Another T-shirt Scarf

I've been wanting to make this scarf forever. I have stash of t-shirts waiting to be cut up. Kel and I got together last week to work on some Christmas gifts. (If you get a gift from Kel this year it's going to be awesome. I know because I've seen it. :) ) Anyways, she had some shirts laying around too, so as we chatted I started cutting. Isnt' it cute? I think it might be may favorite so far.

I picked this shirt up at the store for $2. The larger the better, but I don't think it really matters.  Here's how it goes. 

Grab a large paper plate. You can leave the t-shirt as is and place the plate on the shirt. Trace as many circles as will fit on the shirt. 

Cut out the circles. With this shirt I ended up with three circles.

There was a total of six circles when you include the back as well.

Now start from the edge of the circle and cut out one big spiral.

After you cut the spiral stretch it out and the edges will begin to curl. Place all six pieces together and tie a knot in middle to keep the pieces all together.

Here's the finished scarf I wore to Ikea. Pretty cute, huh?

Projects

My dear friend, Lauren, lives in the middle of nowhere Illinois. When she pulled out her styrofoam friend I was a little worried. I am glad I arrived when I did, but it was almost too late.

Look! She made her friend a cute little scarf. Just kidding, Lauren! I love you! Isn't this scarf great? I didn't actually get a photo of Lauren wearing it though. We were too busy laughing and I forgot.

I also taught Lauren how to use a rolled hem foot. It is the best foot ever invented.

Okay, maybe we needed a little more practice. Actually, the other sides turned out beautifully. All is good!

I think I spent a day just cutting out fabric.

Any guesses on what I was making?

Ruffles

I made another scarf. I've been kind of obessesd with scarves lately. There are so many cute ones out there right now. I love all the frilly, ruffles, so I had to give this a try. I'm actually quite pleased by the way this one turned out.

First off measure and cut a piece of fabric 22" x 104". Some light weight material is best; a chiffon or something similar will work well. This will shrink up. I also have an obessesion with sewing machine feet. I love to use all the different feet that I have. This narrow hem foot is one of my favorites. There's no measuring and ironing involved when sewing the hem. Just stick this foot on and go!

See? A perfect hem every time. Hem all sides of your fabric.

Then you're going to mark lines on your fabric, so you know where to sew. I made three lines down the whole thing. I know the math doesn't work, but guess what? It doesn't have to be perfect. Who's going to notice? You'll be wearing the thing and it'll look great. So just eyeball it if you want. Really. It's okay. I do that a lot. ;)

Next, take your bobbin and elastic thread. Wrap your elastic thread around your bobbin, not too tight. A normal tension will do.

Then you're going to stick the bobbin back into your bobbin case. See the screws on the top? Loosen the big screw just a tad. A half a turn should do the trick. Then stick the bobbin case back into your machine.

Now you're ready to sew! Just sew straight down the lines that you drew. Adjust your stitch length to  be 4mm.

Your fabric will start to bunch together.

How cool is that? I wanted it to bunch up a bit more, so I actually did two rows down each line. The second row is right next to the first. When you're finished, fold the scarf in half, lenghtwise, right sides together, and sew straight down. Your scarf will be like a tube. It works great because then you won't see the sewing on the wrong side.

A fabric store was going out of business just shortly after we moved to Denver. Me? I can't resist a good sale, so I went a checked it out. They had rolls and rolls of all different types of fabric. It was crazy? Just days before closing they started selling the rolls for $2.50. They were good sized rolls too! The rolls carried more fabric on them, than what you would find at your local JoAnn's or Hancocks. I think it was some sort of fabric outlet store. I got a ton of fabric. Now I just need to use it up. This scarf ended up costing just pennies to make, since I have a quite a bit of elastic thread that I inherited. Who needs a craft envelope, right?

Old T-Shirts

Do you have any old t-shirts laying around? Look. I do. I think I've had these shirts since I was in college. I'm not sure why, but I just couldn't get rid of them. There is just something about t-shirts, I guess. I probably haven't even worn them since my college days, but I've carted them around every time we've moved, which happens to be a lot. I also love the color purple. It's my favorite color. What does one do with t-shirts they don't wear anymore, but can't get rid of? If you're me, you cut them up and make something. Here is my latest project.

Cut up those shirts into 4 inch squares. If you have a rotary cutter it will be fast, easy, and hopefully painless. :) I got 24 squares out of each size small t-shirt.

Now line your squares up on top of each other. Match up the ends. You can pin them, or not. I'm lazy and I can't stand pinning things, but I know I probably should.

Just start sewing down the middle. It doesn't have to be perfect. (And Lauren, if it's not straight, I won't make you pull out the sitches and redo it.) It will look just fine and nobody will see your uneven lines.

See? People will just tell you how cute your new scarf is. I sewed the two purples together. As it turns out I love how full it is. The scarf is incredibly long, but when you fold it in half and then put it on I think it's the perfect size.

I made the striped scarf with just 24 squares and it was a little on the thin side for me. I might play around with that one a little more. Give it a try. I'd love to see some scarf pictures! (Yes, I know I need to wash my mirrors. That smudge is driving me nuts too.)