Forever Young Infininty Scarf Tutorial

I love the song "Forever Young" by Bob Dylan.

But, I have a confession...I never actually knew this song until the TV show Parenthood used it as their opening theme song.

Nonetheless, love is love.  I love it.

So much so, that I decided to incorporate it into one of my handmade Christmas items this year.

Enter:  The Forever Young Infinity Scarf

Yes, infinity scarves have been done before and will continue to be done forever, I'm sure.  I didn't say this was a brand-spankin' new idea here folks.  But I did take two ideas previous pinned here and here (Thanks again, Pinterest) and meshed them into my own creation.

I have somewhat of a list going of friends and family for whom I want to make some sort of Infinity Scarf- whether the Kid Art one posted previously, or one with writing like today's scarf.  So, last night while catching up on the most recent episode of Parenthood (thank you Hulu for keeping this island girl up with the times!), it hit me!  I knew I wanted to use the lyrics from the song "Forever Young" for one of the scarves.  I even knew exactly who I wanted to give it to.  (She doesn't read blogs, or Pin anything, so I'm safe in posting...mwahaha!)

The steps are super easy, as you probably already know:

Cut your shirt to the desired width (I chose a thinner width for this scarf and *still* fit the lyrics to the song twice!), put a piece of cardboard inside to prevent bleeding and get to writing:

*I think I have decided that it is best to turn the shirt inside out before writing.  Both the scarves I have done this week seem to curl to where you cannot see the side you draw/write on.  I'm going to test this on my next one, but just something to think about*

Once you are finished writing, stretch the heck out it.  The longer you stretch it out, the skinnier it will be.

I really like the skinny look for this scarf.  I think a bulky scarf with this much wording would be too over powering.  But now, it is the perfect accessory to complete an outfit.  I can't say we wear many scarves on Saipan, but my friend doesn't live here and I can see her using this to dress up a tee, go casual with a cardigan or anything this fall.

I really love to give thought out, hand made gifts.  I hope you are inspired to start working on a creation of your own!

"Forever Young"

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

Small Style :: Refashion Victory

As it goes with almost any crafter I know, the "crafts to do" pile is ever-growing and the "crafts completed" pile stays rather short.  It doesn't help that we are in the middle of packing, shipping, selling and storing all our belongings for the move to Saipan.  Add to that the sewing machine I am borrowing from my mother-in-law is older and I have trouble getting it to cooperate with certain stiches (read: I don't know exactly how to operate it except for straight lines...).

That being said, please share in my excitement over the toddler tee to dress refashion I actually completed recently!  This was one of many projects I hauled to my momma's house (and her fancy-pants sewing machine) a couple weeks ago.  I am proud to say I completed every. single. project. I brought with me that day! (O:

This is Miss Emilia on Mother's Day:

Her dress and hairbow were both handmade by me. 

The tshirt necklace was made by Emilia and her Aunt Clare. ;-)

The only part of her outfit that wasn't handmade are these adorable pink peeptoe sandals.  They were part of a sweeping victory I had last year at the Gap Outlet.  I purchased over 10 pairs of sandals and flip flops for under $2 a pair!  (I had to wait SO LONG for these to fit, haha!)

Daddy can always make her laugh and smile. (O:

(I'm not exactly sure what this pose was about, other than being done with my mini photo shoot.)

If you are interested in making one of these adorable little dresses for your little sweetheart, this is the PIN I followed for easy instructions.

My sister is much craftier than I, so she already knew how to make the necklace.  But, for those of us who need to see how it's done, this tutorial seems pretty easy to follow.

I am linking up to Mama Loves Papa's Small Style again this week.  (O:

Small Style :: Emilia's Stylings

Our little girl gets more and more independent every day and we are so proud of her.  Her most recent venture in independence has been dressing herself, "All by Myself".  That works out fine for bedtime, because no one cares if your pj's don't match...well, personally I twitch a little when her pj's don't match, but I'm working on that.  ;-)  A few days this week, she has gotten herself dressed before coming down in the morning.  As you will see, she has a love for girlie things and bright colors.  It reminds me of how my sister used to dress when we were younger- mixing of patterns, colors, textures was all OK if she *liked* it.  ;-)  Forgive my poor photo quality, but my husband snapped these with his iPhone and had to be quick before Emilia darted off to play. (O:

Emilia's Styling #1:

Emilia is wearing a white long sleeve shirt (Target), layered under a Cardinals shirt (yard sale find), paired with overalls (Target clearance for $4.80!), black tutu (Carter's sale- reused from Halloween costume and 2nd birthday outfit), pink and white striped socks (Old Navy) and the famous Rosetta shoes (Target clearance).

Emilia's Styling #2: 

Emilia is wearing a colorful striped short sleeve shirt (Old Navy clearance), under a Gap tank top (yard sale) and paired with polka dot leggings (Gap clearance).  *I mentioned to Jason that I need to rearrange the drawers in her room because this whole outfit was from our "nice clothes" drawer that only I dress her from when I am with her...but Jason noted that most of the fun, bright colors are in that drawer!  Maybe I need to spread out the love...(O:

I hope you get a little laugh from her outrageous stylings, as we did.  But remember, she is oh-so-proud of herself for doing it all by herself.  So we tell her she did a great job and we love the colors.  I think I will continue choosing outfits and letting her decide which to wear when we actually leave our house, but for playing at home, these are perfect. (O:

I am linking up to Mama Loves Papa's Small Styles again!

Oh!  And guess what!  I actually won one of her giveaways from last week!!  Woo hoo!  I do not have the best of luck with winning things, so I am super stoked about this.  Look at the beautiful pashmina and silk scarf I won!  This will be a great addition to my growing scarf collection, yay! (O:

The Pirate Ruffle Tank :: Tutorial

It is no secret that I *love* ruffles and upcycling shirts...today's post plays right into these loves. 

This past weekend, Emilia and I spent All Day at my Momma's house- yay!  My sister, mom and I spread out all different crafty projects across Momma's dining room table and even E helped on a project or two. ;-)  My main objective of the day was to sew two t-shirt skirts (which I plan to post about once I finish taking photos!), but they are a super quick and easy project so I ended up with extra time on my hands.  Luckily, my crafty bags were stuffed with other projects waiting to be completed (including a bag of 8-10 tees/tanks just calling out to be ruffled!). 

I found some really cool white shiny fabric (how's that for a technical term) and used some extra scraps from one of my skirts for the ruffles.  I grabbed out a plain grey tank I found on clearance at Target- it is their C9 brand with moisture wicking technology.  I am in love with this line- the clothes are comfy and cute and don't hold sweat like regular tees (TMI?  Maybe..)  Anyway, I have this plan to refashion a handful of these tanks to use on Saipan.  That way I am cool and comfy, but don't always look like I'm going for a run.  So this is what I came up with:

Supplies:

1 tank/tee
Scrap fabric or another tank/tee for the ruffles
Rotary cutter and board
Scissors
Pins
Sewing machine with coordinating thread

I had it in my mind that I wanted to do a layered ruffle along the neckline of my tank, so I started cutting out strips of each fabric.  I cut the grey fabric in 2in strips and the white fabric in 3.5in strips because it was going to be folded over.  I don't have an exact length of fabric needed in each color because this was kind of an "experiment as I go" type of piece, and it will also depend on how ruffled you want your strips.  You can always start out ruffling some fabric and then ruffle more as you need it.

To gather the fabric, I lengthened my stitch as far as I could (I think a 5 on my mom's machine) and loosened the tension a tad.  It is best to practice on a piece you won't be using to make sure your settings will work as you want them to.

For the white fabric, I folded it in half long-ways and stitched along the raw edges.  This fabric was fraying a LOT so I knew I couldn't leave the raw edges exposed on my shirt.  The grey strips were just sewn down the middle.  *Do not back stitch at either end or you won't be able to gather*  Once you finish stitching a strip, gently pull on one of the threads (I think the bottom works easier), shifting the fabric as needed until you create the desired amount of ruffly goodness.

Starting with my white fabric, I pinned it along the top edge of my tank neckline, like so:

(Notice the raw edges are pointing down from the neckline)

(If you do not have long piece of ruffle, as was the case for me, make sure to tuck the ends together when starting a new strip.  This makes it look continuous.)

*Change your machine setting back to normal before sewing your rows on the shirt.*

Sew the first row of ruffles to the tank, along the seam made from gathering, back stitching at the beginning and end.  Be careful not to sew through both layers (this will be important as we continue to add rows).

I really started to notice how badly this fabric was fraying after pinning and sewing this first row.  So I decided to pin the next row of white before adding the middle layer of grey.  That way my grey layer would hopefully keep most of those frayed edges contained.  This white row has the raw edges facing up and overlapping the first white row a little bit.  Pin into place and sew.

Now pin the grey strip between these two white rows.  Sew into place.  (The grey fabric will curl more once it has been washed.)

This is what we have so far!  Originally, this is what I was picturing in my mind...but wasn't in love with it once I put it on.  My mom and sister said they thought it was cute...but who were they trying to kid??  Something looks off, don't you agree? 

Hey, let's add more ruffles!  Following the same steps as before, I ruffled more strips and started adding the next couple rows to the tank.  You can play around with the shape, number of rows, etc. until you come up with something you like.

Tuck the ends of these next rows under the previous layers for a more finished look.

(Make sure your next layer is centered...unless you are going for an off-center look!) ;-)

 I opted for two rows of white as the bottom instead of just one.  I wanted a little extra fluff.

Keep pinning and sewing rows of ruffle until you have a shape/style you like.

And Done.

I still think it has a pirate-y feel to it, but I am OK with that.  We all need a little pirate in our lives, right? ;-)  Have fun working up your own ruffly creation.  I would love to see what you create! (O:

Have a great day! (O:

My T-Shirt Ruffle Refashion (PDLB!)

My latest Pinned It, Did It, Loved It, Blogged It moment.  Enjoy! (O:

I have been dying to make one of the several ruffle tees and/or tanks I have pinned over the past few months.  I have a great love (borderline addiction) with all things ruffly and actually have a stack of about 10-15 tees and tanks just waiting to be refashioned with ruffles.  Last week I decided it was TIME.  I have waited long enough.  I have worked on enough projects for others.  It was time to work on something just for me.  (This is also the same day I worked up 3 new scarves, one of which can be viewed here.  The others to follow sometime soon.)  I haven't seen any other ruffle refashions done this way using a patterned shirt, and I am really happy with how it turned out.  I hope the ruffles curl up a little in the wash; they are a little big for my liking.  But overall, I am pleased with this shirt and it really wasn't very difficult to put together!

Being a fairly Plain Jane kind of girl, I didn't stray from this color palette when choosing my buttons.  I did throw in a little funk by alternating squares and circles...I'm such a risk taker. ;-)

(Please forgive my sideways photos...My editing software and blogger are not agreeing today.)

Note:  I did not use the technique of sewing my buttons on with my machine.  I simply sewed them by hand while I finished watching Bride Wars. They didn't take long and I could hear the movie better! (O:

I am the first to admit that I am not always that creative- my strong suit lies with executing ideas.  So to give full credit where credit is due, I used the following two tutorials for my wonderful new shirt:

My first Pin links to a tutorial at Bunch of Scrap.  She is down to earth and lays out detailed instructions and helpful hints.  Her refashion is made up of 2 short sleeve shirts found on clearance.

My second Pin links to a tutorial at Ruffles & Stuff.  (What a great name!) (O:  Her instructions are equally great.  I decided to go with her 3 inch ruffle strips because I didn't want them too large on my shirt.  Her refashion is made from one long sleeve shirt- using the sleeves to make the ruffles.

Hopefully this might inspire you to try your own version of this, or any, ruffle refashion!  Have a great day! (O:

Infinity Scarf from a T-Shirt :: Tutorial (PDLB)

This is my latest Pinned it, Did it, Loved it, Blogged it success and I love it!!

I have had this idea pinned for a couple of weeks and kept forgetting to just DO it.  As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly which shirt I wanted to use.  It was a super fun patterned shirt I found on clearance, but hardly ever wore because it never kept its shape throughout the day.  Enter: new scarf!  This is seriously the easiest infinity scarf E.V.E.R.!  It is one of those things that will make you go, DUH!  Why did I think of that!?  The instructions are as easy as Shannon @ Madigan Made lays out in her tutorial.

What you need:
One T-Shirt
Scissors

Directions:

Voila!

 

Note:  The thinner and stretchier (if that's a word) your shirt is, the better curl it will provide upon stretching.  My shirt was not very thin or stretchy, so it did not curl very much.  I still really like it and just rolled the ends in a little by myself.  Enjoy! (O: