Even the best outfit can stand to be accessorized, so why not make your own belts, headwear and jewelry to accent your clothing? If you don’t feel ready to regularly wear your handmade garments, wearing your handmade accessories is a great step in that direction to make you feel comfortable showing your talent to the world!
Raise your hand if you’re an 80’s child! Or an 80’s teenager or an 80’s adult! If you were alive in the 80’s you know all about fashion staples of that decade: massively oversized T-shirts, legwarmers, pegged jeans and puffy and wrinkly fabric covered hair …
I have this thing about beads and yarn. It’s just a winning combination. You might remember years ago that I made about a gazillion beaded knit necklaces for me and pretty much every woman that I know. Which is why, when DMC contacted me to …
I love refashioning and repurposing jeans. We all have jeans and when they become unusable for one reason or another, the fabric is wonderful for using in so many ways. I love the different shades of blue and the fraying of unfinished denim edges. But …
And, even if I know perfectly well how to sew, I also love super quick projects that require no sewing.
Last year I published a great tutorial on making infinity scarves from T-shirts by sewing together strips of the cut shirts. But sometimes it’s nice to just keep things simple. Which is why today I’m sharing a way to create a matching infinity scarf and headband set in little more than a blink of the eye. Without sewing!
That’s right! All you need for this project is a T-shirt and a pair of scissors!
Are you ready? Let’s make a 30 second infinity scarf and headband set!
Some people are obsessed with clothes and have overflowing closets. Other people obsessively buy shoes and have dozens and dozens of them. I, myself, have a thing for neckwear.
Except for the hottest, most humid summer months, when I can’t bear to have anything on my skin, I love the feeling of having something around my neck. I have tons of necklaces (some of which you can see on my DIY driftwood necklace hanger) and tons more scarves.
About a year and a half ago I got hit by the infinity scarf bug. I have no idea just how many I’ve sewn, but I have more than I can possibly keep track of and have given many more away as gifts.
See? Here I am in May 2015 (May 30 from my Me Made May 2015 challenge, to be precise) with a series of light springtime infinity scarves that I’d made that day. (I was also about two months in out of the 18 months or so it took to grow out my short pixie haircut!)
But the infinity scarf that I got (and continue to get) the most compliments on was this Spanish-style one with red pompom trim. I cut up the entire shirt, right up to the neck and including the sleeves, and pieced the pieces together along with the trim to make a loop that was wide enough to fit over my head twice. You can see the bit of lace under the neck tie incorporated in the scarf in the bottom picture above.
A lot of people asked me how I made the scarf and I got more than one request for a tutorial. So now that I’ve explained how to sew knit fabric without any overstretching, bunching, snapped threads or holes, I thought that it was about time to finally explain how to make these!
I’ve given instructions on two styles of T-shirt infinity scarf. The first is a pretty simple two-color version that only takes about 15 minutes to make. The second is a more complex version of the first, using pieces from any number of shirt. You can get really creative and use up fabric scraps, or even salvage usuable parts of stained and/or ripped t-shirts.
These scarves are wonderful gifts, too, so raid your closet for shirts you don’t use anymore and sew up a colorful and unique T-shirt infinity scarf for everyone you know this holiday season! Let’s get started!
In the years that I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve collaborated with lots of other blogs and websites. And today I’m so pleased to announce that I’m starting a new collaboration with the Italian handmade learning website Make It Land! I will contribute an eco-friendly refashioning tutorial every month for my special column of sorts called “Refashion Cafè” and, seeing as the website is only in Italian, I will publish the tutorial in English here on Cucicucicoo for everyone to enjoy!
I decided to start off with a very simple refashion that anybody can do, even if she doesn’t know how to sew, crochet or do any other sort of handmade crafting: no-sew T-shirt bracelets!
The idea is pretty similar to the no-sew t-shirt sleeve necklace tutorial that I published a few years ago, except it uses a different part of the t-shirt and I’ve figured out a better way to bind all the strips together.
These bracelets are ridiculously easy to make and it’ll take you about two minutes to make one, but they’re still really cute, especially when you make them colorful and with matching necklaces! I love wearing these in the summer because they’re light and don’t stick to my skin like most other accessories.
They’re also a great gift and, because you just use old t-shirts and they’re so fast to make, you can whip some up for all of your friends!
Want to find out how? Then keep on reading for the t-shirt bracelets tutorial!
Spring is here! My favorite season of all, the advent of Spring makes me so happy. I love blooming trees, the scent of flowers and cut grass, the birds singing outside my windows, the warm sun…. So today I’m showing how to sew a scrap …
I get sort of obsessive every so often with certain projects of mine, and just can’t stop making them. And this is definitely one of those situations, because ever since May 30, 2015, when I made three springtime infinity scarves from refashioned clothes as part of my Me-Made-May challenge, I haven’t been able to stop making them!
Seriously, I love infinity scarves (which are also sometimes called “circle scarves”). They can really make an outfit and can have totally different feels depending on which fabric is used in what size. They can be casual or relatively fancy, for warm weather or freezing cold weather. Fuzzy, silky, smooth. With embellishments sewn into them. From brand new fabric yardage or upcycled fabrics. You can really go wild with your creativity!
And these make such great gifts! Here is my friend Laura from Le Pecionate when we met up at the Abilmente creative fair in Rome, wearing an infinity scarf that I sewed her. (Isn’t she adorable?) Infinity scarves are very in right now, you can make them to suit the recipient’s needs and tastes, and they’re relatively fast to sew. I’ve been giving different versions of these for months, and have gotten nothing but rave reviews.
I actually meant to create this tutorial months ago, but I first wanted to publish a sewing lesson on how to sew the ladder stitch by hand. If using a single fabric, all you need to do is sew two seams with the sewing machine, then close up an opening by hand, so I decided to include this project in my Learn to Machine Sew series, even though it is not entirely machine sewn. I’m sure you’ll forgive me!
I’m a beginner crocheter and knitter, so it’s a pretty simple pattern, made up of linked modules of one stuffed ball and a chain of variable length. You can choose how long the chains should be, and also how many modules to make, making all sorts of possible lengths and looks. Above you can see the three necklaces I’ve made with this pattern. Being made with cotton yarn, it’s a nice and light spring or summer accessory!
The balls are all the same size, but the chain length between balls varies from necklace to necklace.
The first chain ends in a loop, which gets hooked over the last ball for a super easy closure.
Are you an expert refashioner or just starting to get interesting in it? If you’re interested in hearing my thoughts about refashioning, how I got started and some of my past messups, take a look at my interview as part of the Greeny Crafter series …
Kids just love hooded towels, especially when they’re shaped like some fun animal or creature. So my mother thought that a couple of adorable hooded towels would make a great gift for my kids. But I had a little surprise when I opened up the …
Now that Christmas is over and I’m done (for now) with my ecological gift wrapping guide, let’s get back to regular refashioning business with a super quick project. I’d actually planned on publishing this tutorial as a last-minute gift idea, except I was perhaps a …
Last year, when my little girl was getting ready to start 1st grade, I realized that her pen/pencil/marker case from kindergarten just was too massacred to use again. I couldn’t throw it away, though, with those three cheerful bright red zippers. I removed them carefully– …
Almost a year ago, I received these fantastic pendants as part of a wonderful swap. The chains I had to wear them on, though, were just too long. They’re nice sterling silver chains that I took from some horribly ugly pendants that my mother-in-law …
I’d had these wooden beads in a glass jar for nearly 10 years. I’d saved them from… are you ready?… a pair of flip-flops. Yes, that rubber part that keeps them on your feet? They were covered in these beads. They were cute, but …
Have you seen Mammabook’s collection of guest posts this year? The theme is “Creative Recycling for Children” so you can immagine how many cool ideas there are and how happy I was to be able to participate as well! Silvia asked me if I …
i fell in love when i saw this scarf cardigan. amazing!! and i also had a couple of pashmina-type scarves that i didn’t use anymore and wanted to use them to recreate it. except there’s no tutorial (i even wrote to the author, but she …
a few years back i received this scarf from alessia as part of a swap. i really liked the color, the yarn and how it’s worked, but i couldn’t figure out how to wear it properly. perhaps it’s supposed to be worn like this, but …
aren’t these necklaces pretty? no, i didn’t make them. i saw them at a market in april 2011. i don’t remember what latin american country they came from, but they’re made from seeds, acorns and little cirlces of orange peel. i really love natural jewelry, …
i’ve already written about my sock dilemma and why i have a bunch of them to use in some way or another. i’d already done two projects using socks: the monster toy and the pot. i also had these socks, a bit used and longer …
Hey! I'm Lisa! Welcome to Cucicucicoo, where you can find the best sewing and crafting tutorials, patterns and all sorts of other FREE creative resources! Click "Blog" above for tutorials that'll bring out the best creativity in you, or "Shop" for eco-friendly sewing patterns!
