t-shirt scarves...revisited and restyled

late this spring i became obsessed with the t-shirt scarf. after seeing a pin on pinterest i raided andy's t-shirts for anything too big or too old or too unworn. with my metal ruler and rotary cutter, i whipped out four scarves in under an hour and was feeling quite good about my new undertaking. who doesn't love a scarf?

the next week i went to the thrift store and scanned the racks for half-off tags, quickly flipping past shirts with screenprinting or applique. the week after that i went digging...literally...at the goodwill outlet store otherwise known as "the bins". at the bins, they weigh your cart and you pay for your goods by the pound. it's time consuming, but if i ever have a chance to go without children it is so much fun. (i realize that statement makes me a bit sick and strange, but i'm okay with that.)

today, i was cleaning my sewing room...a project that has been taking me weeks to finish. there was a pile a shirts waiting to be scarved. while working through them, i started having visions of restyling them and wearing them in different ways. here are a few options you can probably do with things you already have:

mix with assorted necklaces of the same color...or different colors.

take three strands of your scarf, cut them open and braid. fold your scarf in half and loop your braid through. sew ends of braid together and wrap the sewn part with a small piece of leftover t-shirt.

take two long strands of seed beads and loop them around five t-shirt strands. let the beads fall open with the scarf. loop the longest bead necklace, if you like.

loop your t-shirt scarf in half and knot a scarf on the side. tie the ends together.

use a long necklace to loop your t-shirt scarf in half. your necklace must have a clasp to open. you could do the same thing with a piece of ribbon or lace. twist the scarf four or five times before looping the necklace.

use a bracelet to fasten together your t-shirt scarf after you have doubled it. this bracelet wrapped around twice. bracelet must be able to open. turn clasp to back.

have fun...let me know what else you do with your scarves!

restyling auction

so, i've waited to do this post because i am still feeling a little raw over the flop that was otherwise known as the restyling auction. the partnership of a busy weekend, a sunny saturday (after a lot of rain and clouds), and a few other things beyond my control lead to very few people in attendance. a couple studio families showed up, but most of the people who were there came because of me. a few random people came who had seen posters i put up around town. after weeks of work sifting through donations, pairing items, and sewing, sewing, sewing, the whole event fell apart. frustrating, but, hey...i know i did everything i could. the idealistic side of me knew how much money could have been raised, so that was disappointing. the selfish side of me looks at all the work i put into it and is angry at the outcome. it really could have been a great event...if people had come. ;)

  

beautiful bags...that i forgot to put the minimum bid tags on. saddest part of the night for me was "giving" the blue bags to the "highest bidder" for $5 each. i wanted to puke. i should have said, "i'm sorry, but i forgot the minimum bid for these and your bid does not qualify you to win this item."  but i didn't...

what was left to donate after the auction...

skinnying jeans

i have two pairs of skinny jeans that i like, but for months have been hoping to find a lighter pair than the unwashed denim look i have. after finding a link on pinterest, i decided to rummage through my closet for pairs of pants to make skinny. this was relatively easy to do, though would have been easier for me to do on someone else. andy has a few pairs of dress pants for me to slim down and things are settling just enough for me to do that for him this weekend.

so, turn your pants inside out and put them on. do your best to button and zip so they are on properly. pinch and pin down each side of one leg. once you are happy with the new line, take them off and match the pins on the other leg. sew down the lines, being especially careful in the crotch to avoid puckering. on the jeans i cut off the bottom of the leg because i wanted them to end up slightly cropped. on another pair of dress pants i left them long because i wanted them to be a little slouchy in the leg.

**NOTE: this works best if you have jeans/pants with some stretch. you will enjoy wearing the end result much better if you can sit comfortably (stretch) after they are skinnied! ;)

restyling your own closet is the best!

leg on your right is pinned