Refashioned T-Shirt Gauchos Tutorial

In Megan Nicolay’s newest book titled Generation T: Beyond Fashion: 120 New Ways to Transform a T-shirt she shows you how to make gauchos out of a tshirt on page 69. This is a photo tutorial to review this project. You can make these eco-friendly refashioned gauchos with just three t-shirts and a bit of your spare time. The length of time needed to complete these will be determined by your skill level and whether or not you choose to sew by hand or machine.

Here’s how DIY:

1. gather 3 tshirts (l or xl), chalk marker, ruler, scissors, pins, needle thread and Megan’s book.

2. Turn your shirts inside out and cut two of the shirts into 15″ wide rectangles that extend through the bottom seam.

3. lay all four pieces together and cut off the bottom seams.

4. separate into two pairs of rectangles and pin along one side of each to create the legs of the gauchos.

5. Lay the pinned legs together and draw a gentle arc on each side to form the crotch of the gauchos about a 1/4″ from the edge and extending about 2″ long. Cut along the chalk line to finish shaping legs.

6. Open the panels and place them design side together, matching the curved edges and lining up the seams. Pin and sew with at least a 1/4″ seam allowance.

7. Use the third shirt to cut 2″ wide tubes of fabric from the bottom, just above the seam to create the waistband ties.

8. pin to the tops of the pants with an even amount of fabric hanging off both sides of the pants and sew on.

9. Turn your pants inside right and rock out! To wear, start in the front or back and tie the first panel around your waist like an apron. Pull the other panel up and tie to overlap. Now go show everyone how awesome your new pants are.

If you don’t want to make these pants yourself, pick up a pair in my Etsy shop. If you don’t see the ones you want, just convo me with your measurements and color preferences I’ll make them to order.

I look like a doily (and I love it)!

As many of you who have read my previous articles no doubt know, I gave up purchasing new clothes and have committed to doing so for one year with my new friends at TGAAD. While I do still enjoy swapping clothes that no longer fit properly or are generally unflattering, I do try to hold on to my modest selection of clothes that I really love. This could be because they are extremely comfortable, make me look hot or have some sentimental value. I haven’t purchased any truly expensive clothes in years, so in the old days it is very likely that if I ruined a shirt with bleach or benzoyl peroxide (both of which happen with alarming regularity) I would have either relegated them to cleaning or workout clothes, donated them to Goodwill, or used them for trash. I certainly could refashion them into something else where the stains aren’t visible, but for this shirt, it was so comfortable, and the fit flattering, and worse… I had just bought it! In fact, it was one of my very last purchases of new clothes before I started TGAAD, so I was determined to keep it as is. I began thinking of ways to cover the stains that appeared on the neckline and on the front of my shirt. Apparently I was washing my face with my benzoyl peroxide cleaner again, even though I know I am not supposed to, and dripped some down the front of my shirt. grumble. I was not giving this shirt up to cleaning or working out, how could I fix it? I could make a patch, but it’s so light weight that it would likely ruin the drape. I could do applique, but the stain was in some pretty strange spots for attaching individual designs. Then, I go the idea… what if I just bleach it some more so that it looks like I totally did it on purpose?  Eureka! So, I looked up online how to do this, and then after reading a few other blogs cobbled together a few ideas and came up with the shirt you see above. I found a cool doily that my mom had just given me (well, I rummaged from her pile of donations destined for the Salvation Army actually) and I cut out some cardboard heart shapes to cover the stain on the neckline to match the doily. I then mixed a 50/50 solution of bleach and water, put it in an old spray bottle, and went to town. I think it turned out really cool, and you can really see the detail of the lace. It looks a little hippie and a little handmade, but you know what; I love it! So file this in your bag of tricks for the next time you accidentally destroy a perfectly good garment and lace it up!

DIY Sweater Boots Instructable

I adore this instructable so I had to post it. Grab yourself an old sweater and a pair of flats from the thrift store or a clothing swap and make some fashionable sweater boots.

Upcycled Sweater Boots – More DIY How To Projects

Rethinking the Cotton Round

Photo: Sproutzstore.blogspot.com

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the production of cotton uses a lot of water which is a valuable and dwindling resource. Shortages of fresh water worldwide lead to famine and starvation, war and terrorism, poverty and disease. In thinking about how I can do my part to help eliminate the unnecessary use of this precious resource globally I have been looking to reduce consumption of disposable products that I can replace with reuseable options. The first and easist switch for me was to stop purchasing new clothes and reuse fabric that I have available locally. Next, I began to investigate other household items that I could replace and while I was washing my face last night it dawned on me; cotton facial rounds! These little cotton pads are great for removing eye make-up and cleansing, but I use several of them each and every day. I thought,”surely, there must be some way to buy or make my own reuseable pads”. This morning I began to look for alternatives and was pleased to find that I can both buy and make my own easily and inexpensively. There are packs of Organic Reusable Cotton Face Rounds on Amazon and variety of homemade versions on Etsy like these cotton buds or facial scrubbies. There are literally hundreds in a variety of colors, textures and materials on etsy just type “facial cotton” into the search box and go. If you are of the DIY persuasion there are even patterns so that you can crochet your own and tutorials to tech you to reuse fabric you already have to sew a few. My takeaway from this is that I can keep pushing myself to reduce my consumption in ways that help my family and the world, with little inconvenience to our way of life. Each little change that I make helps and if we can each change a habit or two, perhaps we can begin to make some real change. So keep pushing new ideas and sharing them with everyone so that we can all walk the long road to reducing our impact and improving our way of life for everyone together.

Blown MTB Tube = New Wallet

bike innertube wallet – More DIY How To Projects

Love Your Swiffer Mop but Hate the Waste?

Ah, the new year. I enjoyed celebrating the coming of 2010 with friends and family in my home with lots of snacks and libations. Unfortunately I now have to begin the dreaded clean-up. Fortunately, I purchased my Swiffer Wet Jet many moons ago and use it weekly. I love my Swiffer because it is easy to use and I don’t have to fill or empty buckets of water and cleaning solution to use it for spills, etc. For a really thorough cleaning I still go with the old school brush and bucket method, but for a quick kitchen clean-up and those high traffic areas of wood floor in my home you can’t beat it. However, the refills are both expensive and wasteful. They don’t make compostable Wet Jet pads and they are made mostly of plastic, which means that they will be sitting in a landfill sometime for just about ever. On Instructables they have great tutorials on how to remove that pesky cap on top of the solution bottle so that you can refill it with your own inexpensive and environmentally-friendly cleaning solution like this one:

Lemony Eco-Friendly Floor Cleaner Recipe
1 gallon water
3/4 cups olive oil
1/2 cup rubbing alcohol
1/2 cup lemon juice

or if you would still prefer to pay more to purchase floor cleaner, but choose one that is environmentally-friendly you can go with any of the products listed at the end. The second tutorial from Instructables shows you how to make your own Wet Jet replacement pads from recycled tshirts.  Finally, at the end there are links to the Wet Jet starter kit, if you haven’t yet purchased one, as well as links to green cleaning products that you can buy to refill the solution bottle.  Happy Cleaning!

How to remove the cap on a Swiffer Wet-Jet cleaner bottle. – More DIY How To Projects

Swiffer Mop Pad (a reusable one!) – More DIY How To Projects

Products to Buy:

Recycled Tshirt Bracelet from Instructables

Recycled T-shirt Bracelet – More DIY How To Projects

DIY Christmas Card Recycling

Every year I get and save my Christmas cards so that i can reuse them for packaging and tagging gifts. This year I found a handy gadget for quickly making tag-shaped tags here Uchida LV-SJCP74 Clever Lever Super Jumbo Craft Punch, Merchandise Tag and it’s arleady on it’s way to my home now. You can always do it the old-fashioned way (as I have for many years), but what can I say; I’m a sucker for gadgets that make my recycling easier. While I was surfing around looking for new and creative ways to recycle my old greeting cards I found this awesome tutorial for creating gift boxes out of old cards. This is perfect for gifting jewelry and other small items; I am sew doing these tongiht!

How to Make a Gift Box out of a Greeting Card

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

This is a great way to recycle old greeting cards and make little boxes for small gifts (or for storing small objects). This box is different from an origami box because it includes a top and a bottom. It requires only a few simple tools and supplies, and the result is charming and eco-friendly. Click any image to enlarge it.

Steps

1. Gather your supplies and tools, listed below.
2. Cut the card in half along the fold. The easiest way to make the top fit over the bottom is to make sure both halves of the card are the same size, so you may have to trim a little. You will use the colorful front of the card as the box lid.
3. Decide how tall you want your box to be. This may depend on the design on the front of the card, or on how big the item is that you want to enclose. This demonstration uses 1 inch (25mm) for the top, and 1 and 1/16 (27mm) for the bottom. Add a little to the measurement for the bottom, so the top will fit over it.
4. Draw a square in each corner of the top and bottom of the card, the size of your measurements. You can mark just the corners, making a square so you can see where to cut.
5. Score the card all the way along all four sides, using the squares to give you the distance from the edge.
6. Cut along the score line from the edge to the next, perpendicular score line in each corner, but do so for only one side of the square you drew. Leave one side of the box uncut to make a tab. Do this for all four corners of the card.
7. Fold the sides up, and fold the tabs in.
8. Glue each tab and paper clip it into place until it dries.
9. Repeat the marking and scoring for the other half of the box.
10. When your box is dry, place your gift or other small objects inside.

Tips

• It is important to add a little to the measurement for the bottom, so the top will fit over it.
• To score the card, take your dead pen or other instrument and draw along the ruler from edge to edge on the paper, pressing down hard enough to mark the paper but not hard enough to cut through.
• Alternate the way the tabs fold on the top and bottom, so they fit together a little better.
• If you have trouble getting glue to stick to the glossy surface of a greeting card, help it out with a little tape on the inside. Or use an emery board or small piece of fine sanding paper to very lightly rough up the paper to take the glue better.
• Greeting cards are available for all sorts of occasions. Use a greeting card that suits your occasion.
• Reuse is a great way to recycle.

Warnings

• Be careful with the compass, if you’re using an old metal version with a sharp point.
• Use scissors and other cutters with care.

Things You’ll Need

• a greeting card
• a ruler
• a pencil
• a pair of scissors
• something to “score” the card stock (the point of a compass, an old ballpoint pen that is out of ink works perfectly, as does the tine of a fork, a butter knife, or a small-gauge knitting needle)
• glue
• paper clips

Related wikiHows

• How to Make Placemats from Greeting Cards
• How to Fold a Paper Box
• How to Make a Greeting Card Envelope
• How to Make a Word Search Greeting Card

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Make a Gift Box out of a Greeting Card. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

T-shirt Refashion: The Wrap Skirt

The Wrap Skirt

So, you may have noticed that I have a slight obsession with refashioning t-shirts. This is both a product of my love for wearing light weight cotton and the large number of t-shirts that one can acquire that are either hideous or don’t fit quite right. Luckily for me my husband has dabbled in screen printing and has a large number of cast of black t-shirts which are screaming to be used for something new. I also have noticed that there are always plenty of t-shirts to be gotten free at clothing swaps or cheaply on ebay (hello $.99 and free shipping!). I only regret that I didn’t grab every single t-shirt I saw at past clothing swaps, but I already have several bins of clothing projects and I am really trying to preserve my husband’s sanity by not hoarding too many at one time. Megan Nicolay’s book Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt has been my bible and taught me how to sew, refashion and make just about anything out of an old t-shirt. This wrap skirt can be found on page 173 titled “Wrapper Keeper”.

Now go DIY!

You’ll need 3 XL t-shirts (I could have really used 2, but I like the color scheme with 3)

measuring tape

chalk

scissors

pins

needle

thread

1. Measure your waist then add 15, now divide by 3. On two shirts make a rectangle that is your measurement by 16″. Cut through both t-shirt layers and you will have 4 pieces of fabric to work with.

2. Plan out where you want your image to show. The inside panels will be covered, so sew on your favorite square last. Place two pieces of the cut out fabric together, pretty sides facing each other, and pin along the right side. Sew along one edge and remove the pins.

3. Lay the third and final panel onto one of the squares and again, pin on the right and sew.

4. Grab your third shirt and measure a piece of fabric that you will use to make your belt/ties. The length will be the entire width of the shirt and the width is 8″. Cut through both layers of the shirt. Then snip through the side seams to create two equal size pieces of fabric from which to make your belt/ties. Fold the strips in half lengthwise, pin the open edge, and sew.

5. Turn the strips inside out. I have a fabric turner that I purchased from the store which makes this task much easier. If you don’t have one or an elastic bodkin, use a safety pin. Attach the safety pin to one end of the fabric and pull it inside of the tube and through to the other end to flip the tube inside out so that the stitches are inside. If you like the rough edge, hand-made look don’t bother with this step.

6. Pin your belt/ties, one to the first square, one to the third (the outer pieces of the skirt). Do this about 1″ down from the top and 1″ in from the side. Sew the strips on securely to the skirt.

7. 1/3 of the way around the top of the skirt, snip a slit with your scissors to pull one of the belt/ties through to secure the skirt to your waist. Put your skirt on, wrap one tie around the front, pull one through the hole and around the back. Tie a knot and rock your awesome new skirt.

T-shirt Refashion: The Happy Hat

The Happy Hat

I am currently working on refashioning a cardigan out of a long-sleeve t-shirt. I determined that I would like that cardigan to have a hood and in the process made a hood that was far too small to attach to my cardigan. Occupational hazard with teaching yourself to make your own clothes I guess. So, not wanting to waste what I thought was the cutest little hood ever I took my daughter’s advice and added some little braids to dangle from the front and voila! a hat! I don’t have very many hats because I’m allergic to wool and I’m not crazy about fleece, so I’m sure this little number will get some use keeping those chilly breezes out of my ears and off my head. I describe the hat as whimsical, my husband says its goofy. Either way it makes everyone who sees me rocking this hat smile (including myself), so I dub thee “The Happy Hat”.

If you’d like to make one for yourself, it’s very quick, uses very little fabric and I can’t even imagine how adorable it would be on wee lass or laddie.

How to refashion a t-shirt and some scraps into the cutest hat ever:

1. Grab a hoodie that you love to use as a template and an a t-shirt that is ready to be refashioned. Fold the hood in half and chalk an outline of it onto your t-shirt.

2. Next, cut out the hood and mark the top of the hood where your face sticks out and mark it with a pin. Pin along the top and back edge and sew.

3. Find some t-shirt scraps that you like and cut 6 lengths about an 1″ wide x 10″ long. I chose pink, blue, and yellow to go with my green hat. You can use all one color, or experiment with ribbon, shoe laces, leather strips, whatever you’ve got laying around that you think is awesome.

4. Put a pin through all three strips to secure and then braid. Tie into a knot at the end and then trim the leftover pieces to the same length.

5. Finally, turn the hood/hat inside out so that the stitches are hidden inside, pin your braid to the front corner and stitch in place. Pin on your second braid onto the other front corner and repeat. Once completed, put your hat on and feel the happy.