What you can do with old t-shirts!

  

Hiya guys!  Happy Sunday!  Hope you are all having a great day!

 

This week I thought I would be good and do a post on a way you can recycle old t-shirts into crafty projects! Although, if the t-shirt is still wearable, I say ‘don’t waste it - give away to charity’.

 

However for the ones that have fully lived their lives as t-shirts, here is a way you can repurpose them (instead of chucking them in the bin) and give them a new life as something else!

 

As usual, I saw this on Pinterest and I’ve been wanting to try and make this DIY for ages, so I thought I would give it a go.  

 

 

 

 

So, using my old t-shirts I made…t-shirt yarn!!

 

 

 

 

 

The instructions to make this yarn are pretty straightforward.  As always, I have shown the links to the videos I looked at at the end of the post.

 

How I made my yarn was just a wee bit different as the t-shirts I used had side seams.  Therefore I had to join the pieces of fabric with square knots.  I have a video as well as step-by-step pictures of how to produce the knot.

 

 

How to tie a square knot

 

 

 

Steps:

 

1.       

 

2.       

3.       

 

4.       

 

 

5.      Then just pull as tight as you can and cut off excess fabric.

 

 

 

What I made:

 

I crocheted three different things using the yarn:

 

·         A pot holder/oven glove

·         Gentle exfoliator face scrubbies/face cloths

·         Tote bag

 

 

A pot holder/oven glove

 

 

 

 

 

For the pot holder/oven glove I crocheted the moss stitch using a size 8 hook.  I have a link below which I followed to create the stitch.

 

 

 

Gentle exfoliator face scrubbies/face cloths

 

 

 

 

For these little face scrubbies/cloths I used basic crochet stitches using a size 10 crochet hook for both.

 

 

Single crochet

 

 

Double crochet

 

 

 

Tote bag

 

 

 

 

 

I have also started making a small tote bag with double crochet stitches using a size 15 hook.  I actually ran out of yarn so I need to make some more to finish off the bag.  More than likely, I will post a photo of the finished project on Instagram, so keep your eyes peeled!  

(The links to my social media pages are to the right if you want to follow/like! J)  

 

There are loads of things you can make using t-shirt yarn!  You can also check out Pinterest for inspo on what you can make!  I saw a photo of a crocheted rug…so that’s on my wee (actually, massive) list of DIY things to try! 

 

It’s amazing that you can turn something like a t-shirt into yarn!  Did you know that you can also do this with plastic bags?  It’s called ‘plarn’.  I wonder what can be made with that?  Maybe have to give that a try at some point!

 

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this post, and as always thank you SO much for reading!

I’ll catch you all next week for my weekly Sunday post! 

 

Have a fab week and take care! Xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

YouTube sources:

 

How to make continuous t-shirt yarn by ReleveDesign

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3xJ_W6vYN4

 

How to make t-shirt yarn – a continuous strand by UpcycledStuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq7JX-s0Peo

 

Crochet Tutorial: Moss Stitch Earwarmer by Stitch Stitch Boom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBd7YRTYkkc

 

 

 

Galaxy nail art: An easy how to!

 

 

Hiya guys!  Happy Sunday!  Hope you are all having a great day!

 

How cool was the eclipse on Friday??  If you have me on Instagram you would have seen my photo of the eclipse.  To be honest, I was a bit scared of looking into the sky in case I ended up blinding myself, so the family and I tried to make a pinhole camera.  So the photo wasn’t really of the actual eclipse, just the image on a piece of card of the light through the pinhole…however it did show the shape!

 

 

 

 

(It’s the wee moon shape at the top left area of the photo!)

 

Anyway, being inspired by the eclipse (and the wonders of the universe and all that!) I decided to do a wee bit of nail art…starry night galaxy nails to be exact!

 

Also, I tried something new for the blog…a short little image slideshow!!  Basically a moving collection of my photographs of the process of doing the nail art.  I have posted the photographs as well, with more details about the equipment and tools I used, as well as the steps I took to create this nail art J

 

So, here goes….

 

 

 

 

 

Equipment and tools: 

 

Nail Polish:

 

 

 

·        Black (base coat)

·        White

·        Bright Pink

·        Mid Blue

·        Metallic Gold

·        Chunky Glitter (with stars!)

·        Silver Glitter

·        Clear Top Coat

 

  

Tools:

 

 

 

·        Dotting tools (for picking up glitter)

·        Tiny paintbrush (for little details)

·        Metallic silver marker pen (for extra details) 

 

 

 

 

·        Cotton buds

·        Make-up sponges

 

 

Extras:

 

 

 

·        Small paint palette (to hold nail polish – mainly for the glitter)

 

And… 

 

 

 

·         False nails (OBVIOUSLY!) 

 

 

Steps:

 

1.      Pick the sizes of false nails you need. 

 

 

 

 

2.     File off the excess at the tip of the nails.

 

 

 

 

3.     Tip for holding down each nail so you can decorate them – Blu Tack!  Take a blob of Blu Tack, put it on the underside of the nail and stick it down onto a surface.

 

 

 

 

(I used scrap paper, that way it wouldn’t matter if I made a mess as paper can be chucked in the bin when you’re finished) 

 

4.     Paint on two coats of the base colour.

 

 

 

 

5.     One colour at a time, paint a thin layer of the polish onto the cotton bud/sponge and lightly dab onto the nail.

 

 

 

 

You don’t have to put a lot of colour onto the nail as you want the base coat to still be seen.

 

 

 

 

The cotton bud will create a close together cluster of colour, because of the wool, and the sponge will create more of a sparse cluster. 

 

 

 

 

Tips:   

·         Dab off excess polish onto paper before applying to nail.

·         You don’t have to wait between the colours as they are thin layers and will dry quickly.

  

6.     Pour a bit of the chunky glitter polish onto the palette.  Using the smallest dotting tool, pick up the little bits of glitter and add them to the nail.  I also added stars to some of the nails.

 

 

 

 

 

7.     Using the silver marker pen, add extra bits of detail on the nails that need an extra bit of oomph.  

 

(This step is optional - you don’t really need this.  I just decided to add an extra bit of detail to the design.)

 

8.     For nails that need even more sparkle, dab a bit of the silver glitter polish onto the nail using the brush.

 

Tip: 

·         Wipe some of the excess off the brush first.

 

9.     Finally add a clear top coat and…ta dah!  You’re done!

 

  

 

 

 

I decided to add a wee constellation to one of the nails too, just for fun!

 

So, that’s basically all that’s needed for this nail art!  Pretty easy!!

 

Well I hope you guys enjoyed this post, and as always thank you SO much for reading!

I’ll catch you all next week for my weekly Sunday post! 

Have a fab week and take care! Xxx