T-shirt Scarf Addiction

Years ago, I decided I was going to make a t-shirt quilt. So I've been saving my highschool and college tshirts all this time. Since the crafty bug bit me recently (the first bite), I thought I might be inclined to actually MAKE the quilt. So I googled tshirt quilt, and you know how the search box starts giving you suggestions for what you  might be typing? Tshirt SCARF was first on the list. Hmmmm. This could be interesting, I thought. Multiple clicks later, when I was severely detoured from my original plan (which might have to wait another 6 yrs...quilting takes a lot of patience!), I had an irresistible urge to make some scarves. One of the great links I found has tutorials for 10 differnt scarves! I picked a couple of my favs (mostly the NO-SEW ones!) and followed the links. This blog and video were the actual source of what I made. I didn't take step-by-step pics, so I'm going to just throw my completed pics up here, along with some pointers you may want to follow.

My first spaghetti scarf! Made from XL shirt. If you're using a plain tshirt (ie, no design on the front or back), I actually prefer this tutorial. I like how it will stay together better. If your shirt has a design like mine did, I followed the DIY Dish video.

Next up, my first waterfall scarf. Is that what she called it on the video? Oh well, I think it's a brilliant name if she didn't! Black XL shirt. I LOVE this!! I think it looks so fancy and dressy, and it's a T-SHIRT! I think I was able to get 6 circles cut from the shirt. This may be "duh" to the rest of y'all, but after you cut your circles (which will be 2-ply) keep them together as you spiral cut them. Less overall cuts to make! For some reason, I seperated my circles this go-round. I did not follow her suggestion of gluing to strips end-to-end, so my scarf is shorter. And less time consuming. But as you can see, it still hits my waist when tied over, which I feel like is plenty long. Not sure if she did this on the vid either, but I cut a piece of the hem of the shirt and used it to tie my strips in a bundle. That way there's no risk of scarfy-chaos!

More spaghetti scarves! This pic is actually 2 different ones I made, but the later it got last night, the fancier I got! Again, my shirt had designs, so I cut full strips, rather then leaving them attached at one end. This was I could group the design sections together, wrap tie them around the designs, and put that section in the back. No random colors peeking through.

It's later still...and fancier! This waterfall scarf is combined from 2 different shirts. We're rather short on XL shirts around here, as neither of us actually wears XL. So I used a L purple and a M white/silver to get a total of 7 circles, and mixed the strips together before wrap-tying them.

 Infinity scarf. Oh. My. Too. Easy. Ready for this? Don't even watch the video...lay out your shirt, cut off bottom hem, cut across under armpits. Stretch it out. Bam. You have an infinity scarf! I'm still boggling over how easy this was. In fact, this was the one I made AFTER I posted about making 7 last night. I closed the computer and was compelled to just whip out one more, haha. And it still looks good!

Of all the scarves I made,  (ummm, yes I did actually make 8 in one sitting...) THIS one is my favorite! I made Audrey a little pink waterfall. :) I have a special place in my heart for all things tiny, and this tiny waterfall was just too much. She was a bit excited about it too, if you can't tell! And what little girl doesn't wanna be just like Momma?

So there you have it! 8 tshirt scarves in about 2.5 hrs. What's that, like 20 mins each? This excites me, cuz I have trouble accessorizing...I forget, or don't want to spend money on jewelry, etc. Well, no more excuses! Just as long as people don't get tired of seeing me in a scarf!

Big-kid hooded towel

When I was pregnant with Audrey, I received hooded bath towels as a baby gift and have loved them since she outgrew the baby towels! So much bigger, more absorbant, and warmer. They have cute ribbon sewn on the hood, along with her name embroidered on them. These were made by folding a hand towel in "hamburger" half, then sewing one side together, and the other side to the edge of a bath towel. Voila! Great in theory, but the hood has always been WAY too big (and would probably still be too big even on me...). One of my friends posted a tutorial on FB recently on how to make these same towels with a smaller hood (1/2 hand towel). Wyatt needed a set of towels to match Audrey's so, here I go! (And here's step-by-step instructions in case you want to attempt also!)

I used 2 bath towels, 1 hand towel (all the same color, since I wasn't going for funky ;)), coordinating thread and approx. 1.5 yds of ribbon.

First, I made the hood by folding a hand towel in "hamburger" half, then cutting in 2.

This is going to become 2 hoods for 2 separate towels. I got a little snazzy with these, and added starry ribbon. Sewed on each side of ribbon to secure to band of towel.  Next, folded back the band of the towel ~2 inches and sewed this down.

To finish the hood, I folded the towel in hamburger half again, ribbon side in, and sewed down the cut seam. Turn the hood right side out, then sewed remaining side centered on edge of towel.

Da-da-da-daaaaa!!! Hooded towel!

A few side notes if you attempt this project: I'm not a skilled seamstress by any means. Those of you that might already sew will find this a snap to make. I found out the hard way you should: pin all your seams before you sew, lock all your seams or they will unravel, keep an eye on your bobbin so you can refill it BEFORE sewing a bunch of half-seams that will then have to be re-sewn, and use a heavy gauge needle. You will at times be sewing through 3 layers of towel. If you don't use the right weight needle, it will break at some point in the middle of your project.

The towels I bought came in 2-packs for the hand towels. So I finished my 4 towels (2 as gifts) (I did brown and cute bright green to match the ribbon! Completed set pic below) using 2 hand towels and debated what to do with the other 2. Use them as hand towels? The bathroom is done in blues; brown and green hand towels might stand out. Give them as gifts along with the other 2 towels? "Here's 2 random hand towels to go with your super cute hooded towels!" Weird. Soooo, since the crafty bug had bitten, I decided to make bath mitts! Why mitts vs. washcloths, you ask? Less seams to sew. :) The bug might have bitten, but don't assume I've gone sew-crazy! So here follows my tutorial if you also want to make awesome bath mitts to go with your towels:

I folded the hand towel in "hotdog" half. Cut off the bands (I did this because I was tired of sewing through the thicker material, and didn't think it would be very soft to wash oneself with the band material.)

Then I cut the towel into 4 sections, which became 4 mitts.

Next, I added the cuteness. I sewed the ribbon about 1-1.5 in from top fold.

I folded the towel inside out, with ribbon on inside and sewed each cut side closed.

I turned the mitts right side out, then rolled little cuffs since they were kinda long. You could cut off and hem, but again, I was going for least number of seams here! Again, da-da-da-daaa! Bath mitt! Perfect for scrubbing wiggly little people!

I'm so excited to have these for Wyatt finally. I really did have fun making them! Next time around will be much easier, especially since I re-learned how to wind a bobbin, load a bobbin, change out a broken needle, and sew straight seams today. :) The complete set: