Upcycle a Thrifted Chair for Under $10!

After buying our daughter a desk for her room, we realized she was going to need a chair. I guess the thought didn't occur to me until the desk was in her room that there needed to be a chair! So being me, I said I would find her a cute chair or fix one up. The search began, it took a while but I finally stumbled on this beauty at the thrift store for 5 bucks!

It wasn't wobbly, stained or smelly! I felt that it needed a paint job and new fabric for the seat and it would be great!
I had the paint at home and the brushes. All I needed to buy was some cute fabric that coordinates with my daughter's room. I found some great fabric at the local craft store and was able to use a coupon so the fabric only cost me $4.30. My total expense was $9.30! Sweet! This is a great project to try if you have never painted or tried to upcycle furniture.
This is simple explanation of what I did to upcycle this Thrifted chair:

 

Supplies:

Chair

Paint

Fabric

Paint brush and/or roller

Sanding block

Screwdriver

Wet rag possibly with soap.

Hammer and Tacks or Staple Gun

• Lightly sand the chair with a sanding block. You don't need to go crazy with this step. Just "rough up the finish a bit.

• Wipe down the chair with a wet rag. (You may need some soapy water) Then, dry it with a towel or let it air dry.

• Remove the "seat". Use a screwdriver to remove the screws that secure the seat. Take out the seat and set it aside.

• Paint the chair. It took me 3 coats to cover the chair the way I liked. I used a brush and a small roller but you can do it however you like. I also gave each coat about an hour to dry before applying the next coat.

• Cover the seat cushion. Lay the fabric facing down. Place the cushion facing down in the center of the fabric. Starting with one side fold the fabric over the cushion and tack it down. You can use a hammer and some tacks, as I did, or a staple gun if you have one.  Do the same on the opposite side making sure to pull the fabric snug.

 

• Fold over the other sides. The other sides will be folded over kind of like you would wrap a present. Make sure that the fabric does not bunch up and then secure them in place.

• Reattach the seat cushion. Once the paint is completely dry, put the seat cushion back onto the chair using the original screws.

And that is it! Now enjoy that new upcycled chair!

 

Scarf Style!

Scarves are so my thing right now! Wearing a scarf  is a great way to dress up a plain shirt or dress. I am noticing that scarves can be worn on any season.

But the problem for me is: What do I do with them?

I see all these cute scarves and I think, "How will I tie that?"

Well, leave it to Pinterest to come to my rescue! There are so many cute ways to tie or knot a scarf and on Pinterest I have found the instructions on how to do a few of my favorite looks.

 

The Scarf Braid.

When I saw this I was like, "YES!" This is so cool! Braids are so in style for hair, why not for scarves? I found the instructions HERE

Very easy to follow instructions with pictures. (AWESOME)

Great idea, I love it! Thank you to  Krissa, the author of the blog I saw this on, for sharing this wonderful idea!

 

I don't know what to call this one but it looks like a Celtic Knot to me so...

The Celtic Knot

I saw this picture that was step by step on how to do this one here: Celtic Knot Pic

This was easier than I thought! :)

 

Sort of Infinity Scarf

This method turns any scarf into one of those cute infinity scarves! This opened up a whole new world for me :) How to tie a scarf.

After reading this, I hope you give one or all of these looks a try! Let me know what you think, I would love to see your scarf styles!

Men's T-shirt to Tank Top Refashion with Crochet!

I saw this idea on pintrest. The directions are HERE. From a blog called Designs by Studio C

This inspired me to make a new tank top from a men's t-shirt on this yucky April (Winter Go Away Already!!!) Day.

Things you will need:
Men's T-shirt
Good Fitting tank top- to use as pattern.
Scissors
Sewing Machine and Thread
Crochet hook
Needle and thread

(For a no sew option... just use a tank top that fits you and you can skip the first few steps, just go on to where you mark the design out on the tank!)

 First I found a tank that fits how I want this new tank to fit. I turned the t-shirt inside out. Next, lined up the tank to the men's shirt I had.

 Then, I started cutting the shape of the tank. First, I cut the bottom. Then, I cut the sides open and the arms off.

 Next, I cut the neck.  This is where the sewing comes in... Two quick seams up the sides to get the top to be fitted.

OK... Now you will have a basic tank, but this could be done on any style tank. Using a ruler, or your eye, mark lines to make the cuts.

You can go in any design pattern you like. I chose some straight lines.

 Cut slits along the lines, I made mine just under an inch wide and about a quarter of an inch apart.

Take your crochet hook and insert under 2 of the first slits. Pull the 2nd slit under the 1st.

Now you have a loop on your hook. Insert your hook under the next slit and pull it through the loop on your hook. Continue this until you get to the last slit. Stitch the last loop down to keep it from unraveling.

Do this to all of the slits you cut until you are finished with the entire design. Here is how mine turned out. I am going to make more!!! It was easy and I like how the design looks!

I am definitely going to be doing this again. I would not recommend crocheting all the way to the bottom as this has caused the edge of the tank not to lay just right.  Stopping the slits about 2 inches away from the edge will help it lay better!

Upcycle Fan Gear! No SEW!

Go Blackhawks!! Gotta love the ladies' fan gear over the past few years! There are so many more choices and styles. The downside is the price... some of the really cute stuff is out of my budget. So here is a great way to save some $$$ or just to upcycle a shirt that needs some love. Also a great way to make the kids clothes last after they grow out of them...(I just thought of that and may have opened a whole new can of worms for myself there!) I got this shirt from my Sister.

 She said it didn't fit so I could have it! YAY! Well, it didn't fit me either but I knew there could be something done about that!

I got a matching shirt on the clearance rack ( Nice $4)! And decided to get to work!

Supplies:

• 2 Shirts
• 1 Pair of scissors
• Fabric Glue

I cut out the graphics on the black shirt. Then I lined up the pieces to where I wanted them to be on the new shirt.

 

Using the fabric glue, I glued it into place. I used a piece of cardboard inside the shirt to keep the glue from going all the way through.

 

The great thing about this fabric glue is that you don't need to sew, or iron. The glue just needs to have about a day to dry! I wash it inside out and even throw it in the dryer and it really lasts. I like that I left the edge raw. It has a cool worn look.

Now I will be looking for some other shirts to restyle since this one was sooo easy!!! Come back and show me your projects, I'd love to see them!

Bleach Pen FUN!!!

I have played with bleach pens before, and I love the effect they give to clothing! Then my friend recommended a pin on Pinterest to me the other day and I fell in love with the design! You can view the original design on the blog, The Next Bird, HERE .

 Since I am not good at drawing designs I did my own version and recreated her pattern.

I will be playing with bleach more often! The possiblities are endless!

St. Patrick's Day Shirts for my Kiddos! NO SEWING!

My Kiddos wanted to wear Shamrock shirts to school today. They liked the idea of homemade ones so I had to get going last week and get out to buy some supplies. I found some cheap grey shits at Wal-Mart. I already had a green T-shirt in the give away pile that I snatched for the shamrocks! So I got to work! I went for a NO SEWING project because I didn't want to have to drag out the sewing maching because of this...

I have a sress fracture! So much for getting into shape!

Supplies: T-shirt(s)
                Fabric Glue
                Green material
                green fabric paint
                Freezer Paper
                Rhinestones (for the girls shirt)
                scissors
                packaging tape (clear)
For G's shirt I measured where his elbows would be and marked it with a pen.

Then, on the computer I printed out a Shamrock shape about 2inches by 2 inches.  I cut out the shape with scissors. Next, I used clear packaging tape to place the shamrock on the green material.

This is not a necessary step, but it really makes cutting the shape SUPER EASY!

You will get a really nice clean edge. Repeat this step for all of the shapes you need to cut out. You could also do this for the letters if you wanted instead of the freeze paper method.

Then, I used the fabric glue and put the shamrocks on the marks I had made for the elbows. Cute little shamrock "elbow patches". I let that dry for about an hour and I got to work on the words for the front. I used freezer paper as a stencil. This is a great way to make really nice lettering for your shirts if you are going to paint the lettering on. I found a really great tutorial on this on a really great blog I Am Momma Hear Me Roar. Here is the link to the tut... http://www.iammommahearmeroar.net/2010/04/freezer-paper-stenciling-in-depth.html

I just used green t-shirt paint for my shirt and this is how it turned out

J opted for a short sleeve version...

L's shirt went a little differntly... I made a big shamrock and placed it right in the front of the shirt on the chest. Then I  used the fabric glue to put the rhinestones on the edge of the shamrock.

She wore it to school today so I will have to get a pic of the finished shirt later!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here it is!