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? 

Orange Blondies

I was in the mood to make something with oranges. I love white chocolate cranberry blondies so why not make orange ones. So I loosely based my recipe off one that I had and they turned out alright if I do say so myself!

Orange Blondies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon grated orange peel
12 ounces white chocolate chips

Frosting:

1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
Orange juice

Directions:

1. Melt butter, stir in brown sugar. Cool to room temperature.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Beat eggs and vanilla into butter mixture.
4. Gradually add the butter mixture into the flour mixture.
5. Stir in grated orange peel and white chocolate chips. (Batter will be thick)
6. Spread into a greased 9 X 13 pan. Bake at 350 for 18-21.
7. Cool on wire rack.
8. For Frosting, beat the cream cheese, confectioner's sugar and orange peel together. Add a teaspoon of orange juice at a time until you reach desired consistency.
9. Once blondies are cooled, frost.
10. Cut into bars and store in air tight container in the refrigerator.

Serendipity and Spice

S'mores on a Stick!

No time to lite a fire, these S"mores on a stick will certainly satisfy that S'mores craving.  My family fell in love with these when we were at a BBQ last 4th of July when some friends brought these for dessert. These have got to be one of the easiest desserts to create!

Ingredients:

1 package Large Marshmallows

12 oz Milk Chocolate Chips

1 package Graham Crackers

Sucker Sticks

Directions:

1. Line a cookie sheet with either foil or parchment paper. 

2. Insert sucker sticks into large marshmallows and put onto cookie sheet.

3. Crush graham crackers and put into a bowl.

4. Melt milk chocolate chips according to package directions. (One minute in microwave, stir, can cook for 15 seconds at a time if they are not melted all the way)

5. Dip marshmallows one at a time into the melted milk chocolate then roll them in the crushed graham crackers.

6. Put them onto the lined cookie sheet. When finished with them all put them into the refrigerator for 15 minutes to set the chocolate. Enjoy!