somewhere on facebook once i saw a tutorial for converting old t-shirts into circle scarves for your kids. frankly, if you need a tutorial to tell you how to cut the bottom off a t-shirt you should hand over the scissors before you cause yourself some serious harm.
of course, if said tutorial also involved steps in sewing, utilizing heavy or sharp equipment (sewing machines and needles respectively), then i can understand. not everyone loves to rock an unfinished edge.
although i don’t do enough of it, i love making things. i spent some time last year knitting a beautiful little circle scarf for dylan out of this chunky, mustard-y wool. i don’t know if it was too tight or too itchy but she never warmed up to it (ha! i’m hilarious). luckily we had these great fleece-lined bibs from marks and sparks (thanks mom!) that doubled as a scarves.
with the weather changing and her wearing bibs less often, i thought it would be a great time to finally try making our own circle scarves. i’ve only ever seen one style that i liked – it was at zara, grey with brown cat heads (if my memory serves correctly, which it probably doesn’t). but i also have a difficult time trying to justify spending money on something i could make, even if the likelihood of me making it is slim to none.
step 1) cut
the boy has several white undershirts that don’t quite fit any more and i co-opted them ages ago just for these purposes. lay your t on a flat surface and cut across the body, about two inches below the arm pit. you can always cut it shorter or longer, depending on how thick and full you want the finished product to look. our t-shirts are standard fruit of the loom size small, and wrap around my 15 month old’s melon twice.
step 2) dye
i don’t have fabric dye (i’ll invest eventually) so i used our neon food colouring, added 20 drops to about two cups of warm water and made my first attempt at tie dye since i was knee high to a grasshopper. actually, i don’t know if i ever tried to tie dye anything. think of how different my life would have been if i had?
step 3) dry
i figured about 20 minutes was enough. snapping off the elastic bands and unfolding the scarves, i was initially disappointed. the fabric soaked up the colour nicely, but it was all too uniform. no fun. i heaved a disappointed sigh and let them dry. therein lies the key to a successful dye job, because both the pink and the white ones looked great the next day. the pink even features wisps and streaks of blue, like funky, girly marble. i couldn’t have made it better if i’d planned it.
dylan doesn’t seem to have a problem with them, she even matches mommy on most days (seeing as mommy’s trying to upgrade her own bland wardrobe that keeps having her mistaken for a babysitter by tossing on “grown up” accessories…)
speaking of dressing more like a grown up, i thought it would be funny to wear the left over t-shirt around the house for a bit, you know, to see what the boy thought? it’s the kind of look that works on 21 year olds on miami beach…