Monday, August 27, 2012

A Crafty Little T

I cannot believe that I didn't get the pictures from my craft party on the blog!!!  This is what we were doing while Scott was interviewing in Sioux Falls :0}  Way more fun on our side I think.  
I invited some of my crafter friends to come over for a finish project night.  There were swing machines whirring all over the place!  Forgive me friends if I can't remember exactly what you were working on.  I forget Ashley's first project, but I do remember the cuddly dolly she made for Morgan.  Stacie...I am thinking Stacie got more gabbing done than sewing, but knowing her she was working on a baby wrap or burp cloths :0)  Jamie was over there sewing away...was it headbands???  I have a terrible memory.  I can tell you what I did.  This was my first project:
I was a few days late with this set of quilt squares for our mail-order-quilting bee my cousin started.  After that I worked on a chevron quilt and then my own cousin quilting bee topper.  I will get pictures of those when I go back home this weekend.

Season, you had to know I would put your adorable picture on the blog!  Season was working on an I-Spy quilt for her handsome boy Brecken.   

Ivy was being very artistic over there with her art set, while Madison worked on a special playset for her babysitting box.

Um, not everyone was there to craft, some {Amber and Sara} chose more embarrassing activities, like challenging my 11yr old to a Just Dance competition.  Yes Amber, we are all very proud of you pounding an 11 yr old into the ground with your BOSS dancing skills ;0)

My real purpose in posting this party is to show you the fabulous crafty T re-fashion that Mary came up with. She made this yellow shirt earlier in the week and wanted to make a few modifications to her previous method.  Here is the jist: 
Start with a standard, non-flattering T-shirt.  You want one that is a size or two too big.

First, cut the sleeves.  Mary started about 1 inch out from the sleeve seam.  

She cut in a straight line, stopping just about one inch from the end of the sleeve.

Fold the cut side of the shirt over on top of the other side, then cut the other sleeve using the first as a pattern.  Not said very well, is it {tee-hee}

The piece cut off looks something like this.

Next, cut the neckline.  Mary started cutting about one inch into the sleeve top, then cut in a bit of an arch into the t-shirt ending about 2 inches below the original neck line.  When you are done, you should have pieces something like this.  

Finally, cut the bottom off.  This part will depend on how long you like your shirts and how long your body is.  Feel free to hold the shirt up to your body and double check your guess before you cut.  Mary curved the bottom of the shirt up on the sides.

When you are done cutting, it is time to sew! 
My friends LOvE to find their pictures on my blog!

Mary started out by sewing over all of the edges of the knit {where the cuts were made} with a small zig-zag stitch while gently pulling the fabric.  It is called a lettuce edge. 
You can check out a tutorial here for more information on that.  If you stretch the fabric while you sew you will get a cute ruffly edge, kinda like a lettuce leaf...thus, lettuce edge.

 Once all of the edges were done with the lettuce edge, shir the neckline with two rows of elastic thread.  What!?!  You have never shirred before?!?  No problem.  You can check out detailed instructions HERE, but long story short, wrap elastic thread around an empty bobbin, put the bobbin in the machine just like it were full of regular thread, thread your top thread, set your stitch length to the longest stitch you have, and sew in a straight line.  I guess you don't have to sew in a straight line, but for this shirt you might want to ;0) 

So, there you have a completed shirt...pretty much.  Mary added some ties and a belt too.  Here is how she did that.

Take the left-over bottom chunk, cut it into three 1" strips.  

From the sleeve extras, cut the very end off, just before the hem line.  That should give you a strip that is about 1/2" wide for each sleeve.

Take your sleeve strips first.  Grab them by the ends and pull just a little.  That will make the edges curl inside and you won't have to sew it into a tube.  

Tie a knot in the end. 

Grab your shirt and cut a small slit in the neck line centered in the front.  Be sure to stitch over the elastic thread where you cut into it so that it will stay in place.  Now you can sew the ties to the flaps in the neckline.   

Hold on a second.  I have to stop and look at this adorable sleeping baby!
Awwwwweee!  I love looking at babies...that are not mine.  He can stay as long as he wants to sleep here.  Feel free to take him home when he gets fussy ;0}

Now, take those three strips cut from the bottom piece of the shirt.  Cut them once so that you have long strands instead of loops. 

Run the three strands through the sewing machine so that they are sewn together.  I would recommend placing the strands on a piece of regular weight computer paper and then sewing them.  The paper helps to stabilize the loose strands and it just tears away when you are done.

Braid the strands together, then sew the loose ends together on the other end.

Mary made some little belt loops to hold her fancy braided belt out of some scraps of knit.

There you have it!  One fabulous shirt.  Did I mention that Mary bought this shirt from Micheals for $2!!!  It looks WAY too good to be a $2 shirt, don't you think?  Mary, have I told you lately that I LOVE YOUR HAIR!  

Here is a back view.   I can't wait to try this myself!  She made it look so easy :0)

Whew!  What a party!!!  We finished up somewhere around 6am.  Talk about fun!  I wanna do it again.  I miss my friends.  I was hoping for one more craft party before we moved.  We are headed back to pack things up this weekend.  If I have my way, I might just be able to squeeze one more crafting party in before we pull out of the driveway ;0)


2 comments:

  1. It was so much fun! And I did talk a lot because sewing is a little hard when you are nursing a baby :-)
    Crafty party at my house while you are in town???! Would that be easier on you?

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is really cute cant wait to try.

    ReplyDelete

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