Artsy Tee Shirt Copy

I hope you all had a great weekend.  We stayed inside most of the weekend to escape the heat, but did get to the park at one point.  I also finished up the bridals I did for my cousin and his wife, you can go see those if you would like.

I saved this picture to my "photography inspiration" folder because I loved the sun glare, the angle and crop, and the pose of the model.  Later, while I was looking through my folder I noticed how much I loved the shirt...

And I wanted it...

So I made one :)

It was so easy.

I used another crew neck plain tee and cut the neck into a scoop neck and brought in the shirt on the sides a little.

I pinned a piece of old mechanics woven shop towel around the neck (bunched up just a little)

Then sewed three seams around it to hold it in place.  Pie.

Now...to add the buttons or not to add the buttons?  That is the question.

Also, if I did it again, I would make the neck a little more thin and a little more bunched like in the picture...just a side note.

I am posting this HERE.

J. Crew Tee Copy Again!

So I saw this on someone's blog a while back and wanted to make something like it.  I cut around a crew neck to make more of a scoop neck on a plain gray tee.

Then I cut up some old mechanics woven shop towel into strips and pinned them on the shirt to make a similar design.

First I sewed with a needle and thread to hold the shape of the design.

Then I took out all the pins and sewed it on the sewing machine to make it more secure.

That's it!  This shirt is definitely one of my favorites, and it was one of the easiest too!

Probably only took me an hour total (I completed each step on different days)

This post was linked to these parties.

Petal Tee Copy

Have you seen this movie?

I haven't, but I really like this shirt.  This girl is a great seamstress and she made one.  I decided I HAD to have one too.  Here is her version:

This was the first time I actually used a brand new tee.  However, it was only $4 at Wal-mart :)

I took off the pocket very carefully to give myself a clean slate, then cut up petals from this old sweater:

It is a little see-through and I knew when it got a hole in it there was no way I could fix it :( Sad that it was sentimental, but at least now I can still wear it in a different form! :)

So, after cutting up the petals (some small, some big) I started laying them out around the neck first.  Then I worked my way down, petals getting bigger down the shirt.

Once I was happy with it I pinned them in place.  Then the shirt sat in my pile of "to do's" for about 2 months.

I finally bought the fray-be-gone and applied it to the edges of the petals, using cardboard between them so they wouldn't get stuck together.

Then I sewed the petals starting at the top.  I only sewed the base of the petals down so they were loose.

TADA!

This is definitely one of my favorite t-shirt projects, and was totally worth the time it took.  In the end it probably took me 3 hours (which is actually less than this one.)

I posted this tutorial HERE

J. Crew Tee Repurpose

Just in case you missed it, here is the post I did for my feature at Sumo's Sweet Stuff, who I featured here yesterday:

I recently decided that I wanted some cute shirts this summer, but didn't have much money to spend.  So, I pulled out all my boring tees and decided to do some revamping!  I looked around at what other creative bloggers were doing (and found lots of ideas on my link party Favorite Things Friday.)  I really liked this shirt:

First I took a plain crew neck tee and cut the neck to make it more of a scoop neck.


Then I took in the sides a little bit.  This is really easy.  All you do is put it on inside out and pin where you want to take it in.  Stitch where you pinned and cut off the excess!


I use the scraps from these changes to make the ruffles.  I just made a basting stitch then pulled the thread to make the ruffles.

Pin the pieces on the neck where you want them and sew them on.

I attached the ruffles all around the neck and doubled them up on one side:

And on the back.  I really like that about it :)

I hope that was clear and that some of you go make one!

Another Rosette Tee

A little while ago I did a rosette tee tutorial.  I knew I needed to do something like that with this shirt since one of the beads had broken off.  First I took all of the beads off:

Then I made rosettes out of some fabric I already had.  I made them this way, only bigger and looser.

This was actually a lot easier than the first shirt I did. since there were 1/4 the rosettes to make and attach.

I am posting this here

Rosette Tee Tutorial

I have a closet full of plain t-shirts and jeans.  It is really sad.  While I am trying to "upgrade" my style a little bit, I decided to jazz up some of my plain t-shirts like I've been seeing all you fellow bloggers do!  

Of course I took some pictures along the way so if any of you wanted to do the same it would be easier.  I am a very visual learner so picture tutorials are my fave.  I apologize for any blurry or grainy pictures :)

This isn't the shirt I used, but I wanted to show how I cut the neck.  I really like scoop necks right now, so I cut this fuchsia tee a little lower than this black one.  Plus, I needed more fabric to make the rosettes.  Also, if you need more fabric you can take the shirt in (on the sides if it is a looser shirt or bottom if it is long enough.)

I cut up the extra pieces to make the rosettes.  They varied in length and width.

Once I had the rosette all rolled up, I stuck a needle through it to hold it in place.

Then I threaded the needle and tied a thick knot through the end of the thread.  This seems like a weird way to do it, but it really was the fastest.

Basically I just threaded the needle through a few times at different angles to make sure the rosette would stay in place.  There is not really an exact way to do this (that I know of.)

After tying off the thread I just left extra thread hanging to sew it on with.  I realized after it took me FOREVER to sew each one on that it would have been a lot faster to just sew them all with the same thread.

Just a side note: this took me all day to do, but shouldn't take you AS long since part of my problem was just figuring things out...however, still plan for at least a 2 hour project...

I'm still not sure if it was worth my day or not...

Sprucing Up Some Shirts

I am really not stylish at all...my wardrobe consists of plain t-shirts, sweaters, and long-sleeved shirts in different colors. I know it's sad. I decided to use some of the lace out of the huge bag of it I found at DI for $3. They aren't perfect, so don't look too closely, but I like them :)

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