Recycled t-shirt bracelet

It’s been forever since I managed to post something. Life has been incredibly busy, including a long weekend trip to Berlin, my camera has died on me and I’ve generally been rather un-crafty. However, here’s a quick little project for ya.

Make a recycled t-shirt bracelet!

A lot of times, t-shirt refashion tutorials will tell you to cut off the hem and throw it out. Well, we’re gonna use it today. You’ll also need embroidery thread and scissors. That’s it!

1. Take a t-shirt of your choice (mine was plain black, but any color you like will do) and cut off the hem. You’ll want to cut just under the stitching, so you have no stitching left when you’re done. Cut off the side seams so you get two long, narrow strips of shirt. Cut down the middle of the strips lengthwise. (This will be where the hem was folded.) You should now have four even narrower strips of shirt.

2. Take three strips of shirt. (Make something fun out of the fourth.) Pull gently on the ends until the strips start to curl in on themselves. You now have t-shirt yarn. Take out your embroidery thread and cut it the same length as your yarn. Make a knot into end of your yarn strips and embroidery thread.

3. Braid your bracelet. I laid my embroidery thread on top of one of my yarn strips to use as an accent. You could also wrap it around of the yarn strips. Whatever you do, take care to ensure that the thread will be visible and doesn’t disappear into the yarn. Continue to braid until you got the desired length. (I just braided it all and got a bracelet that fits around my wrist twice.)

4. Make another knot at this end to secure your braiding. To close your bracelet, carefully wiggle apart the braiding at one end until you’ve got a hole big enough to push your knot through. Secure with a few stitches or some glue if needed. The shirt should have enough stretch so you can slip the bracelet over your hand. Voilá, you’re done. Wear your recycled bracelet with pride.

I made my bracelet during a soccer game. It’s a great craft to do while watching your favorite tv show. I’ve been wearing my bracelet every day since. Since the t-shirt yarn is so soft and slightly stretchy, it’s really comfortable to wear.

Giveaway winner & DIY small felt bucket

Our biggest German news site announced today that tomorrow the internet will have to be taken down for 24 hours to upgrade to IPv6. And then I remembered what day it was. Have you been fooled by someone today?

I promise this post will commence 100% April fool’s free. The deadline is up and we have a winner of my first blog giveaway.

Congrats, Renanda! Your easter surprise will hop its way to you.

Yesterday evening, my boy and I decided to visit the in-laws over the weekend. Which of course means my brain has been rattling with last-minute gift ideas. This morning, I set to work with some felt and embroidery thread I had lying around.

Please excuse the crappy picture, my camera batteries were dying on me. I’ve bought a new pack, which is currently happily trailing along in my boy’s backpack. D’oh.

I whipped up my own pattern for this cute little felt bucket. Here’s the basic steps if you wanna make your own:

You will need:

• colorful felt (mine was 2mm thick)
• contrasting embroidery thread and needle
• wash-out marker for the felt
• (metal) ruler
• x-acto knife and cutting mat or scissors

1. Find a lid or something round to trace onto your felt and cut out. I took a small jar with a 6 cm (2.5″) diameter. (It’s the one you can see in the photo propping up the bucket.)
2. Either calculate or measure the circumference with a piece of paper. I used paper to get a sense of how high I wanted my bucket to be. I ended up with a 20 cm (7.9″) long and 7 cm (2.7″) high strip.
3. Sew your base circle to the strip using a blanket stitch (here’s a good tutorial). Remember to sew the right sides together since you won’t be turning this later. I pinned the circle to the strip using some needles. It’s a bit fiddly, so you might want to glue it in place first.
4. Sew up one side using blanket stitch again. You now have a basic bucket shape. Mine bulged a little oddly where I sewed up the side, so I cut down the opposite side of the bucket and sewed it up again. This will give the bucket more of an oval and symmetric shape.
5. Freehand a strip for the bucket strap. Mine was about 0.8 cm (0.3″) high and 16 cm (6.3″) long. Sew it in place. (I thought the x-stitch looked really cute.)

Voilá, you have a handy-dandy felt bucket. It’d look super cute filled with easter grass and some colorful candy eggs. I plan to sew on some applications to spice up my bucket later, but I have to get thinner felt first.