DIY Chevron Necklace

Love this! See tutorial here :)

DIY studded converse

Recycled T-Shirt Knotted Bracelet Tutorial

HEY!!!!! I'm backkkkk!!!!! Much apologies for being MIA for so long! A quick update: I finished my first year of teaching and I didn't die (yippee!) and I'm home in Canada for the summer, then heading back for another year in Macau :)

I've gotten a lot of requests for a how-to on the recycled t-shirt knotted bracelet I made a while back....SOOOOO I ended up making a video tutorial for you all :) I decided to jazz up the bracelet by painting on a leopard print and adding a few gold chains! These steps are optional but I think it looks pretty radical yeah?

OK hope you enjoy the tutorial and lemme know if you have any questions or comments. I'm thinking of giving one of these leopardy wrist snugglies away so check back soon! Have a lovely day! Smile :)

DIY plumbing supplies bracelet

photo: style hurricane via: outsapop

Love this. Check out the tutorial by style hurricane for more details.

DIY: Shearling Boots

photos: my vintage secret

Oh boy, how cozy are these DIY shearling boots by My Vintage Secret?! Head over to her page here for full instructions on how you can make a pair of your own. Happy winter-is-coming!

recycled t shirt project inspiration

Whoa it's me! So I thought I'd test out the whole video making thing. haha. May I remind you I have zero skills in movie editing/public speaking/speaking to no one in front of my computer (lol) so I might be slightly awkward. or a lot! eeeee! I wanted to show you this neat top I found that I might try to recreate on my own t shirts...lemme know your thoughts! Ok, have a good one, bye!

guess what I'm making?

A recycled glove chipmunk!!! Remember this little guy from a few posts before? I went to my favourite japanese dollar store and picked up all the supplies. Lucky me! they had (almost) everything I needed! (they didn't have pipe cleaners...no bendy legs for this furry friend, oh well) I also couldn't find a plain brown glove so I settled for this striped beige one instead. I like how the blue stripe makes it look like he's wearing pants AND the brown stripe on top worked out perfectly as his nose! Wowee! Well he's a work in progress, the hand sewing is making my fingers a little tired so he's just gonna take a small rest tonight. What a fun project, I'm already thinking of making a glove skunk....glove rabbit....glove kitten, oh he's going to have so many friends! I'll be sure to show you once he's all put together :) Click here for the full DIY instructions.

recycled glove chipmunk

via: recylart

Tee hee hee....isn't he nice? Full DIY instructions here.

recycled t shirt embroidery

Housewarming present for Brayden! My first time embroidering....please ignore the wobbly wheels! haha. Follow this tutorial by My Vintage Secret for instructions on how to make your own!

DIY draped skirt

photo: Anywho

A while back I posted about this amazing DIY Burberry inspired skirt project that's been really popular among bloggers lately...AND since I've returned to my home-and-native-land of Canada I could finally get my hands on some second hand jewels, put my sewing machine to good use and (try to) recreate this lovely skirt. Three cheers for fun projects! Hip-Hip-Horray!

I scoured the racks for some kind of plus size cotton jersey dress with enough fabric for the skirt and happened to lay eyes on this little...I mean LARGE fella'. The dress is made of a thick almost sweatshirt-like material in a nice dark grey color which is perfect for mixing and matching. Lucky me, I snatched him up for only $4.99. What a steal!

Here's the dress before: Notice how my shoulders are defined to perfection. You can thank the magic of the ol' pad on the shoulder for this trick on the eyes.

...and here's what "this old dress" (wink nudge) turned into. TA-DA! I like it!

It was a pretty simple project and didn't take much time to make...not to mention super comfortable and earth friendly! The waistband was a bit tricky for my untrained self, so it's only half sewn until I think of some brilliant way to fully secure it. Ideas are always welcome!! (help me) haha. Here are the DIY instructions compiled from the original post by Anywho and the ever inspiring Angie over at Sewithought with her take on the skirt.

1. Use a high waisted bodycon skirt as a pattern (I added about 1/2″ around for seam allowance I also added about 3 inches on the top of mine to make a waistband. Because I made mine from an already made item I used the hem of the dress so if you are not remaking an item you may want to add some allowance for a hem.)

2. Cut 8 wide pieces. (I cut 4 pieces and folded them in half – my pieces were 10 inches wide and 24 inches long. Sew these pieces in order to make 4 tubes)

3. Cross two tubes to achieve a draped affect. Repeat with the remaining two. (Just use the front piece of your skirt for this.

4. Pin everything down all the way around then take the back of the skirt and attach it to the front piece. (I pinned my draped pieces down and sewed them on before attaching the front and back pieces together.)

Happy sewing day everyone!

DIY recycled t shirt braided neckpiece tutorial

This tutorial will teach you how to make your very own homemade recycled t shirt braided neckpiece!

For this project, I used XL t-shirts I got from a local thrift store but you can also use store bought jersey fabric as well. Let's get started!!

MATERIALS NEEDED:

- Cotton fabric OR two XL used seamless t-shirts (no need to buy new)
- Fabric scissors

That's it! WOW!

ABOUT THE FABRIC:

Go to your local thrift store to find mens or ladies XL cotton t-shirts. I say XL because the width of the t-shirt will determine how long your neckpiece will be and the length will determine the thickness. As inspired by pixie market's braided neckpiece I chose black and white as my color palette but you can choose any color combination you crafty heart desires! Also, avoid using t-shirts with seams sewn on the sides as they will look unsightly when braided. No no no to seams.

INSTRUCTIONS:

If you are using a t-shirt first you need to WASH it....who knows where it's been or who's been doing jumping jacks in it. Yucky. Next you want to lay it flat and cut out the body of the shirt by cutting off the hem on the bottom as well as the top portion of the shirt by cutting right under the armpit.

Ok here we go! weeeee!

Cut 1/2 - 1 inch strips along the width of the fabric creating loops. I cut out the strips freehand...you do not need to be exact, but try to make sure that the strips are about the same size. If the edges are jagged it's ok...they will be rolled up anyways.

You will end up with something like this:

Once all the strips have been cut out, gently tug along the length of the strips to curl the edges under. Make sure to stretch each loop out evenly, otherwise you can end up with some longer than others.

If you used a t-shirt for this project, cut through one end of fabric so you have long strands of cotton instead of circular loops. Leave two or three strands aside, as you will be using it to secure the braid later on.

Next you need to divide your strands into groups of three to prepare for the braiding. Make sure to have both white-white-black and black-black-white to give your neckpiece more dimension.

You will need to find something to anchor one end of the fabric to keep the strands in place while you braid. The only thing I could think of using was one of the table legs from my coffee table! haha. It worked really well! Leave a small amount of fabric at the top to be unbraided as this will be used to tie the two ends of the braid together. I will now leave you to your search of something to anchor your scarf. Good Luck!

Now it's braiding time!!! Yahoo!! I believe that most of you know how to preform a simple braid, but just in case you don't....watch this video here. Braid down the length of the fabric again leaving some of fabric unbraided at the bottom. Make sure you braid a small section at a time as the strands below the braid get tangled fairly quickly. Brush through them every so often to prevent this from happening.

You'll end up with something like this: Here's what black-black-white and white-white-black looks like when braided, looking good eh?

Once the braid is complete, gently remove it from whatever you used to anchor it and tie the two ends of the braid together with a double knot.

One down!! Keep up the great work!!

Repeat the above steps for the remainder of the stands. NOTE: As seen in the final neckpiece the length of the braids are varied, some shorter than others. To achieve this, simply leave more of the fabric unbraided at the top and bottom. You'll have to eyeball the braids to make sure you have an even distribution of lengths.

1 braid, 2 braids, 3 braids.........about 12 braids later your neckpiece is finally started to take shape! Aw, hi friend, you're looking swell :)

Trim off the excess fabric around the knots so you're left with enough to make sure your knots don't come apart. This step could be optional if you like the look of some strands hanging loose.

Almost there! You can do it! Now gather all your braids together at the knots. Spread the knots out a bit so it won't be too thick to cover up. Using the strands you set aside in the beginning, wrap them around the all the braids near the knots once and secure with a double knot. With the remaining fabric, gently wrap it around the knots until they are completely covered up....again secure with a knot and tuck in the ends.

Yipee! You're finished! Enjoy your new homemade recycled t shirt braided neckpiece!

Aw, I like.

Comment below if you have any questions, thanks for reading :)

Double T Shirt Dress

What do you do with two old t shirts on their way to the donation center? Make a dress of course! From the creators over at takeoffyourclothes, this breezy dress is made from two t shirts sewn together at the neckline, the sleeves are turned in and sewn shut to make pockets! So c-c-c-lever!! The dress can be worn several different ways and the comfort level is a-ok. I bet this would make a fun DIY project...scour your dad's closet for some vintage tees and away you go! la la la. IMAGINE all the different color combinations you could come up with .... mint green + grey, sunny yellow + navy, any color + black ... wowee, just in time for spring!

I also love this little number I like to call: "I'm a t shirt....just kidding...I'm a dress!!" also by takeoffyourclothes. Like what you see? Visit their etsy shop for some of their other t shirt creations. Dum dee dum, have a lovely week.

Pssssssssssssst black and white braided scarf tutorial coming right up!

DIY Burberry Skirt: Part II

Oooh, so apparently this DIY Burberry Skirt has been around for a while and it's been blog-hoppin' ever since :) Check out these two versions of the drapey skirt made by Style Hurricane and Monaby. Aw, pretty. I love the softness of these fabrics and colors.

Update: I made one! click here to see.

DIY Burberry Skirt

Oh wow oh wow, I came across this through OutsaPop's blog and I just HAD to post it. You can find instructions on how to make it here. This is such an interesting looking skirt, you just KNOW people are going to ask you where you got it from...you reply: Oh this old thing? :) I want to try this but I'm lacking in the sewing machine department here in Macau but you should definitely give it a go! Happy sewing!

Update: I made one! click here to see.

Upcoming Tutorial

Hi Friend. As you know, last month I came across pixie market's black and white braided scarf and was immediately inspired to create my own DIY recycled t shirt version. After scouring the streets of Macau in search of a thrift store to purchase some old tees unsuccessfully, I sadly accepted the fact that my love affair with second hand shopping will have to be put on hold for the time being. Sigh. I reluctantly purchased some new shirts and began crafting away! I haven't completed the scarf yet but so far I looovvvee how it's turning out. Yahoo! I've been taking photos every step of the way to put together a tutorial for all you craft lovers out there...oooh how perfect for a lazy sunday afternoon and a delicious cup of tea. Here's a sneak peak of what I have completed so far, what do you think?? Check back soon for the finished product and instructions on how to make your very own. I hope you like it :)

Shredded Circle Scarf

Oh look what we have here. I've been seeing shredded items popping up everywhere and these circle scarves from urban revision's etsy store caught my eye...I love the soft colors and cozy potential of these friendly neck pieces. I tried to recreate the look using recycled t shirts and it only turned out medium nice. Hmmmmm the shredding process is a little tricky to master, you best be careful or you'll end up with huge holes....not so friendly. BUT check out this DIY tutorial I found on childhood flames' blog that teaches you how to shred a t shirt, video included....give it a go maybe you'll have better luck than meeeee! Weeeeeeee!

Recycled T Shirt Knotted Bracelet

Aw, these bracelets are so snuggly and soft you don't even know you're wearing it! What a great way to use up the scraps left over from whatever t shirt project your working on. This knot is just TOO lovely, I think I'm going to try this one next. hmmm looks tricky.

Update!! Video Tutorial HEERREEEE:

Recycled T Shirt Knotted Headband

Yahoo! I've been really loving all the knotted rope accessories that have been popping up all around and thought I could try recreating the look with t shirts! It took me forever to find a how-to on tying this knot...but here it is, in case you want to do some knotting of your own! I present to you the Josephine knot! haha. HI Josephine, you look nice today. Sorry the colors are kind of drab...I blame the drab weather we've been having. No sunshine and rainbows here. boooo. Lemme know what you think. Knotted bracelets still to come :)