Thursday, December 15, 2011

Thrifty Thursday: Repurposing T-shirts Project #4. Scarf

It's been a couple weeks since I've posted a new Thrifty Thursday project. I'm continuing my series on repurposing old t-shirts. Today, we're on to project #4: the scarf.

Here's a quick look back at my past projects in this series:
  1. The necklace. An easy, no-sew project.
  2. The petal tee. I loved the way this one turned out. If you already have a t-shirt, this should be super easy. In this project, I made the feminine t-shirt out of an old, men's t-shirt... so that made it a bit more complex.
  3. The re-usable bag. This is a super-easy sewing project. If you are comfortable sewing straight stitches on a sewing machine, this is a good starter project.

There are lots of cool scarf ideas online. However, this one just peaked my creative juices.

Source: Joy Beadworks via Trudy Tarasof from Pinterest

I like that it has a pattern on it. Rather than just copying her idea all together, I decided to make scarves for my boys (they've been begging all season for one). Plus, I promised myself I wouldn't buy any new notions to complete one of these projects, so no embroidery threads for me.

Initially, figuring out a boy-themed pattern proved difficult, as I did not want to give them a leaf-patterned scarf. Instead, I decided to use stars.

First, I cut the parts I needed from the t-shirt. Each scarf included:
  • Main color: 8-in strip, cut from bottom of t-shirt. Cut one end open, so it's one long piece.
  • Reverse color: 8-in strip, cut from bottom of t-shirt. Just like the main color, cut one end open to make one long piece.
  • Background of stars: 1 sleeve cut off from "reverse color" and cut in half to make two pieces.



I found a star pattern and traced it onto the "main color" fabric, using a fabric pencil. To be honest, I ended up using a ballpoint pen and trimmed outside the line. I did this on BOTH ends of the main fabric, just like my inspiration piece.






I pinned the "background" fabric (part of the sleeve from the other t-shirt) to the main fabric. Next, I used the sewing machine to stitch around each star. When you are ready to pivot around the star, just follow these simple steps: (1) leave the needle IN the fabric, (2) lift the presser foot, turn the fabric, (3) lower the presser foot, and (4) continue sewing to the next stopping point. I attempted to take a picture of part of the process. 





After the stars were stitched, I placed the "reverse color" fabric and the main fabric (now has stars stitched to it) with right sides together. Sew them together, but left a large enough slot to turn the scarf right-side out. Finish off the scarf with a top-stitch, and we have a NEW scarf from OLD t-shirts. Doesn't the star scarf look cool with the Star Wars t-shirt?






Regus #1 was eager to try it. As you can see, the length of the scarf is just right for a little guy. If you want a longer scarf, you will need to follow the instructions from the inspiration piece. With that project, you will only be able to get one scarf out of two t-shirts, but it's still really cool!

What other things do you like to re-purpose?  

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