Recycled T-shirt Super Hero Capes

My uncle passed away a few months ago and I couldn’t make it back home for the funeral, but I asked my Grandma to send me some of his favorite T-shirts so I could make her a memory quilt out of them. I finished the top to the quilt this week but I still need to sandwich, quilt, and bind it so no pictures yet. BUT, after cutting out all the pictures from the fronts of the shirts, I decided to use the leftover backs of the shirts to make my nephew some Super Hero capes for his upcoming birthday.

They were so quick and easy to put together. I just cut off the arms and freehanded a basic cape shape of what was left of the t-shirt, making sure to leave the entire neckband attached. This way, I didn’t even have to worry about using velcro or making ties to hold it on. I found different Super Hero logo images online and printed them out to use as patterns for the logos on the capes, which I cut out of felt.

I just ordered a couple of Super Hero books to go along with the capes so I can get them sent off before his big day.

Usually when I’m crafting, I’m happy I have all girls because there are so many cute things out there to make for them. This was definitely an exception. These were so fun to make, it almost made me wish I had a boy. Luckily, I have nephews!

T-Shirt Rug

I made the girls a rug to go in their playhouse. It only took about 30 T-shirts from the local Goodwill, a rug canvas from JoAnn's, some double fold quilt binding, and a whole lot of time. I started this thing months ago and worked on it in phases, mostly when I had catching up to do on my favorite TV shows.

Although time consuming, it is very easy to make. First, gather your supplies. It took about 30 shirts to make this rug that is approximately 2 feet wide by 3 feet long.

Then cut your rug canvas to the size you want. This is what it looks like. all folded up right out of the package.

Next, use a rotary cutter and mat to cut the t-shirts into strips that are about 1 inch wide by 5 inches long. Some of mine were only 4 inches and others were up to 6 inches. Precision is so NOT necessary.

Once you’ve got all your shirts cut into strips, you can start tying them into the grid. I used 1 strip for every four holes and tied them diagonally across. Each marked (in blue) square on the grid has 100 holes so I used 25 strips per square. It took me about an hour to do 6 squares once I got the hang of it. I think I had about 115 or so squares to fill so it was a lot of hours of tying.

Here is a view of the back after tying on all the strips.

The last step was putting the binding on the raw edges to the grid doesn’t come unraveled. I just used the pre-packaged double fold quilt binding from the fabric store.

Although it was much less time consuming that the actual tying, it was tricky sewing on the binding while trying to keep all the t-shirt fringes out of the way.

The stitches are far from strait or pretty, but it doesn’t matter because you don’t even see the biding. It is hidden by all the fringe. It just needs to be there or the edges of the grid that you cut will come undone and that would be sad after all those hours of tying.

Here is the finished product.

The girls were happy to finally have the rug they have been watching grow for the last several months and I am happy to get started on my next big project.

Valentines Day

I spent the past week getting all my Valentines crafting done.

I made wreaths for my front door with rolled felt flowers and a big felt bow on each one.

Kennady got a new V-Day shirt.

Since I don’t have a mantle, I decorated the top of the piano.

This frame is one of the easiest things I have ever done, but I am in love with it’s simplicity.

I saw this fabulous idea for mason jars on Pinterest and had to “borrow” it.

The garland is made out of old book pages. My kids were astonished that I would do such a thing to a book (the school librarian has obviously been effective when teaching about how we should treat books), but it was really old and falling apart anyway. I have to admit that I cringed a little bit when I started cutting out the first page.

Finally, I made a felt “Be My Valentine” pillow. The hearts are machine appliqued on and the wording and string for the hearts to hang on are embroidered. I have never done much work in embroidery before and this project made me realize that I could really use some practice.

I think we are all ready to show some love around here, that is if my kids would ever stop fighting.

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3rd Birthday Shirts

My baby turns 3 tomorrow so I made her a couple of shirts for the occasion.

For the first one, I just cut out the scooter freehand and used a zig-zag stitch to applique it to the shirt. Then I took some coordinating birdie fabric and added a little ruffle to the bottom.
 


For her second shirt, I used my Cricut to cut out the circle, the letters, and the number. She is going to wear this one for her little party and she is so excited about it. I had a hard time convincing her to take it off after taking the picture so we could keep it clean for tomorrow.

We love Mickey

I made these shirts for my 3 little girls in preparation for our trip to Disneyworld. I thought my 10 year old would think they were too baby-ish so I didn’t make her one, but she asked me where hers was. I guess no one is too old to ‘heart’ Mickey Mouse.

Once again, I used my Cricut to cut out the shapes and all 3 shirts took less than an hour. I got the Mickey and Friends font cartridge on sale for super cheap in order to cut out Mickey’s head. Really it was an excuse to get the cartridge because the shape is simple enough that I could have easily done it without it. Look out Mickey, here we come!

Turkey Hand Print Shirt

I saw this turkey shirt idea online and decided my two year old had to have one. I chose to do a few things differently.  I used buttons instead of googly eyes and I stitched everything down after I fused it with Heat n Bond. I wanted to make sure I can wash it because my daughter is seriously messy and even though the permanent kind of Heat n Bond says you can wash it, sometimes it starts to peel up. Another thing I ended up doing was cutting off the thumbs before I fused the hands down. The way I had everything placed, the thumbs didn’t show anyway and they just added extra bulk so I opted to get rid of them.

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Big Brother T-shirt

A shirt for a little boy who is about to become a big brother for the first time.

back of shirt

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Another baby gift

I have another friend who had another boy so I had another excuse to make some cute baby stuff. I just can't get enough of it! I used my cricut to cut out all the shapes and letters for applique. My husband wanted to know why I did a star on the little sweater instead of the monogram like I did on the onesie and burp cloth. I was planning on it originally, but then the thought of Laverne's sweater (from Laverne and Shirley) popped into my head and I just couldn't do it, especially for a boy.

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1st Birthday Gifts

I have been babysitting a friend's baby a couple days a week for the past few months and she is about to have her first birthday. I made her these shirts as well as a stuffed bear, similar to this one only with different fabrics, to give to her at her party.

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4th of July T-Shirts

I saw some really cute ideas online for 4th of July t-shirts and decided I was going to make them this year. Usually we just buy some cheap ones at Target or Old Navy. Hailey and Kennday's were very simple and I had them done in no time. I knew Payton and Taylor's would be a little more time consuming, but they ended up taking a lot longer than I had anticipated. However, I love the way they all turned and am glad that I accidentally bought the shirts way too big (I was expecting them to shrink up a bunch like most cheapy t-shirts do, but these things didn't shrink at all) so they can wear them for a year or too.

Hailey and Kennady's shirts are just made of cute gingham. They were so easy!!!

Payton and Taylor's shirts are made with ruffled grosgrain red and white ribbon, blue cotton, and really little white buttons. What a pain, but so cute!!!