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Sunday, March 27, 2011

Blog Swap ~Scraps & Scribbles~

Hi everyone, I am happy to introduce Courtney from Scraps & Scribbles to you! She is a mother of adorable little boy, and runs her blog Scraps & Scribbles. She has many tutorials on her blog to share.

My favorites are her Tile Pendants and Anthro-Inspired Striped Ruffle Tee.
Head over and check out her fun blog!

Ok Courtney, take it away!


I'm so excited to be here over at Tea Rose Home today!  Sachiko's blog is one of my favorites and it's also one of the very first blogs I started following back when I entered "blogland."  I love all of her beautiful creations-her Ruffle Tee was the first tutorial I tried!  I still get compliments on that shirt all the time!












In case you're wondering who this girl is rambling on and on, I'm Courtney from Scraps and Scribbles.  I'm a SAHM to one busy 2-year-old boy.  I've been married to my wonderful husband for just over 5 years.  We live in sunny Florida, and love it.  When I'm not spending time with my son or taking care of the typical housewife things like cleaning and the laundry, I like to craft, sew, cook/bake and take pictures.  I have a little Etsy shop that I run with my sister-in-law were we sell our pretty creations.  It's full of fun vintage finds and pretty jewelery to dress up your outfits.  I love fashion and make-up and sharing what I find.  If you'd like to know more about me, you can check out the About Me page over at my blog.












Today I'm sharing a simple way to disguise a holey tee.  I'm still a novice seamstress, so when it comes to me and sewing, simple is best.


I had a little bit of a mystery-a bunch of almost new tees were developing holes in them, all near the bottom of the shirt, thus ruining otherwise perfectly good shirts.  Not only was it frustrating because I didn't know what was causing the holes, but I felt like I was wasting money because these shirts that had only been worn 2 or 3 times were now trashed.  












This is only about half of the pile of shirts with holes.  I needed to come up with a creative way to cover up the holes without it being obvious that I was hiding something.








With the purple tee (which is also right there on the top), the holes were kind of big and covered a wider area












They were also a little off-center, so it presented a bigger challenge. 






To fix yours up, you'll need:


A holey tee


A tee to cut up in a matching/coordinating color


matching thread


rotary mat, cutter and ruler


tailor's chalk 












Then I found this tee at a consignment shop and had an idea.  It matched the contrast stitching on the purple holey tee perfectly.












It was only $3!  And HUGE!  I've never seen such a large medium-sized tee!  But that meant there was plenty of fabric to work with.












To start off with, I folded the dark purple tee in half and with tailor's chalk, marked a line diagonally down from the collar to just past the last hole at the bottom.












I pulled it out flat like this, still keeping it folded in half (see the chalk line) so that the area I cut out would be even.  Then I cut out that chunk-bye-bye holes!












I measured the length of the piece I cut out and the width at the bottom and cut a piece out using those measurements from the lavender tee.












I wanted it to have a gathered look at the top, so I stitched some thread in about 1/4 in. down from the top of the edge and gathered it by pulling on the thread.












Then, using the piece I had cut out of the purple tee as a guide, I trimmed up the lavender piece












Then pinned it in place.












And sewed the pieces together.














Like so.






Now, you could stop here if you wanted.  But I felt it needed a little something more.












Rosettes make everything prettier!  I cut a few strips of fabric from the lavender tee and rolled them into rosettes, stitching them in place as I went so they wouldn't come undone.












Then attached them to my tee at the collar.












And there you have it!












Holes? What holes?












I'm quite pleased with how it turned out and I hope you love yours too!



Thanks so much for letting me "come over" today Sachiko!  I hope you all come by Scraps and Scribbles and say hi!  I'd love to meet you!


Wow, isn't that awesome project? Thank you Courtney for visiting us today!

Ravishing Red Chest of Drawers

Will I ever get tired of red? I don't think so. (Remember this other chest?) I neglected to take a picture of this chest of drawers before I painted it, but it was dark blue and VERY beat-up! I used my free sample pot of paint from Valspar (Heirloom Red) and repainted....

I didn't even begin to try to sand down or cover up the dings, scratches, and nicks that come about over time. Instead, I glazed it all with black paint, and then....magically...the once-upon-a-time "defects" just add character!


I didn't even use craft paint for glazing this time....because I couldn't find it! (Hazards of a home with six children.) Instead I just used some watered down flat-black paint. It worked just great. As you may remember from my side table project, I am all about using what's on hand!


The DIY Show Off

Spring Basket Tutorial


Thank you for all your wonderful comments on my spring tablescape. As promised, here is the tutorial for making the spring basket place cards/party favors featured in this post.

Supplies
Tuna fish can – empty and cleaned
Raffia – several lengths about 20 inches long
Glue gun and glue sticks
Scissors
Pinking shears
Sewing machine
Iron
Linen – Two 10” x 26” pieces
Thread to match fabric
Sewable Heat and Bond – One 6” x 22” piece

Directions
Use iron to attach one piece of linen to one side of Heat and Bond.


Use scissors to trim extra fabric.


Remove paper from Heat and Bond and use iron to attach second piece of linen.



Use scissors to trim extra fabric. You now have a double sided 6” x 22” piece of linen.


Fold, iron and pin linen in half along 6” side leaving ½” difference in the hems.


Sew along edge with sewing machine.


To create the fabric loops, use pinking shears or scissors to make cuts along folded edge about ½” apart. Cuts should stop about ½” from sewn edge.

Attach fabric to tuna fish can using glue gun. Fabric will wrap around can a little more than two times.


At this point the fabric loops will be stiff. Simply press loops down with your hands to create desired look.

To make the handle, tie knots along length of raffia about 1 inch apart. Trim ends about 1” below first and last knot. Your handle should be about 12 inches long.


To attach handles to inside of tuna fish can, rest knot on the top edge of the can and glue using glue gun.


Fill with paper grass and goodies!


Enjoy!

Linking up to:
The DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff
Centsational Girl

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