Thursday, September 22, 2011

T-shirt Up-cycle Take: 2, Footstool Slipcover

If you've ever had young kids you know what a mess they can make in the time it takes you to turn around. This poor foot stool began its life in our home with an ugly, dirty, beige fabric and very deteriorated foam. I didn't take a picture, so you'll have to take my word for it. It was actually worse than this at one point...barely. 


I'm sure you didn't miss all those chocolate milk stains on the white canvas fabric? Silly me, I re-covered, and re-stuffed the foot stool, planning on sewing a slip cover that could be taken off and thrown in the wash. Yeah...enter a shorter than usual nap, and a toddler with chocolate milk.  Sigh Clearly the slip cover could wait no longer! 


Enter a t-shirt that doesn't fit in a darker color, and I've got a simple, durable slipcover that can be tossed in the wash as needed, and as a bonus, less wrinkles from cringing every time i saw that chocolate milk. 



Thursday, September 15, 2011

T-shirt Up-cycle



We've got stacks of old, stained, holey t-shirts around here that I can't bring myself to throw away. A couple have been cut up into cleaning rags, but come on, how many cleaning rags do you need?

My solution...


I cut those puppies into long strips and turned them into "yarn," then taught myself how to crochet a rag rug. Seriously.

It's not even close to being perfect, but I made it myself, and I love it! It fits great in front of the sink or stove in the kitchen. 

I've been wanting to make a rag rug for awhile now, but the idea of sewing coils and coils of braided fabric together makes me want to scream. Plus, I prefer rectangular rugs, so I learned to crochet instead!

I used YouTube to learn a simple single crochet stitch, and went to town with it. Each color is a whole t-shirt (between 2x and 4x sizes) cut into strips, so my pile is 7 shirts shorter!

 I was inspired by this rug made by Cassandra from Flight of the Pook out of bed sheets:


and this awesome denim rug from Alison King made from 100 lbs. of up-cycled jeans. Holy moly. I Love it!



Maybe I'll use denim for the next rug. For now, keep your eye out for more t-shirt up-cycle projects to come!


Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Summer in a Nutshell *photo bomb*

Oh hi! It's been awhile, how was your summer? Ours was full of monkeying around,
 Soaking up the sun, 

Lounging about,


bonding with cousins in upstate NY,


splashing around,



becoming buddies with uncles,


and getting to know some farm animals.



It was exhausting!



Now I'm ready for a little chilly weather, and back to some DIY!