{Blast from the Past} Purple Rosette Tee

I dug this one out of the vaults and dusted it off for you all, in case you missed it the first time around.  I'm sure you have a tee or two hiding in your closet or shoved in the back of your drawer that could use a makeover.  Here's some inspiration for you:

Purple Rosette Tee

Today I'm sharing a simple way to disguise a holey tee.  I'm still a novice seamstress, so when it comes to me and sewing, simple is best.

I had a little bit of a mystery-a bunch of almost new tees were developing holes in them, all near the bottom of the shirt, thus ruining otherwise perfectly good shirts.  Not only was it frustrating because I didn't know what was causing the holes, but I felt like I was wasting money because these shirts that had only been worn 2 or 3 times were now trashed.  

This is only about half of the pile of shirts with holes.  I needed to come up with a creative way to cover up the holes without it being obvious that I was hiding something.

With the purple tee (which is also right there on the top), the holes were kind of big and covered a wider area

They were also a little off-center, so it presented a bigger challenge. 

To fix yours up, you'll need:

A holey tee

A tee to cut up in a matching/coordinating color

matching thread

rotary mat, cutter and ruler

tailor's chalk 

Then I found this tee at a consignment shop and had an idea.  It matched the contrast stitching on the purple holey tee perfectly.

It was only $3!  And HUGE!  I've never seen such a large medium-sized tee!  But that meant there was plenty of fabric to work with.

To start off with, I folded the dark purple tee in half and with tailor's chalk, marked a line diagonally down from the collar to just past the last hole at the bottom.

I pulled it out flat like this, still keeping it folded in half (see the chalk line) so that the area I cut out would be even.  Then I cut out that chunk-bye-bye holes!

I measured the length of the piece I cut out and the width at the bottom and cut a piece out using those measurements from the lavender tee.

I wanted it to have a gathered look at the top, so I stitched some thread in about 1/4 in. down from the top of the edge and gathered it by pulling on the thread.

Then, using the piece I had cut out of the purple tee as a guide, I trimmed up the lavender piece

Then pinned it in place.

And sewed the pieces together.

Like so.

Now, you could stop here if you wanted.  But I felt it needed a little something more.

Rosettes make everything prettier!  I cut a few strips of fabric from the lavender tee and rolled them into rosettes, stitching them in place as I went so they wouldn't come undone.

Then attached them to my tee at the collar.

And there you have it!

Holes? What holes?

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out and I hope you love yours too!

{Blast from the Past} Black Bead and Flower Necklace

I'm slowly getting back to normal with blogging.  I'm working on projects and crafts more and I've got near finished so I'll have some fun things to share with you soon.  In the meantime, I've dug up some Scraps and Scribbles' gems from the past to {re} share with you all.

I love a pretty and simple statement necklace.  Something that packs a punch without being overwhelming.

Photo courtesy of Forever 21

I saw this necklace over at Forever 21's website some time ago.  I went to try and find it in the store, but no luck.  Then I thought, hey, I could make my own!

To make yours, you'll need:

About 3 yards of black "pearls" (I got mine at Joann's)

Sheer black fabric

Black ribbon, about 1/2 in. wide

Needle, thread, glue and glue gun

Start by cutting 3 lengths of the beads: one 35.5 inches, one 31.5 inches and one 27 inches.  You can adjust the measurements if you don't want your necklace as long.  Lay them out longest, middle and shortest (as shown in the picture.)

Cut two lengths of ribbon, 4 inches long each.  Glue on the ends of the beads, keeping them in the laid-out (longest, middle, shortest) order.  Glue the other ends to the opposite edge of the ribbon.  Be sure to keep them in order so they don't get twisted!

Glue on the other piece of ribbon, covering the beads.

There!  Now it's time to make the flowers.

Cut 4 9 x 1.5 inch strips of the sheer black fabric.  This will make three flowers-two small and one large.

Fold them in half, without creasing so you end up with a tube and hem together the edges, about 1/8 of an inch in.

Start rolling the tube, turning the raw edges at the end in.  Stop when it looks like this and stitch in place.

Gather the remainder of the fabric and roll around the center.  Stitch in place.

For the large flower, sew two strips of fabric together, end to end and repeat the steps for the small flower.

Now it's time to attach the flowers.  Decide where you'd like the flowers to be and start with the top one when you begin attaching them.  Glue the flower onto the center strand first.  We'll attach the addition strands once all of the flowers are attached.

Attach the large flower next, followed by the last small flower.  Once all of the flowers have been glued onto the center strand, attach the flowers to the other strands.  Be sure to keep the beads tight, but not over-tight, so there's no sagging or bunching in between the flowers.

And there you go!

Your very own, pretty statement necklace!

{Fashion Friday} Anthro-Inspired Bead and Fabric Necklace

I've had this one in que for a while, but then life happened {having a baby will do that to you, I guess} and I never got it posted.  Well, the wait is over and here it is!  A little bit fashion, a little bit craft and an Anthro knock off to boot!  Happy Friday :)

I saw the Anthropologie version of this necklace a ways back and silly me, I forgot to save a picture of the original, because it is no longer for sale.  But when I first saw it, I thought, cute! followed by, I could make that!  The process is a little time consuming, but the results are lovely.

To make yours, you'll need:

Striped fabric (mine was from the remnant bin at Joann's)

16 clear faceted glass beads (found mine at Michael's)

Scissors, white thread, needle, snap closure

1. Cut a strip from your fabric that is twice the width of your beads and about 24 inches long.  My beads were 1/2 inch wide so you'll need to adjust it accordingly.  You want it to be 1.5 times the length of your beads (I had 16 beads at .5 inches each, so 8 inches total.  Multiply by 3=24.  Ugh, math, I know.)  Fold it in half and do a running stitch along the raw edge-you can skip this step if you'd like.  For me, it was easier to keep the fabric from slipping apart once folded in half if it was stitched in place.

2. Take your beads and begin adding them to your fabric strip.  To do this, start about an inch, inch and a half in from one end of the fabric strip {Remember to keep it folded in half!} and make two up and down folds the same width as your bead, then add the bead, taking the fabric under the bead and repeat the folds on the other side.   

 I found it was easiest to make the folds on one side, thread the needle through the middle, then add the bead on the thread, then do the folds and thread the needle through those.

 

 3. Keep repeating folds, bead, folds, bead until you've used all your beads.

4. Now, for the ends.  Depending on how long you want your necklace to hang, cut two strips of your fabric, same width as your long piece.  Fold each in half and do a running stitch along the raw edges, just like with the main piece.

5. Tie one end to the tail of the beaded piece and stitch an X on the underside to keep it in place.  Repeat on the other side.

6. Sew your snap closure on the ends.

And there you have it-your very own knock off for a fraction of the original price!