Recycled Fence Sign

I work every other Saturday. I had last Saturday off and knew it was a great day to be cleaning my neglected house. I didn't want to clean my house because I was feeling crafty! I was feeling the need to use power tools. At my house we have a pile of scrap wood, most of it left over from other projects. I went and looked at the pile to see what was there and what would inspire me. In the pile there were several pieces of left over fencing that were very aged. 

I first decided how big I wanted the sign mostly based on how long the wood was. I used a circular saw to cut the pieces. ( The finished piece is approx 17 X 33) I also cut some thin strips of wood for the backing.  I cut them so that they would cover each of the bigger pieces with out going to the edges because I didn't want to see the back strips. 

Then I attached the thin strips of wood with nails to the back. 

After attaching the first thins strips of wood I realized that the top and bottom pieces of wood didn't seem stable enough so I added some more thin strips for stability. 

Next I used eye bolts and frame wire to hang the sign. 

I attempted to draw on the wood how the letters would look. After I did that I then used craft paint to paint, " Home is where the heart is." I didn't quite like how the heart turned out. I didn't like the shape or the color. I ended up using a small file to file off some of the paint to help shape the heart better. I also used some red glitter glue to sparkle up the heart. Now an empty wall in my front room has some decoration!

Logo Polo Upcycled to Decorative T-Shirt

In Arizona April, May, September and October are wedding months. So the past month and a half I had wedding flowers to design every weekend on top of Easter, Secretaries Day and Mothers Day. Normally I work around 25 to 30 hours. Two week in a row I worked 60 hours each week. So no time to post and no time to create anything new. I actually designed this shirt back in March and I am finally at a point that I can post about it! (And hope that I remember how I did it)

So I have several polo shirts with logos on them that have been hanging in the back of my closet since I stopped working for the company. I knew I could upcycle them some how! So for this transformation I used 2 shirts. Start off by cutting the collar off of one of the shirts.

Next you will add this wonderful product called Steam-A-Seam 2. You will apply all the way around the edge of the collar of the shirt.

Next take off the backing of the Steam-A-Seam 2 and fold it over. Now you will use your iron to steam the seam. This will activate the adhesive and leave you with a nice finished edge. The Steam-a-Seam 2 helped the collar no not pucker when sewing and I didn't have to pin it down. Just for kicks I decided to sew a seam for a more finished look. 

Here is the finished look.

Now you will use the second shirt. First cut off the bottom edge. Next cut a 4 inch section out of the middle of the shirt. You will now have a tube/circle. Take the tube/circle and cut once to make a long strip.

Sew a Gathering stitch down the center of the strip leaving long threads at each end for gathering. 

Fold the strip in half with the stitch in the center. Using the bottom thread pull to gather the strip to make a ruffle. 

Pin the ruffle on the outside of the logo in a circle. Sew the ruffle to the shirt. Before you close the circle start to turn the ruffle 1/4 inch inside of the circle. At this point you will keep turning and sewing and turning and sewing till you get to the center of the flower. when you get to the center of the flower make a few back stitches to hold it in place. 

Here is the finished flower. Once I tried the shirt on I felt the flower was a little off centered. So I added another flower. 

After washing the shirt the flowers scrunched up a little bit and I could now see the edges of the logo. So I then stitched down the outer edge of the flower to hide the logo. I now look at shirts with logos at the thrift store a little differently and wonder what can I do to hide that logo. I hope you enjoy transforming one of your polo shirts into a t-shirt or covering up a logo just as much as I have!

Up Cycled Long Sleeve Shirt with Lace

I'm on the band wagon of Up Cycling T-Shirts lately. It's more of a wanting to update my wardrobe and not wanting to spend any money! I started with a long sleeve t-shirt and cut off the sleeves.

Then I cut a piece of lace to fit the inside of the neck line. I cut it square, pinned the lace to the inside of the shirt and trimmed the lace. Then I did a double stitch on the outside of the shirt so I would make sure the stitching looked right. Then I trimmed the lace closer to the stitching.

I almost left it like this. Then I decided to add a thin piece of lace around the sleeves. 

Pretty enough like this but then I decided to try and make the sleeve gathered. I started about 4 inched down from the shoulder by making a few stitches and back stitching. Then sewed a basting stitch down to the edge of the sleeve leaving a long tail of thread. 

I then pulled the bottom thread to gather the sleeve. 

Then take the top thread and thread it through to the bottom of the lace. Tie a few knots to secure the gathering. Cut the extra thread off.

Self portrait of the finished project, hence the cut off head and no smile! Which shirt will I do next?