Southwest T-shirt - a refashion story

This was a fun & easy little project. I normally like to refashion t-shirts, but this time I admit I bought it brand new. Michael's had Gilden t-shirts on sale for $2 - so I couldn't refuse. I bought a nice brand new 2XL shirt & refashioned it to an old dusty tie dye shirt :-)

1. Trim down the neckband - cut just above the stitching line to hold it's shape
2. Cut off the sleeves. I cut mine way back and I sewed my side seams in some, but you can just cut off the sleeves
3. Tie dye your shirt. I did an accordion fold diagonally & tied it off with rubber bands, then I submerged it in a jar of Palomino Gold proactive dye from Dharma Trading - I let it sit in the jar for 24-hours. Wash & dry the t-shirt
4. Using a grid ruler & rolling cutter, I cut 3/8" wide fringe all around the bottom (hence the 2XL shirt - I wanted the extra length)
5. Knot the fringe. Take 2 stands & cross over 2 strands & knot them with the following 2 strands. Continue in the same direction all the way around the shirt.

Style it with your outfit & wear it!

Spurs Wreath version 2.0

Ok, so you may not remember, but way back when I made a sad little Rag-a-Muffin wreath using scraps of t-shirt.

The Original Rag-a-Muffin wreath

Well, it didn't take long in the San Antonio humidity for those t-shirt scraps to go limp. So instead of a Rag-a-Muffin look, I got a drowned rat look. Not really what I was wanting. I finally got off my bum & decided to fix it. 

Step 1: I took it all off & down to the bare bones (or wire frame in this case). I also purchased some burlap ribbon from the craft store. I had a 1/2 roll of black tulle as well, but in the end I opted not to use it.

Step 2: I began by tying the chevron burlap to the center 2 rings. Being my first burlap wreath ever, I did my research, and watched some YouTube videos on how to make burlap wreaths. They all seemed to recommend a type of tuck and twist method. I really wasn't comfortable with that because it didn't seem secure, and when I tried it, mine was definitely NOT secure. But since I was going to reuse my t-shirt ties, I just decided to tie my burlap in place.  I invented my soon to be world famous "Pucker-and-Tie Method" :-)

Pucker and tie method

Puckered and tied all the way around (you can see the gap of the ends at the top of the photo)

Use the Pucker and Tie Method: I began by tying a short end, create a ripple or pucker with the ribbon and tie - create a pucker and tie - so on and so on until I got all the way around to my starting point and tied the last end. I had just enough ribbon to go around the wreath once. My two ends are just sitting right next to each other, which did leave a small gap, but once I was done I was able to squish them together & now you can't even see the gap. I was actually thinking that if you were to put a flower or bow or something, you would actually want that gap there.

Step 3: I began tying my solid black burlap ribbon to the inner and outer rings. I had more of this ribbon so I was able to go around both with no problem. Same method - pucker and tie.

The back of the frame looks like this

Step 4: Once I had all my burlap ribbon tied in place, I started filling in random areas with more t-shirt ties. I think my t-shirt ties were around 1" x 6" pieces (give or take on the length)

Tie extra pieces where ever you find gaps

Step 5: Hang on a wreath hanger hook

Step 6: Add my Spurs Banner Flags

All done! From droopy to poofy - in about 30 minutes (Well, 30 minutes once I had an empty frame to work from. Un-knotting all those little buggers took some time - and fingernails)