t-shirt quilt

All of my upcycling projects culminated in this pièce de résistance...the t-shirt quilt.  It took me months to make, mainly because I had no clue what I was doing, but I'm quite proud of the finished product.

When I say I didn't know what I was doing, I mean I had never quilted before or even really watched anyone make a quilt.  I kept thinking that at some point my inexperience would cause me to make a fatal error, but surprisingly everything worked out well.  The main flaws that exist are due to the fact that I was working with jersey which can be a bit annoying.  ecokaren blogged about her t-shirt quilt, and her tip to apply interfacing to the t-shirt material was a lifesaver.  Besides that I learned the quilting basics from a library book, and used pretty prudent's quilt binding cheat to finish the edges.

Binding cheat = fold over the backing

In summary, I would encourage anyone to try this project.  It's a great way to keep your special t-shirts! I was able to do all this with my sewing machine without purchasing a quilting foot.  The interfacing made all the difference in the world, and having a bit of experience with sending jersey through the sewing machine before did help--it's good to understand your fabric.

pochette from a shirt

So this quick project was another pinterest find, linking to a youtube tutorial on how to make a t-shirt pochette (not an envelope-style purse, but a "little pocket").  My advice is to watch the video on mute...the music isn't too great.  While this bag is simple enough that a few pictures could have relayed the instructions, it's sometimes nice just to watch someone crafting on youtube.  

Simple flowers for embellishment

I wanted to make more of a proper handbag handle and just had to experiment a bit with making one.  They do sell handles at craft stores for those people who make their own purses, but they would have looked too serious at the top of this casual bag.  After a couple trials I ended up with a a simple decorative stitch to bind some fake leather from the trims section and I'm pretty happy with the look.

recycled t-shirt bunny

For Christmas I made my niece and my daughter, who were 9 months and 6 months respectively, soft bunny toys.  As I had just started this blog, I didn't have the forethought to take a photo of the two cute bunnies when they were clean and unused, or perhaps even pose them with the girls to up the cuteness factor.  Regardless, here is a photo of my daughter's bunny.

Hopefully you cannot see how dirty this toy is...

Chez Beeper Bebe has been so kind to blog about this project and you are able to print out a pattern and instructions.  So generous!  I didn't adapt this project much at all--it's already meant to be a way to recycle t-shirts.  I simply opted not to add the pom-pom tail because I needed the bunny to be more baby-friendly.  My daughter was a fan immediately and has spent a lot of time with those ears in her mouth.  Perhaps this bunny will get her through teething??

pillow covers

This will be quite a short post because this is a pretty short project.  Basically if you have large enough t-shirts it's pretty easy to use the jersey like fabric and make pillows or pillow covers.  My inspiration was from the ducklings in a row tutorial on pillows made from men's button-down shirts.  Simple measurements and a quick run through the sewing machine is all it took, then I closed the pillows in with a slip stitch.  I wanted to do that properly so I followed directions from michelle patterns which were fabulous.  It buries the knot well which came naturally to me because it's a similar technique to what we do in surgery!

dolman from man's t-shirt

I admit that before I saw this project I didn't even know what a dolman top was.  Of course I had seen the style before, but I had no idea what its name was.  I found this project at trash to couture and instantly knew what shirt I'd be modifying: one of my humongous band t-shirts that I've never been able to part with but never wear because it would be like wearing a tent.

This was what I would call my first "real" sewing project.  I made sure to watch the tutorial before starting so I wouldn't screw anything up.  Turns out this was really easy and I love the result, especially the new ruching at the bottom.  I think the 80's vibe of the dolman style works really well with this cheesy Weezer shirt.

Sorry for the craptastic selfie

singlet from an old t-shirt

Let's be real about this...maybe you had a t-shirt that you really loved but one day you forgot to wear deodorant and you destroyed it.  No matter how many soaks in vinegar solution you do, that smell is in that fabric for life.  Sound familiar?  Hopefully not.  But if you made this mistake, like I did, then this project is perfect for you.  It's also a nice way to redo an oversized concert t-shirt.

crafterhours posted this tutorial on tee to tank.  Like the t-shirt necklaces, this is an incredibly easy sewing project.  You have the option for more sewing to provide refined edges, but I opted out since I was just getting back into the hang of sewing.  Plus I actually like the way cut jersey looks.  My advice for completing this project is to use a safety pin as your "needle" to thread the drawstring through.  Here's a look at the singlets I made:

Two lines of stitching, that's it!

t-shirt repurposing=necklaces

The next few posts will be a bit outside the box.  I had a stack of old t-shirts that we were done with, but really weren't suitable for donation.  I decided that instead of throwing them away I should try to repurpose the fabric.  Pinterest was very helpful in pursuing projects, as were craft blogs.  I'm not a sewer, and hadn't used a sewing machine in 10 years when I started these projects!  So I started slow and my first go was with making t-shirt necklaces.

The tutorial is here.  The first necklace I made was hand-sewn, then the others were by machine.  These are ridiculously easy to make.  If your jersey is not as stretchy then the pieces don't curl around on themselves as well, but I like the different texture it gives the necklace.  These necklaces are perfect if you have a baby: they are soft, won't break and are washable!