Repurpose: Rosie the Riveter Headband from Old T-shirt

I love recycling and repurposing!  I love a simple project!  And I LOVE making something old, turn into something new!  Several months ago I had an idea for a Rosie the Riveter style headband for my little Indee.  I knew I wanted to make these headbands out of stretchy knit material because of its forgivability, but didn't have any on hand.  So I went to my storage room and started pulling out old t shirts that showed promise.  I found several and was excited to get started!  From start to finish, 1 headband took me 10 minutes or less!  This is great for me considering I am just a beginner at sewing!  Here is one of the finished headbands on my Indee Lu Lu.  I love how it turned out and with very little effort involved!:)

I apologize for not having step by step pictures for this tutorial.  I'm hoping that because it's so simple, with very few steps, that I can explain it good enough!

1.  Measure your little girls head around where the headband will fit.  Indee's was 19 inches.

2.  Next, cut two strips lengthwise(top to bottom) out of your t-shirt.  For a 19 in head, I cut the strips roughly 25 inches long.  The strips should be 2 1/2-2 3/4 inches wide.

3.  Now, put the right sides of the two strips together facing each other.  Wrong sides facing out.

4.  Start at the middle on one side and sew with a straight stitch along the edge, all the way up rounding as you stitch at the end, back down the edge of the other side and rounding the other end.  Once you get about 1 1/2 inches from where you started, do a quick backstitch to secure it.  Trim the excess corners at each end.

5.  Now, using the 1 1/2 inch opening you've left on one side, turn the head band right side out.  Fold the opening seams inward and sew it closed.  And you're done!  

Project by Kara

Images by Kara     

Mini Me Maxi Skirt DIY

I am a huge fan of the comfort and ease of the maxi skirt.  Not to mention the fact that I love the laid back style.  I had this idea to attempt to make a "mini" sized maxi for my 2-year-old Indee, but I needed some guidance.  So I called on my good friend Sarah over at Made It Mine to help me bring this idea to fruition.  With Sarah's help I completed what would be the first of many maxi skirts for Indee.  Once I got the hang of it, I pulled out an old t shirt I figured would look sooooo much more cute as a skirt on Indee, than it ever did as a shirt on me!  And let me preface folks, that if I can make this skirt, anybody can!  So here we go!
Things needed:
Sewing machine;)
An old t-shirt(preferably in decent shape)
Measuring tape
Good fabric scissors
Matching thread
Elastic thread

Lay your shirt out flat.

Next, take your measuring tape and measure around your little girls' waist.  Then measure from her waist down to a point on her leg where you would like the hem of the skirt to hit.  

Next you need to divide her waist size in half for the front piece and back piece to the skirt.  Example:  Indee's waist is 18 1/2 inches.  So I measured what would be the top(not the waistband) of the skirt width at roughly 9 1/2 inches.(front and back)  Then I measured the length, wanting it to hit Indee just above her ankles.  Example:  16 inches.

Here is the cutout.  I used the already sewn side of the shirt as my guide for following the same slant in cutting the other side.  So again, the measurement for Indee at the top is 9 1/2 inches front and back.  And the new measurement at the bottom is 14 inches front and back.  The nice thing about repurposing a shirt is the fact you already have a hem at the bottom and only one side to sew up!

Now turn the cutout inside out and match up the open sides.

Here I am sewing up the open side.  Make sure you backstitch at both ends.

Now turn it back to right side out.  Here is the side a just sewed closed.

Next, cut your waist band.  The thickness will just depend on how much shirt you have leftover.  The length of the band should be slightly bigger than your little girls' waist.  Example:  I cut a 20 inch length for an 18 1/2 inch waist.

Now, lay it out flat, seam in the middle.

Fold it in half, inside facing out.

Next, sew up the open side like I've done above.  Sorry, you can't see it very well.

Just another picture of the waistband.  I hope this isn't confusing.:)

Now, fold the waistband in half, open edges facing up.  Put the top of the skirt inside the waistband, lining up all the raw edges.

Wind a bobbin loosely with elastic thread and put in sewing machine.

Sew the lined up raw edges of the top of the skirt and waistband together.

Here is what it should look like after sewing the skirt and waistband together.  Waistband up.

And with the waistband folded down.

Here's the finished skirt on my sweet Indee Girl!  

 

 

I hope I've been clear enough.  If you have questions, let's chat in the comments!


Images by Kara