Upcycled Design Lab Blog

DIY - Upcycled Milk Jug Mask Tutorial

I actually made these masks a couple of years ago but thought I would share the info again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I might have gotten a little carried away.

 

:-)

 

Happy Crafting

 

DIY - Upcycled Business Card Rings - Make wearable business cards

 

 

 

I went a little crazy on Sunday.  Yep more than usual.  I saw an ecoetsy post on how to make functional business cards you know something that people would actually pick up and not loose or throw away immediately.  One of the ideas was a tutorial on how to make a wearable business card into a ring.

 

Well I thought this was just the cleverest cutest funest idea and I couldn't wait to try it.  The only problem is I don't really have a use for them right now.

 

However my sister sells her lovely HFR Designs fused plastic upcycled purses and bags at crafts shows so I thought that I would make a few for her and see how she liked them.

Since both of us enjoy upcycling and her products are made from fused plastic I made my ring bands from fused plastic instead of fabric.  I have a whole bunch of buttons and then I thought of using corks and bottle tops and I just couldn't stop. 

 

 

Just writing about it makes me want to stop and make some more.  I am wearing one right now as I type just because it make me happy and guess what else?  Well my plan and my hope for this blog in the year 2012 is that I will be able to post once a week on Fridays.  I have never been that consistent and of course it is only Thursday January 19 and I have decided that I just can't wait until tomorrow to share my little creations so here they are:

 

The Cork Collection

 

The Button Collection

 

 

The Bottle Cap  Collection

 

 

And

 

The Gum Wrapper Collection

 

 

Guess which one is my favorite?

 

 

 

Happy Crafting

 

 

DIY Upcycled T-shirt Skirt (patchwork twirly dress) Tutorial

 

 

I made two versions of this upcycled skirt.  The first one is a project that I made a while back.  I call it my "Childhood Memories Twirly Skirt / Dress"  because it has Horton Hears a Who, a cowgirl, the Grinch, Micky Mouse and other fanciful screen prints.

 

 

 

 

It is a little loud and colorful but it was fun to piece together from a bunch of old screen printed t-shirt. 

 

 

 

It can be worn as a long skirt or a strapless dress with or without a shirt or jacket over the top.

 

I liked this skirt / dress so I decided to make a much more subtle version for my 20 t-shirt upcycling project.

 

 

I like how it goes from winter to summer wear.

 

 

I used file folders to make my pattern pieces.  I decided that I wanted 8 tiered pieces so the top of the first piece needed to equal 1/8 of the finished waist and bust circumference that I needed plus seam allowances and any extra gathering that I wanted at the top.  Then I made the flare so the bottom would be wider and matched the top of the next piece.  The third and final piece again matches the middle piece and has a rounded instead of a straight bottom.  Sorry I don't have more pictures and details on the pattern.  I am going to try to re-create the pattern and perhaps do an additional post.

 

Step 1 - The pieces were laid out on the solid parts of several different grey t-shirt.  Cut eight of each of the three shapes.

 

 

 

Step 2 - Match the seams to make the eight tiers.

 

 

Step 3 - With right sides together machine sew horizontal seams on all eight tiers.

 

 

Step 4 - Trim the seams.

 

 

 

Step 5 - Press seams open.

 

 

 

Step 6 - With right sides together matching horizontal seams, pin and sew all eight tiers together to form skirt.  Trim and press open vertical seams.  

 

 

Optional Step - Because there are so many seams in this skirt / dress I decided to top stitch my second version on each side of the seam.

 

 

Hopefully I am not going to confuse you here but my original pattern was designed to have a rolled down waistline.  The casing for the elastic was made from the top piece of the skirt.  I decided to add an actual waistband for this skirt so I had to trim off the top part of the skirt.

 

Step 7 - I used a contrasting grey piece of another t-shirt for my waistband.  Cut a straight piece for the waistband (I had to use a couple of pieces sewn together.)  The finished cut piece should measure lengthwise the circumference of the top of skirt plus seam allowance and the width of the band should measure double the desired finished width plus seam allowances.  Sew the short ends of the band together to form a finished circle. 

 

Step 8 - Fold the band in half with wrong sides together and pin to the right side of the skirt.  Machine stitch around the band leaving  2 - 4 inches open.

 

 

Step 9 - Measure the length you want for your elastic piece and add a 1 to 2 inch overlap.  Thread the elastic through the waistband.  If you don't have the right size elastic threader you can use a big safety pin.  It worked for me.  :-)

 

 

Step 10 - Making sure that the elastic is not twisted overlap and sew the ends firmly together.

 

 Step 11 - Smooth the elastic into the casing and finish sewing waistband to skirt.

 

 

Step 12 - The final step is to hem the skirt.  You can single or double roll and then stitch.  I just did a single roll on mine.  I also have basted this part before sewing since I am not very good at sewing with pins.

 

 

 

And that's it. 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting.

 

 

 

 

 

DIY Easy 3 Step 5 minute Upcycled T-shirt Shrug

 

 

 

I must start with a Confession. 

 

I swapped out one of the 20 original t-shirts (the "Where the Wild Things Are" t-shirt was to small but too cute to cut up so I gave it to my niece.) 

 

I  substituted this one instead and happily came up with this quick and easy shrug.

 

 

 

Step 1 - Cut through the center front layer from the hem through the neck rib.

 

 

 

Step 2 - Pin and hand sew a few gathers and tucks in the sleeve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3 - Tuck the neck rib and the bottom hem to the underside of garment.  Tie and wear.

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Happy New Year from Upcycled Design Lab (it's my birthday)

Ok it's not my birthday.  But my little blog is one year old today so it seems only natural to do a little looking backward as well as looking forward into 2012. 

I have on many occasions wished that I was a little more disciplined at keeping up with more regular posts but the good news is while my posts are quite intermittent I am still here and do intend to continue.

Here are a few of my favorite posts / projects from 2011.

 

I am looking forward to what I hope will be a slightly more productive 2012. 

 

I plan on finishing my 20 t-shirt project and I hope to pay a little more attention to my Etsy store.

 

Happy 2012 to all my fellow crafters.