing. 

I think if I were to make it again, I'd think ahead and buy a cooler button for the top and bottom.  Maybe a square-shaped button for the bottom and a cool yellow star for the top.  I could always change it out, but that means I'd have to remember them next time I go to Joann's, and I can barely remember my name when I go there, I get so overwhelmed from all the crafts I could make-colors, fabrics, paper,yarn!!!! I will just keep it as is for now (hey, Christmas is past anyways), and improve upon it for next year. 

~Patricia

Don't forget to click the link and follow me on Pinterest!

I'm also on Twitter! Click here: Follow @tshirtsandtulle

Freezer paper stencil state t-shirt

This is such a cute idea and so easy!
Freezer paper stencils are a favorite of mine, because they are an easy way to personalize any t-shirt.
If you are unfamiliar with freezer paper stencils, here's a brief how-to:
1. Print out any shape that you want, animals, states, hearts, holiday stuff, etc.
2. Trace it onto the non-shiny side of freezer paper and cut out the inside of your object, in my case, the state of Minnesota. 
3. Iron the stencil you've created onto a t-shirt. Put some cardboard directly behind the surface you're going to paint on.
4. Using fabric paint and a foam brush, paint 2 coats of paint over your stencil. Let dry overnight.
5. Carefully remove the freezer paper, then set a cloth over your creation and iron it to set.
6. Wear and enjoy! Easy!!

Never heard of freezer paper or don't know where to get it?

Click here to buy Reynolds Freezer Paper from Amazon.com or look for it at your local stores. I found mine at wal-mart near the aluminum foil.



Have fun!
~ patricia

Putting on some Glitz

The other day I stopped by Old Navy and got some awesome deals. Seriously, I must have snapped up pretty much all the cute clearance shirts in my daughter's size. She was so excited!  When I showed her this one though, she was a little disappointed in how plain (and quite frankly, how not pink it was). 

It just needs something.

Glitter fabric paint to the rescue! I figured that a little glitter would jazz up the shirt a bit, so I got out my Tulip glitter fabric paint and painted each of the ribbons going down the shirt. A fun way to add a little glitz!

Happy Crafting!
~Patricia

DIY Baby Ribbon Toy

Today my littlest one was being fussy, so when I had a few minutes I whipped up this little gem of a baby toy. I think she's teething, because she just wants to chew on things, especially her car seat straps!

I first saw this idea as a monogrammed/appliqued bean bag on sewlikemymom here. It's a great tutorial, but you can't sell these as Taggies has a patent on the looped ribbon. But, you can make them for your kids and your friends as gifts!

I started with 2 different squares of fabric, since I wanted different textures for her to feel. They are 9 in squares. I chose six different ribbons and cut two 3 inch pieces of each.

On the RIGHT side of one piece of fabric, sew on the ribbon by folding it in half, spacing it out evenly, 3 to a side. I like to mark where mine will go ahead of time, so I make dots on all 4 sides at 2.25 in, 4.5 in and 7.75 in.

Then put right sides of your fabric together and sew around the edge, leaving a 1/4 in seam allowance, and leaving a space on one side in order to turn it right side out.

Clip your corners, turn it right side out, and use a pencil or your fingers to push out the corners. Then sew the opening shut and if you want, topstitch all around.

Now sometimes I like to add a layer of plastic to add that crinkly sound to it. I use the plastic covering to a wipes refill. I only buy Pampers sensitive wipes, so I have a lot of their refill bags lying around. I think there are 9 bags that come in the big box that I usually buy. If you add this layer, add it to the outside of your right sides together fabric. In other words, you'll be sewing plastic, wrong-side piece #2, right-side piece #1 with ribbons.

And as a side note, I just saw a friend with one of these  commercially made yesterday! How much more would a new mom love this, if it came from a friend, made with love? So go find some scraps, some ribbon and get crafty!

Freezer paper ONESIE

For Valentine's Day, I made a cute monogrammed heart onesie for my littlest one using freezer paper. I got the idea from somewhere, but for the life of me I cannot find the photo. When I do I'll post it.

If you've never done a freezer paper stencil before, you should! They are so easy and in no time, you've created something. Just be sure to irom it on really good, so the paint doesn't bleed. I've also been covering the paint with glitter, because everything is better with glitter!!

Two Minute Upcycle

Recently I got together with some friends for a night out and a clothing swap. A cute blue and white striped top caught my eye, not for the shirt, but for the fabric.  I was able to turn it into a fun skirt:

Don't mind my modeling! 

This upcycle took two minutes to make, literally. I was lucky enough to find a shirt that had an elastic empire waist, so all I did was cut the top part off. It was super easy and now I have a fun, comfy skirt to wear! Wahoo!

Update: I recently remade this skirt, adding fresh elastic for the waistband and taking it in considerably on the sides for a more fitted, a-line look. And I still love it!