T-shirt Scarf



This is a project that I continued from the t-shirt dress.  I saw all the cute DIY t-shirt scarf on pinterest, and they looked so easy!!  This project took no time and was a breeze.  I used the remnant of the shirt that I used for the t-shirt dress for my daughter, so that was nice to be able to use the entire shirt instead of throwing it away.  I took the bottom half and cut straight across to make small circular strips of fabric.  I then pulled the strips gently to make them curl in at the edges almostlooking like little tubes of fabric.  One word of warning, don't pull too hard or you can pull apart one of the seams.  I did this on one of the strips, but it was ok b/c I was able to use that for the last part of the project. :)

Group all the strips, except one, together to make the scarf.  I tried to line up the seams so that one group of them could be covered by the tie.  Take the left over strip and cut the seam to make one long strip (or in my case, just use the one that ripped earlier).  Take one end of the strip and tie a knot around the group of strips then wrap it around over and over until you get to the end of the strip.  At the end I just wove it through the wrapping a couple times to secure it.  And that's it!!  So easy!

I can't wait to try this with one of my shirts, so I can have one too!  On pinterest it said that this is the perfect option for good tees that have a small stain or just don't fit anymore.  I think I may have to make one from an old Baylor shirt. :)

T-shirt Ruffle Dress

Ok, so I was a little more ambitious this week on my project.  I saw this on pinterest and repinned it for later, only to realize that when I went back for the instructions, it was just a link to a dress to buy.  Upon finding this out, I was a little discouraged, but still determined to make something similar.  I used the directions from another style of t-shirt dress then just made the rest up myself!

I started off with this picture from pinterest as the original inspiration:

I then took my daughter to our local Hobby Lobby to pick out her choice color of ruffled fabric.  She picked out a bright pink (shocking, I know), and we went in search of a black t-shirt to put with it. I bought about 19 inches of fabric, but I could have about about 12-15 after I ended up chopping some off the length later.   I already knew that I had a black and white patterned ribbon to go with it at home.  After looking at a couple stores, I finally found a black short sleeved shirt at Walmart for $3.88.

When I got started I laid out the t-shirt on the table and measured three times the t-shirt width for the fabric width.  I figured this would give me a little room to pleat the skirt a little to give it more volume (my daughter has to have dresses that spin or it's just unacceptable by her standards).  then folded and pinned the fabric in half to ruffles out to make the first stitch of the seam.  One word of warning, make sure that the ruffles are laying the correct way before stitching, or you will sew them to lay in correctly.  I just ran the seam through my sewing machine using a straight stitch.

For some reason, my pictures are not showing up as the edited versions that I have saved to my computer.  Sorry for having to crane your neck from side to side to look at the pics!  Back to the dress...

Then I flipped the skirt inside out to make an  inside seam to make the seam more sturdy, as well as, cover up the excess from the first seam.  I think this is called a french seam, but I am now sure.  For those who know, feel free to call me out! ;)  I made another straight stitched about 1/2 to 3/4 inch in to be sure that I covered up all the extra.  Once finished, I flipped it right side out again to reveal a nice little seam! :)

I then cut off the bottom of the shirt leaving about 3-4 inches below the sleeves (Save what you cut off for project I will do later this month!).  This will get rid of excess fabric from shirt to make the sewing much easier.  I then lined up the seam of the skirt with the seam on the side of the shirt and pinned it.  I pulled the fabric out so it laid it half and took the end and pinned it to the other side seam of the shirt.  After this, I pulled the fabric up to find the middle of the fabric between to two sides of shirt and pinned it to the middle of the shirt.  I figured this was the easiest way to make sure the skirt fabric was evenly distributed around the shirt.  After those three pins, I made two pleats per side and pinned them.  I did the same to the back of the shirt, then sewed a straight stitch to secure the fabric. 

 

I added the ribbon to the shirt just sewing over the front half leaving the back half open to tie to the size needed for my daughter.  I learned the hard way from a past project to not sew a ribbon all the way around a shirt, if you want your child to be able to squeeze into the shirt.  T-shirts are made to stretch for a reason!

The finished project, while it doesn't quite look like the original, turned out pretty cute!!  My husband was surprised and impressed that I made it!  I can't wait to pair it with a cute pair of black leggings (the ruffled fabric is a little sheer) and see it on my daughter.  Unfortunately, she wasn't feeling too well and wasn't up for a photo shoot. :(

Overall, this ended up being way easier than I thought and took under from start to finish.  Much cheaper than buying one from the website!  One recommendation I would make is buy two sided ribbon.  My ribbon is one sided, so when I tie the bow, it doesn't show the decoration on one side.  Not horrible, but definitely a note for next time.  I am also thinking to cut the fabric shorter and make some ruffle shirts for summer. :)