Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog “Coffee Pot People”. 

We are, it seems, a T-Shirt nation. That’s not a bad thing. They’re comfy, easy care, full of variety, and casually fashionable. I’ve been noticing the new longer lengths for some time, and the layered look, with one or more tee shirt bottoms showing below the outermost layer. I like it. Hip-hiding fashions are always good, right?

Problem is, almost all my tees are short, and most of them are in pretty good shape, too. I have issues with going out and spending money for a new tee shirt wardrobe when I still have a closet full of perfectly good favorites.

But then, there are also some tee shirts that aren’t quite presentable, but not quite ready for the rag bag, either. Those I could use to get the long, layered, look, for almost no time or money.

Here’s what you’ll need if you want to do what I did:

• One T-Shirt
• Elastic, about an inch wide and as long as your waist measurement plus one inch. (That’s what directions always say, but my experience is that leaving that extra inch off almost always gives a better fit. Just saying.)

*Note: If you have a pair of pantyhose with a run in them, you don’t even need to buy elastic. Just cut the waistband off, and use it. It’s soft, durable, and you already know it fits you!

Take one tee shirt and lay it out flat, with edges and seams matched up. Draw a line straight across, at just below sleeve height, then cut. (It’s good if the shirt fits you around the hips, but if it’s too large, you can take one of the side seams in later.)

You now have a tube. Slip it on, inside out and with the hemmed edge down, over your hips, and, standing in front of a mirror, pull it up or down until you get the lower hem positioned where you’re going to want it when you’re wearing it. Turn down the raw edge to your waist, and either pin or mark. That fold is going to become a casing for elastic.

 Slip the tube off. Sew all around the top, about an inch down from the fold you made, but leave an inch or so opening for the elastic. Thread the elastic through the casing you just made, and stitch the ends together.

Sew the rest of the casing shut. If you have a lot of excess fabric left beow the casing, you can trim it off. One very nice thing about tee shirt material is it doesn’t fray, so it’s okay to leave edges unfinished.

Turn the tube right side out, and you’re done. You have a new look and a new layer, without having to actually wear a full tee shirt under another one, which I guarantee will be a life saver come hot weather!

PS. If you do have a really long shirt and do this, you could follow these directions to make yourself a skirt!

The Best Yarn & Needlework Supply Craftie goes to the Boye Electric Yarn Ball Winder!

Boye Electric Yarn Ball Winder is a convenient and quick electric ballwinder that is fully automatic. It eliminates tedious handwinding and easily winds hanks of yarn into center-pull skeins. It will create flat bottom balls that stack neatly. You can rewind messy partial skeins into a tidy center-pull skeins. Wind thin yards together to create custom sizes and colors. Labor-saving motor means less stress on arms, hands and wrists.

Here’s Boye’s acceptance speech they gave while accepting their Golden Glue Gun Award…

It is an honor and pleasure to accept this Golden Glue Gun Award for the Boye® Electric Yarn Ball Winder in the Best Needlework Supply category.  The day I brought home my yarn ball winder changed the course of my crafting experience because of its ease and speed.  I am now able to wind hanks lickety-split creating the perfect center pull yarn cake every time allowing me to get to the fun part – using the yarn to crochet and knit!

Drew Emborsky aka The Crochet Dude®

Boye

 Check out the demo below to see how quickly the Boye Yarn Winder works!

Congratulations to AK Donna M, who was randomly chosen as the winner of Free Stuff Friday and the Clover Iron II!

Donna’s winning answer to “What is your dream vacation” was…

I was so fortunate to be able to take my mom on two dream vacations before she passed away. Our first was a Caribbean cruise, it was so relaxing & fun and the second was a trip on the QE II across the Atlantic. She had a marvelous time & I treasure the memories.

Now I really like to stay at home and vacation around town or go walking through the Bird Refuge which means I can vacation every day if I want. Wonderful!

This New Mini Iron II has special interchangeable tips that can be used for Quilting, Sewing and Crafting. It has five adaptable tips to be used for doll making, stenciling, paper crafting, hard to reach corners and all your innovative ideas. This set also includes a screwdriver and a stand.The Clover Iron is compact and light weight. It has multiple temperature settings for a variety of fabric types and has an easy-glide xylan coated sole plate. The New innovation of Mini Iron II was designed to expand the creativity of every Crafter.

By General Crafts Contributor Amy, from the Blog “Mod Podge Rocks!”

I’m well aware of the fact that winter weather is almost over, but it’s actually a great time to start making presents for this coming fall.  I’ve been knitting since I was 15, and knitting goods for others takes some careful planning and preparation.  There nothing like the look on someone’s face when you deliver a hand-knitted gift!

A recent discovery of mine is Red Heart Pomp-A-Doodle yarn. If you haven’t felt this stuff, it’s amazing!  I got some this January and finally put together a scarf.  It’s so easy, so I share my pattern with you here.

Supplies:

Red Heart Pomp-A-Doodle, African Violet, 2 skeins

Knitting Needles, Straight, Size US 9

To Knit:

Cast on 14 stitches.

Knit all stitches.  Keep knitting until you’ve used up the 2 balls of yarn.

Cast off knitwise and bind in all ends.

Your fuzzy wuzzy scarf is complete!  These are so easy and soft . . . you should make several for gifts during the year.  Don’t forget to watch the following video for some really important tips on how to knit Pomp-A-Doodle.  It’s so fun!

Enter to win the Clover Mini-Iron II!

This New Mini Iron II has special interchangeable tips that can be used for Quilting, Sewing and Crafting. It has five adaptable tips to be used for doll making, stenciling, paper crafting, hard to reach corners and all your innovative ideas. This set also includes a screwdriver and a stand.The Clover Iron is compact and light weight. It has multiple temperature settings for a variety of fabric types and has an easy-glide xylan coated sole plate. The New innovation of Mini Iron II was designed to expand the creativity of every Crafter.  

Every Friday we’ll post a giveaway on Think Crafts and all you have to do is comment on the blog post answering the question of the week. We’ll pick the winner and contact them via email. Deadline is midnight tonight and the winner will be announced Monday. One entry per person please.

Question of the Week: What is your dream vacation?

If the comment box is not below, scroll to the top and click “comments”.

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

Raise your hand if you love all things miniature?! I knew I wasn’t the only one! It’s hard to resist something tiny and cute, anything tiny and cute. I once almost bought a house, despite the fact that the backyard looked out on a KFC drive thru, just because it had this wee room off of one of the bedrooms that would have been the perfect little…something. I never really got as far as what I would use it for. I just liked the fact that it was there.

Thankfully, someone with better sense talked me out of that one, but I still love all things tiny. Which is where the inspiration for this project came from. We are going to be out of town for Easter this year, and instead of trying to drag the kid’s much used Easter Baskets along on the trip, I thought it would be fun to create a mini version of the traditional basket for an Easter morning on the go.

They would also be just plain cute in a dolled up egg carton as an Easter Centerpiece. Or hanging from some forced branches. Or just sitting in pretty little egg cups. Really, they are pretty much cute wherever they are!

Here’s what you need:

Craft paper or cardboard eggs
Scrapbook paper
Craft paint in a coordinating color
Mod Podge
Clothespin
Foam brushes
Craft knife and/or scissors

Cut the small end of the egg off, about 1/3 of the way down the side. Smooth the edges out with the scissors and discard the top.

Paint the outside of the egg. This is optional but just in case a sliver here or there shows through, it’s nice to have a coordinating color instead of the plain old brown.

Cut the paper into thin (between 1/4 and 1/2 an inch and 5 inches long). Coat the underside of one strip with Modge Podge and center in on the bottom of the egg, working up to the cut edge and smoothing as you go and wrapping the paper up over the edge and inside the egg.

Continue this process until the entire egg is covered and dry.

Coat both sides of one of the thinner strips of paper with Modge Podge, and using the clothespin, clip the ends together and allow to dry. This will be the basket handle.

Once the handle and the egg are dry, trim the handle, which should now be fairly stiff, and glue the ends inside the egg. Stuff the egg with ribbon or Easter Grass and charm away!

What kind of basket do you have for Easter Morning egg hunts?

Congratulations to Kristina who was randomly chosen as the winner of Free Stuff Friday and the Sculpey III Sampler Set 30 pc!

Kristina’s winning answer to “When you were a kid, what was your dream job”…

I wanted to be the costume designer for movies. I did make costumes for school plays.

Sculpey lll is America’s favorite polymer clay! It is soft and easy to use. Great for figures, home decor, jewelry and more! This very versatile clay can be sculpted, rolled, cut, and painted. Shape it into your desired form and bake according to package instructions. The Sculpey lll 30 Piece Sampler is the perfect creative gift! Sampler includes 30 -1 oz. bars in different Basic, Bright, and Pearl color ranges.