T-shirt Tote: a How-to

Someone on swapbot sent me a reusable bag made out of a tshirt. At first I thought, "this isn't going to hold my stuff." but then I tried it and I was wrong.

So then I thought about making these for a fundraiser for Avery. I had already said I would make some reusable bags for the fundraiser, but I wasn't really looking forward to all the cutting and sewing. So I took a look at these bags and figured it looked easy enough so I gave it a shot.

Wow! It was pretty easy and quick too. My kind of project.

So over the weekend I scoured the a few thrift stores for some marked-down t-shirts. I think I ended up buying around 30. They ranged in price from 30¢ to 99¢. I'm cheap. That's the most I'll pay for a thrift store t-shirt. I even used the original bag to carry some of the loot home with me. so, yeah, these things do work.

I am actually considering taking a few to work and leaving them in the break room for earth day. Hoping to raise awareness about reusable goods to the folks that I work with. We'll see how that goes.






So, here's a quick run-down on how I am making them.

First, I think you should get tees that have funny imprints on them. I found one that says "Are you into foursomes?" with lady golfers. I thought it was funny. Anyway, when looking for tees, make sure that there are no holes and that the fabric is 100% cotton... or a blend is ok. but I wouldn't recommend any of those sheer tees. they may work, but I wouldn't want to try them.

Now that you have your tee...

I've been ironing my tees because I like a smooth fabric to work with. Its totally up to you how you do it.



Smooth out your tee then fold lengthwise and cut the neck and sleeves off.

I try to keep as much of the image on the shirt as I possibly can. But you need to keep in mind that you'll need a wide enough opening to put stuff into it.

After cutting you'll have what looks like a tank top.




Gather the bottom sides and fold inward about two inches and pin together. This should make a gusset or whatever its called. (I don't know any other way to describe it. maybe the picture will be better help?)

Time to sew.
Sew about three or four stitches along the bottom hem. I use the smallest stitch settings on my machine to do this.



Once you've got your bottom all stitched up take care of the straps(handles).
What I did was fold over each strap and sew the layers together to hopefully make it more durable. I used a zigzag stitch.





















Voila! Now you have a reusable shopping bag!




























Now go shopping!

I saw, I conquered. Its a hat.

Sometimes I look at an item and think, "pshaw, anyone can do that" but other times I just look away as if I have no interest. the majority of those times, I secretly wish I could make that whatever it is. I've always wanted to try making a hat, but for some strange reason I thought they looked too complicated. So I just accepted that I would never make a hat... besides my head is too huge to put one on it.

So anyway, I came across an upcycling tutorial that uses an old sweater to make two winter hats. I looked at it and thought it looked easy enough. I could get a knitted hat without actually having to know how to knit. sweet.

So, being that I live in Houston where it hardly ever gets colder than the 50s, I don't own too many sweaters. I learned of this tutorial on Tuesday. Its been cold here this week... like in the freezing temps cold. so that means I'm wearing all the sweaters I own, this week. So I really couldn't cut into one of my existing sweaters - no matter how ugly and worn they may be.

I ended up taking a trip to one of the many thrift stores in my neighborhood. Luckily for me on the day that I went, they had a half off sale on pink tagged items. I found a decent but really ugly sweater marked at $2.30. I hate that I didn't take a pic of the sweater in all its ugliness. It was the type that had knitted flowers on top of appliqued leaves with a cow like pattern on the front. One sleeve was black and one was white. The back of the sweater was plain white. I used that for my hat. oh, heehee the sweater even had :gasp: shoulder pads!!!! WTF?! hahaha


I wasn't able to follow the tutorial to the letter. I was lazy. I'm always lazy.
I tried to access the tutorial via my cell phone. I can get to the link, but the pictures don't come up. So I had a stab at it by trying to remember what I saw earlier in the day. (no, I don't read patterns. I too lazy to follow directions and I have this thing about breaking rules. :) )

I'm not much of a perfect circle cutter type of person. After I sliced off the sleeves and the collar and band, I folded the back fabric and cut what I thought was a good enough circle (it looked more like a rounded square). Then I went a sewing away. I ended up with an *ok* funky but not cute hat. I wore it.



I conquered the hat and wanted to do something else with the left over fabric. So I made a doggie sweater for our sweet little rat terrier we call, Girl. I used the sleeves of the sweater for this idea. Luckily, Girl is teeny-tiny and fit the sleeve perfectly. The black one is kinda sorta a camouflage sweater. Other than the red strip of fleece at the bottom, it blends well with the color of her fur.

Yes, she’s not happy wearing it, but it DOES keep her warm so she’s dealing.
And no I’m not taking orders… :P

Let's Say Thanks

http://www.letssaythanks.com

Its been a while...

A very long while.

I'm going to blame it on Ike. yeah. Ike. Its all his fault.

anyway, I've been a sewing fool lately. woowoo.
I even had a hand in influencing two others to start sewing also. A nine year old and an older old. and that makes me happy.

I got really into making tea wallets.
Tea Wallets? wha??
Yeah, thats what I said.

Well, what happened was...
Ya know? Sometimes I get really bored (zero motivation, zero inspiration, whatever) and I read forum threads that I normally wouldn't read when I actually want to read a forum. So, yeah. I was very unmotivated one day... scanning the threads on Swap-bot, I come across someone wanting a tea wallet... hmmm... tea wallet... interesting... I read the thread. Saw some photos and thought to myself... hey, that looks easy enough... I think I'll try it. So I did.

I used my coworker, Angela as my guinea pig (she's always saying she likes my stuff, so hah! she's stuck with it!). Anyway, I used this really adorable fabric that I got a Joann's. I had been eyeing it for a while, but I didn't want to pay full price. Then one day, like magic, it was HALF price! heaven.





And some others





Cute, huh?
well I think so. that's all that really matters. :P

So since I am all excited about these quick and easy wallets, I went ahead and tried my hand at creating a tutorial. I even busted out my illustrator skillz. check it.


Tea Wallet A quick and simple gift.

When reading this *tutorial* please keep in mind that I have had no formal sewing lessons nor do I know what all the terms are called. I just got a wild hair one day in the Fall of 2007 and bought a sewing machine. I’ve been having fun since. All I want to do is sew and craft. So with that, let’s make a tea wallet!

Look through your fabric stash (who doesn’t have one?) and pull out some cute fabric. I like cute, but you can use whatever you want.

Iron it to make it smooth... oh so smooth. Then, cut out two rectangles about 10" x 4" and one at about 2 1/2" X 10".

On the smaller piece, fold over 1/4" at the top and press to make a nice fold. (see, term… I have no idea) Stitch across the length of the piece over the fold. This will be your pocket panel.

Now get what will be your inside panel and pin the pocket panel to it. Grab the outside panel and face both panels to each other. Pin.

Now stitch a quarter-inch seam around three sides, leaving one short side open.
OK, now turn it inside out. Press it with the iron to make it look all smooth and pretty.

On the open side, fold in so you get two nice edges. Now press it so that its all smooth and stuff. Don‘t stitch it just yet. Whew!

Measure what would be a third of the wallet then stitch.. two stitches and you‘ll have three pockets. now that you have your nice and pretty pockets. Now let‘s decide on how you want to secure the wallet…

• you can sew, glue, fuse a ribbon on the outside of the middle pocket. then tie a cute bow
• you can sew in some Velcro.
• add a fabric loop thing and sew on a button
• use a snap button

You can pretty much do whatever you want. Just keep in mind that it is easier to pack the wallet if it is secure somehow.

Now once you‘ve decided how you‘re going to secure it (or not) you can stitch the open side (add your loop at this point if you’re going to do that).

Voila! Now you have a tea wallet.





once I figure out how to add the pdf, I'll include that as well. (yeah, i have a pdf. woowoo. I'm a bigshot wannabe)

Burning the Midnight Oil?

I should re-name this blog something like Midnight Craft Fool or something. Its like I don't get started with my crafting until dinner is made, dishes are washed, kitchen is cleaned, emails are read, kid is asleep... it is usually after 10 before I can get some me time to craft. I do it for a few hours and get in bed between 1 and 2AM.

I like to watch the local Fox station when I'm crafting. Here's the line-up:

10:00 PM TMZ - not really into celebrity stalking, but it could be funny at times. I think that blond dude is, well, he's just different.

10:30 PM King of the Hill - I wanna marry Hank Hill. Peggy is one lucky woman. :P

11:00 PM - Midnight Two episodes of That 70's Show - I don't know what it is, but I can watch that over and over. My only wish is that they would show the episodes in order. In the first one last night, Kelso and Donna ran away to California. Donna needed to get away after being left at the alter by Eric and Jackie minced Kelso's words and agreed to marry him.
Then the second episode, Donna is back with blonde hair and dating Kelso's brother, Casey and Jackie and Hyde are a couple.

Midnight - 1:00 AM 2 episodes of Scrubs - I had never watched this show until it started airing on Fox in syndication. I can't believe I never watched it.

So that's what keeps me company while I'm burning the midnight oil with my crafts.

Here are some of my latest projects:



It is a Breast Cancer Awareness Dotee. I made this for a swapper who was flaked on. I hope she likes it. I really think she's cute.



This one is for a Winner Take All Dotee Game. Its part of a group that I am in on Swapbot. (I think she's cute too)



I have been so into making zipper pouches. This one started out pretty big. I messed it up so I tore it apart, cut out the mess up parts and started over. Its about 2" x 2.5" and yes, I think its cute. I sent this to someone who says she likes pink. I really hope she does.


For a digital art post card swap I did this:



I had to include my name on the card. So since I'm in love with @gnomad I added him to my card. But if you look at his eyes, you'll notice they are not his. :) They are mine. Its a lot freaky looking but I think its cool.

I know, I know...

I know y’all have been wondering what I’ve been up to…
So here ya go…

I don’t have photos of them all, but I finally finished all of the summer dresses I was making for the little girls, my sis and gran. Woooo… I made eleven dresses total and one blouse using the mock smock material stuff.
Here's one of the first ones. Since I've learned to make straps.




I finally figured out how to make a zipper pouch. This was one of the hardest things to do.
They even zip and don’t catch! These are my 5th and 6th try.
Be proud of me. I am. :p




I was having an anxiety attack because I hadn’t made anything in a couple of days. So, I made this. I sent it to a friend’s daughter.



This is what made me push myself to get that darn zipper right.



I don’t know if I shared this with y’all yet… Out of PolymerClay, I made this little guy. It was for the adopt a critter swap. His name is Felix Eisenhauer P.
He traveled to his new home in a matchbox and took with him breakfast, lunch, an energy drink and a snack in case he got hungry.



Some other Polymer Clay critters made by me and my son.






So there you have it. Some of my latest crafts.

I'm such a loser

I am going to update this soon.

I've been doing a lot of crafting and want to show it off. so check for that soon.

Regarding Gnomad?

I have no idea where he is or where he will be next. He's been corrupted with everyone wanting to show him a good time at the bars and stuff and now he thinks he doesn't have to listen to me. i tell him to go to one place but he ends up somewhere else. I give up. look for him on twitter. www.twitter.com/gnomad