No-Sew Vest T-shirt: New Life for Old Clothes!

As the mom of four boys, I know how quickly kids can stain, rip, or otherwise destroy their clothes. But just because it's stained or holey doesn't mean you can't remake a clothing item into a great new piece! Combine two or more old pieces to help build a brand new t-shirt. You don't even have to know how to sew.

I took a too-small vest and combined it with a colorful t-shirt to make a new wardrobe staple that I love. Just how easy is it to make this stylin' DIY vest t-shirt?

Food Allergy Awareness Week - Your the Sunbutter to my Jelly T-shirt

This week is Food Allergy Awareness Week. Unlike, say, Valentine's Day or the Fourth of July, this holiday (if I can call it that), which affects 15 million Americans, does not have many crafts associated with it. My son Baxter is one of those 15 million. Crafts help bring awareness to a holiday or event. I've decided to make it my mission to make more crafts related to food allergies. My little man Bax is the Sunbutter to my jelly, and I wanted to make him a shirt to say it loud and proud!

Create Your Own Creepers - A Shoes DIY

Recently I went to a birthday where a friend’s son had a pair of creepers. I was immediately reminded of the shoes of my teen years. If we were not in combat boots or skate shoes we were sporting a pair of creepers. The little wee pair was so cute I was determined Baxter would have a pair. Well I was determined I would make Baxter a pair.

Tie-Dye Hawaiian Halter Top

Today concludes my 3 part series on tie-dye hula gear for summer. We made a hula skirt, onesie with lei and today I’ll show you on to transform an old tank top into a tye-die halter.

SUPPLIES

Tank Top

Tulip One-Step Tie-Dye Kit

Sewing Machine

Elastic

Scissors


This whole look was inspired by a post on Make It and Love It where the blogger made a fringed ombre skirt out of 3 different colored red shirts. This skirt inspired me to make a hula skirt for my daughter. Putting her in a plain T-shirt seemed like a shame so I tie-dyed another tank top and my sewing Goddess of a mother transformed it into a tank top.

The Tulip One-Step Tie-Dye kit is super easy to use. The package comes with dye, rubber bands, gloves and a handy dandy guide to how to bind your shirt to achieve different patterns. I used old (adult sized) tank tops to create the halter and skirt. I went with a twisty multi-colored look. Once the tank had been dyed, washed and dried I set my mother to work on making a halter top.

Cut a your tie-dyed tank top apart just under the arm holes.

Next, cut the back from the front where they are joined at the shoulders.

Finally, cut the back away where it is joined to the front under the arm holes.

This will be the halter top. Use left over arm and neck binding for the neck and back ties. Trim them close to the finished edge. Fold what is left of the shoulder around a length of the salvaged binding. Do this for each side. Do the same for the back straps.

Finish the bottom of the halter with a binding made from long, two inch strips of the left over tank top. For a better fit, run thin elastic inside the binding. Tie straps around back and neck.

I suddenly feel compelled to make the cupcake liner leis on the cover of the latest issue of Kids Crafts 1-2-3 to finish off the complete outfit.

Tie-Dye Hula Skirt Tutorial

Nothing says sumer quite like tie-dye. The bright colors, the cheery abstract designs and the ease of dying all make summer fashion fun. Always looking to set my tots apart from the rest of the playground I decided to make them Hawaiian themed tie-dye outfits. This will be a 3 part series that includes a hula skirt, tank top and onesie with leigh. First up, the hula skirt!

SUPPLIES

Old T-shirts or tank tops

Tulip One Step Tie-Dye Kits

Scissors

Sewing Machine

Let me start by saying: this was my first attempt at tie-dye. I have to say it was so stinkin' easy my 4 year old helped. We are talking wrap cloth with rubber bands, squirt with dye, go to bed, wake up and rinse, dry and wear easy. I'm totally a tie-dye convert. When selecting your material to dye, think natural. I went with some old undershirt tank tops of mine that were headed for the rag pile.

The Tulp One step Tie-Dye Kit comes with super easy to follow instructions that walk you through achieving various tie-dye patterns. I was using 3 tank tops for my shirt so I went with a braid. I used the rubber bands included in the kit to hold everything together.

Next I put my braided shirts into the sink. The kit comes with quirt bottles that all you have to do is add water. I used two kits. One had lime green and the other had blue and yellow which I combined to make another shade of green. Coat your braid making sure to A) get into the folds and B) Not over saturate. I wanted contrast so that the material would look like grass for my grass skirt.

The dye needs to sit on your material for 6-8 hours so I went to bed and let everything work it's magic. In the morning I cut my rubber bands off and popped my tanks in the washing machine. Now I just needed them to be dry so I (or my mother rather) could start sewing.

This skirt was inspired by a post I saw on Make It and Love It. Ashley made an ombre style skirt using different red shirts. I saw the fun her daughter was having twisting and turning and I knew Tallulah needed to hula. Check out her site to learn how to make your skirt. Be sure to catch the next 2 installments where I'll walk you through making a matching tie-dye halter top and a tie-dye onesie complete with leigh for little brother.

Creating Customized Portrait Screens with Your Tulip ScreenIt

I recently discovered two new and exciting craft tools – the Tulip ScreenIt and Me on a Pumpkin. You are probably wondering what these two things have to do with each other. Let me explain. Me on a Pumpkin is software that you download and can use again and again to create images that you can carve on a pumpkin. Upload a photograph and there are countless ways to tweak the photograph and get a print out of a perfect stencil. Sure the images look great carved onto a pumpkin, but I couldn’t help but think how awesome they would be burned onto a screen and printed onto anything and everything that would sit still. Enter the Tulip ScreenIt.

SUPPLIES

T-Shirt

Tulip Soft Fabric Paint

Me on a Pumpkin Software

Tulip ScreenIt

Photograph

Computer

Printer

Black Marker

I was one of several lucky bloggers selected to receive a free Tulip ScreenIt in the mail. Think Yudu, but smaller and quicker. I like it already. After watching the easy to follow online how-to videos I was screwing in light bulbs, removing film in the dark and scrubbing sheets of pink with a sponge. Easy peasy and great results.

So as I mentioned the first thing I did was tweak a photo of Tallulah in my Me on a Pumpkin software. I printed the image out and with a black marker filled in the gray areas. You need thick black lines to properly burn a screen.

Following the Screenit instructions I pulled out a pre-emulsified screen by the light of the yellow light bulb that came with the kit. Placed my pink sheet on the included foam padding, put my image on top, placed the Screen It lid on top turned her on and set a timer for 15 minutes.

When the timer went off I rinsed my screen in water for 30 seconds. I immediately started to see Tallulah smiling back at me on the screen. I placed the screen on the included foam padding and using a sponge and started wiping. When your screen is fully visible you need to dry it. I patted mine dry and swung it around in the air for about 5 minutes and it was ready for action.

The next step is to stretch your material over the padded the base. Place your screen on top. There is a frame to click into place on top and hold everything down.

Use the Tulip Soft Fabric paint of your choice and place a good amount across the top. Use the enclosed squeegee to pull your paint across the screen. Clearly I did something a little wrong somewhere since my screen has stripes. Give me a break it was late after a long day of playdates and swim lessons when I decided to bust out my ScreenIt. Practice makes perfect. Plus I kinda like the stripes.

Lift your screen and rinse. I can now use Tallulah’s face up to 75 times! Everyone in the family is getting a T-shirt, I see a customized pillowcase in her future, goodie bags at parties, lunch boxes for school, place mats for the fam. I’m getting excited just thinking about the customizable possibilities of Me on a Pumpkin and the Tulip ScreenIt!

For a little added humor I went in with some Tulip Slick Paint and added a caption to the shirt I made Tallulah. We have called her The Boz (or T-Boz) since she was a baby. A Who’s the Boss joke seemed fitting for the T-shirt. I can’t wait to see the look on her face when I show it to her tomorrow.

4th of July Bomb Pop Shirt

Nothing says 4th of July like a Bomb Pop. Well ok maybe fireworks say it more, but Bomb Pops are cuter. I mean come on. Add glitter to the yummy equation and then pop this top on my kid and the cuteness will be unstoppable. Let me tell you how you can make your own in about 20 minutes.

SUPPLIES

T-Shirt

Tulip Fabric Paint (the shad of a stick)

Paint Brush

Iron

Tulip Fashion Glitter Shimmer Sheets

First I drew a picture of a Bomb Pop on a piece of paper to use as my pattern.

Next I cut my pattern into 3 parts. I then used the pattern parts to cut the shapes out of silver, teal and red Shimmer Sheets.

Once my shapes were cut out I placed them on my shirt where I wanted. Place a thin piece of fabric on top of the image and using a hot iron press.

The last thing to do is to paint on a popsicle stick and let it dry. I can't wait to show Tallulah her new spiffy 4th of July Bomb Pop shirt when she gets up tomorrow.

***This is a sponsored post by I Love to Create - I was compensated & given free supplies. Mama has gotta pay the bills somehow and really who in their right mind would say no to free craft supplies***

Cinco de Mayo Pinata Shirts

Nothing says Cinco de Mayo like a pinata. You know how I love to dress my kids in theme (weenie dogs anyone?) so I thought why not make them matching pinata shirts to wear this weekend. Not to mention they will be great for birthday parties. Earlier this week I featured an embroidery pattern by Mollie Johanson of Wild Olive on BlogHer. The pattern was for the March stitch-a-long at Feeling Stitchy. I kept thinking about this perky little donkey and how I needed to make something with him for this week's I Love to Create post. SUPPLIES
T-shirt and/or tank top

Tulip Fashion Paints

Stencil Bruch

Printer

Fabric Fusion Glue

Felt

Scissors

Wild Olive pinata embroidery pattern

Rick Rack

Scribbles Paint Marker

Stencil 1 star pattern stencils from the Stencil 201 Book
The first thing I did was adorn a T-shirt for Baxter and a tank top for Tallulah with a star pattern from Ed Roth's Stencil 201 book. I used some festive colors from Tulip. While the paint was drying I enlarged the pinata embroidery pattern from Wild Olive and printed it out. I cut out the donkey and traced it onto two separate pieces of felt. Once the stars were dry using Fabric Fusion Glue I attached my felt pinatas to the shirts. The next thing to do was add the stripes. Molly from Wild Olive embroidered hers, but I had some colorful rick-rack that worked great. Again, I used Fabric Fusion Glue to attach the trim.
I cut out the saddle from the paper and traced onto some teal felt. Using Fabric Fusion Glue I attached to the pinatas.
Last, but not least, I added the details of the face using a Scribbles paint marker. Once everything was dry I tried to get pictures of my children modeling their new shirts. This was about as easy as herding cats. So now that I have these snazzy new matching shirts made I guess that means I should find something to do on Saturday so we can show them off. Visit us on Facebook!
Craft on!