Friday, January 28, 2011

Craftstravaganza 2011 Acceptence!

Some of you may remember this image from last May, where Marisa and I went up to the MN State Fair grounds to look around and shop for handmade goodness!



This year (even with a small email hiccup) I made it in! I'm super excited. I do however have to start working by toosh off to get product made! So if it all works out, I expect to see a lot of you there, at least to say hi and check out ALL of the awesome handmade crafts for sale.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Learning Something New

And then share what you learned with others. That's how I roll. I went to a fun craft gathering the other day and learned how to make necklaces out of jersey knit t-shirts. So simple, they are totally going into my repertoire.

Supplies: A t-shirt (old, new, whatever, as long as it's a knit that stretches), a scissors, some thread and a needle. (You can also had beads (larger ones) if you so choose.

(Note: I happen to be using a shirt with no seams on the sides, you will most likely want to cut those off, use your best judgment.)

Step One: Trim off the bottom seams and then begin cutting 3/4 - 1 In. strips, lengthwise, across the shirt. You will more then likely be cutting up most of the shirt (at least to the armpits).


Step Two: Stretch out each strip, if your seams don't break, you're most likely going to want to cut them anyways, this is up to you though. Once I had all my strips stretching I cut them to the lengths I wanted and lined them up shortest to longest. Since I didn't have any seams, I could cut where ever.


Step Three: Run a needle up and down each side of your strips (I went in the same order). After doing both sides, I stitch them together. I just used a piece of the hem I cut off and used that to hide the stitches. (Just sewing the ends and flipping it over.)

And Ta Da! A fun new piece to wear. Color and options are limitless. This is a great way to recycle/reuse older shirts or ones you can't wear anymore for some reason. Feel free to experiment with how you hide your seams.