Upcycling Obsession

I have a new obsession. Upcycling. Taking old clothes and making them awesome and better. Here's a quick step by step to take you through an upcycle. There are way better and cooler ways to do this, but this is how I've been doing them so far and it's worked out pretty well. 

Supplies:

Old Shirt you either don't like, don't wear...could have a stain rip whatever!

Heat Bond Tape

Thread and Sewing Machine

Good Scissors

Extra scrap material (enough to cover the shirt where you want to) -this is completely optional!

Step1 Grab your shirt and cut. I ended up cutting this shirt across about 1 inch under the gathered portion, and then I cut up the shirt to make it into a little half cardigan. 

Step 2. Take your extra material you would like to sew to the bottom of your shirt, if you're not doing this, you can just skip this step, add heat bond to the bottom of the sewed cuff you will create and sew along the bottom. 

Step 3. I added heat Bond Tape to the strip I was placing along the bottom and folded over the edges and ironed it onto the shirt. 

Step 4. I also FYI added Heat bond to either side of the fabric after the ends were folded to attach it to the shirt. 

Step 5. I sewed to lines along the hem of the shirt to make sure it was secure. I am still learning and I purposely stitched the different ways to get practice. 

Step 6. Measure the strips for the front sides of the shirt where you've just cut to make it into a cardigan. Again this is optional if you're not adding more material then you can just fold your edge over and sew. But I actually love it with the different colours and material I think it looks cute and different than anything on the market now. I followed the same steps as far as heat bond and folding everything over and then used more heat bond to attach the shirt fabric to the new fabric I was sewing on. 

Step 7. Looks like the above. then I sewed along the edge of the new fabric and the top and the bottom. 

And Voila! now you have new awesomeness! You can also save the material from the bottom of the shirt and make little rosettes to make as matching hair pins (I've been doing that) or you can use it for another new upcycle!! Please link or comment with a link to your fabulous upcycle projects and I will feature them on the blog!

Linking up to See Vanessa Craft's Friday Do Something Crafty!

 Sharing my ideas on The Celebration Shoppe’s What I Made Wednesday!