T-shirt quilt--Using those old t-shirts

I finished this quite a while ago, but I don't think I ever shared it.
I have been volunteering at a jr. high camp called Camp Dunamis since I was in high school and every year we get a new t-shirt with the theme from that year on it.  I love these shirts and wear them  often, but I was collecting quite a collection.  Camp Dunamis is so close to my heart so I didn't want to get rid of the shirts (even though a few were stained and unwearable.) I decided to make a quilt out of the shirts.  It started with cutting 12" squares from the shirts, and then I got scared I would ruin the shirt pieces trying to make the quilt...and so the squares sat for a while until I decided I was ready to attempt the quilt.   I have to admit my mom helped me a lot with this with the measurements and figuring out exactly how to do it.

It doesn't match my living room, but this quilt often finds itself on the couch keeping me warm. :)

Linking up to Whatever Goes Wednesday on Someday Crafts , Idea Sharing Wednesday, Toot Your Horn Tuesday

Baby flannel

Check out this adorable flannel fabric I found at Joann's.  Love it.

Old skirt made new!

Am I the only one that has a container of clothes that will fit again "when I lose a few pounds"?  I had a long skirt in the container that truthfully hasn't fit for a while.  I decided that even if it fit I wasn't going to wear it like it was. So I decided to play around and see what I could do.
                     Here is the before picture:

                            And after:
A knee length skirt that fits!

7 Easy steps along the way
1.  Measure the length you want the skirt to be and add 2 1/4 inches for seam allowance/waistband
2. Cut straight across at measured length.  The bottom seam will stay the same, don't cut it off.


3.  Fold fabric 1/4 in and sew a straight stitch to keep the fabric from unraveling.

4.  Fold fabric 2 inches  to make a casing for the elastic (I used 1 1/2 in. elastic) and sew 1/4 inch from the edge of the fold on the inside of the skirt.  Be sure to leave a 2 inch section not sewn so you can feed in the elastic.










5. Measure and cut elastic to fit your waist.
6. Safety pin the end of the elastic and use that to feed the elastic all the way around the skirt.
7. Sew the 2 ends of elastic together and sew the 2 inch opening.

Here it is.  Not the best photo.  I had been wearing the skirt all day so it is a bit wrinkly.

Repurposed skirt

I have been reading a lot of crafty blogs lately and have been so inspired to try out a few things!  The coolest thing I have learned about is that you can repurpose clothing.  I had an old knit shirt that I loved, but didn't fit anymore so I decided to give it a try.  I decided to make a skirt for a little girl out of the shirt. I laid the shirt out and measured 11 inches up the shirt for the length (The length will be more like 9 1/2 inches when finished) and cut across the shirt.  I purposely left 2 inches of shirt under the arms to cut 2-1 inch strips.

Picture #1 is the top of the shirt after I cut the bottom off. Picture #2 is the skirt part that I cut off.  I measured how wide I wanted the skirt and then cut a few inches off of the side. Picture #3 is the 2--1 inch strips (to be used for the gathered bottom)

The next step was to sew a gathering stitch down the middle of each strip. I gathered the first strip to fit on the bottom front of the skirt.  I adjusted and pinned the gathered ruffle how I wanted it.  After I finished the front, I did the same thing to the back.   After the ruffle was finished I pinned the side of the skirt, wrong side out and sewed up the side.


I didn't take a picture of the pinned skirt, but this is what the ruffle looked like
 

I sewed in elastic to make the waistband, and here is the finished product!   My model is in another state so I will have to upload pictures of her wearing it later.

Cherish the Moments

Another digital scrapbook attempt. I love this kit from Shabby Princess.  It is called Sweetie Pie.  Definitely a great choice for scrapbooking my sweetie pie nieces. :)  Fonts are from kevinandamanda.com.

Bandana dress

    I suppose I am like most crafters in that I go through phases of being inspired to create and work on multiple projects and then times where the ideas and inspiration run dry.  Taking my sewing machine out last weekend inspired me to look into and try a few ideas I had seen online.   Today's project is a dress...made out of two bandanas!  Pretty cool, huh?!?  I got the idea from a blog called Trey and Lucy,   She calls it the 15 minute dress.  This dress didn't take me 15 min (more like 40), but that is because I had to rip a seam out--I discovered that the people who sew bandanas don't necessarily sew them straight!  One of them was 1/2 inch longer than the other.  Still it was a very simple project and Tanya's tutorial is great!   

One of the really cool things is that this is a dress for little girls, but turns into a shirt for older girls.  My "model" is a second grader.  I made this (and another matching one) for my nieces who are 2 and 4 and on them it should be a dress.