Five Strand Braided Bracelet

Ashley over at Make it and Love it posted a five strand braided headband awhile back.  I love it!!  Simple, and quick, you can use these braids in a multitude of ways. 

flip-flops straps, braided collar, braided tank straps or even a belt

 I thought it'd be really cute as a bracelet, so I took an old mustard t-shirt, cut my strips and braided it up.

I pair mine with a matching infinity t-shirt scarf I made (I have about four of these bad boys in different colors.  They make this girl who is almost always in jeans and tees actually look kinda pulled together.)

And can I just say, that I'm loving this color! Makes me yearn for fall.  BIG TIME!!

Now Ashley hand-stitching to finish off, I totally went the lazy glue gun route.  I also didn't worry about folding under the edges of my cover band.  Raw edges all the way, and I think it looks fine.  

Brooke got a new headband made too. 

Next up, Delia's four strand braid for a bracelet, I'm gonna stack it with a five strand braided bracelet.  Maybe even make a standard three strand braid and put all three together for a chunky bracelet.  I also want to pick up some leather cording at Hobby and play around with that.

Possibilities are endless.

Have you made a five strand braided project yet?

Linking to:
Someday Crafts
Blue Cricket Designs
Somewhat Simple
Whipperberry
Tatertots and Jello

Big Boy Cap {tutorial}

Summer is (almost) here!!  So that means we'll be spending lots of time outside.  And you gotta protect that little sweet head from the sun, so caps are a MUST.
This cap started out as a babyish hand me down that was given to me.

The frog was begging to be covered up with something a little bit "cooler" for Mr. Lincoln.
Here's what I did

 1. Start by grabbing a cup to use as a template for your circle.  Make sure it is large enough to cover up the old design.
2. Trace and cut your circle out of knit (old t-shirt bound for Goodwill).
3. Check size, I decided this was a bit too large, so I trimmed it down a little.

4. With Double sided Steam-a-Seam draw your design on front side of the paper.  Remember if you are doing a letter to draw the mirror image. Peel off back side of paper and stick to knit.  Cut out.
5. Peel off paper backing, make sure you leave on the webbing.
6. Position on circle, iron in place.  You can either leave as is or do a decorative stitch around design.
(Need help w/ Steam-a-Seam let me know.  You could also use Heat n Bond for this step)

7. Place Steam-a-Seam on back side of circle, peel off paper backing leaving webbing. 

8. Position on cap, iron in place.  Again, you could leave it as is, or sew a decorative stitch around design.   I chose to do a zigzag. 

And DONE!!  Have the best baby ever model his new big boy cap.

LOOKIN' GOOD!!

You can't have him.....he's mine :)

Linking to:

TipJunkie

Get Your Craft On

Whatever Goes Wednesday

Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs

Yoga Pants to Knit Scarf-Refashion

What do you do with yoga pants you no longer wear?? Turn them into a scarf, of course. I got the cute idea here. But since it is 10 degrees here (wind chill -8), and Ben has the car, I couldn't really get out to go the fabric store. I also don't have the $$ to get 2+ yards of knit. But I did have a pair of old yoga pants that have just been sitting in my closet. Here's what I got after much cutting.


All I did was cut the legs up both the inner and outer seams, so I got four pieces of long knit. I then squared up the sides and cut them to about 6 inches wide. Sewed two pieces together to get one LONG piece (did this twice cause its double layer). Then worked on my details. I varied my strips, two are kinda gathered, the others just straight and they are all different widths. Once my details were on I pinned my long edges together and sewed up the sides. Since it's knit I left the edges raw cause they won't fray.

It's super soft knit, good thing cause I'll probably be wearing this all-day, everyday. Even in the house. Yeah the high tomorrow is 7. Now I've got a new cute scarf that cost me nothing to make. Those are the kind of projects I like. :)

Shirt to Toddler Ruffle Dress Tutorial

So I thought Little Miss needed something to wear for the big game this weekend. And by big game I mean Oklahoma State v. Georgia. (Go Pokes!) Or if you're not a big OSU fan, you could make a similar dress for Halloween. Little Miss will probably wear this all fall, just layered with a long sleeve tee.

I've loved Jessica's T-Shirt to Toddler Dress Refashion and so this is my version. Some notes, the ruffles on the neck and hem were pieced together. I used material from a repurposed shirt sleeve so they weren't quite the length I needed. Use what you've got. If you plan on using one long piece you'll need about double the length to get the correct ruffle length. Make sense?? So say my neck and shoulder measurement was about 20 inches, I would cut a strip of fabric about 40 inches to ruffle. And longer is always better cause you can just trim what you don't need.

**don't forget click pics to enlarge**

Make your ruffles. More info here. Just remember long stitch length, high tension and sew. Refer back to my original dress, the straps came out from the armholes, not straight up from the neck. So place your ruffles accordingly.



In my last ruffle refashion, I used sticky back tear away stabilizer to help my knit from stretching out while sewing. **TIP: I used tissue paper this time. It's way cheaper than tear away stabilizer, and I've always got loads of used tissue paper laying around from birthday presents. I've used tissue paper before when sewing satin, to help it from sliding so much. So thought I'd try it again. It worked great! Just cut strips about two inches wide and place under where you're sewing your ruffle in place.




Little Miss modeling her new ruffle dress. And her new bow I made :).

Happy Sewing!

Ruffle Tank Refashion

So I did it. I made a ruffled tank. And it was SUPER easy! Here's what I did.

Painstakingly took off all the sequins. Honestly this is what took the longest.

Make ruffles. I found a jersey knit top in my closet that I only wore around the house and cut away. I did 1.5 inch strips, just the length of the top. No real rhyme or reason to length, just went with it. I never would have thought ruffles would be "sew" ;) easy to do, but they were. Set machine to your longest thread length and highest tension setting. And sew, it's that easy. I was amazed! I know I'm easily excited. Pile of beautiful ruffles. I only used three for this project so I'll have figure out what to do with the extras.

Pin ruffles in place on shirt. I wanted kinda of a staggered look, which I'm going to have to fix because I didn't do it dramatic enough. The shorter two just look uneven, not the effect I was going for. **TIP: I put some sticky back, tearaway stabilizer on the back of the tank where I was sewing the ruffles. That way the shirt wasn't trying to stretch out on me as I sewed.

Take out pins and clip threads and you're done. Easy Peasy! Just in case you forgot, the before.

Another First :)

It's my first refashion. I very loosely based this refashion on this tutorial. Love the checks, wish I had a checks shirt to refashion. But since I was a virgin "refashioner" I started with this ho-hum gray top. I think it was given to me from a lady I used to work with. It's ok, just not anything fabulous. I thinks it better now and I'll at least wear it more. So here's the before. As always, click to enlarge.

I wish I would have got better pics on the arms. They were 3/4 length, with a wide cuff-almost 4 inches. I cut the arms and collar off, I just free-handed it.

I cut the cuffs off the sleeves and trimmed them to about 2.5 inches. Then I pleated them a little and made them into my new neckline. Finished off the back of the tank and armholes. BTW, before I did all this I took in the armholes a bit. They were a little gaping as a tank, so I just took in at the shoulder. And modeling ;) Sorry for the horrible blurry pic. Next time I wear it I'll try to get the Mr. to take a better pic.

What I'd do different?? Next time I think I'll start by finishing off the armholes and back neckline. But all-in-all I think it's pretty cute.