Reconstructed Basket-Weave Tee Shirt

When my friend Kristen brought this basket-weave shirt as her project at my crafty birthday party, I have to admit that I panicked a little. It involved way too much -- gasp! -- math.

Kristen had never used a sewing machine before, so the two of us put our noggins together. Kristen figured out the length of the strips, cut them, and even did some of the sewing.

We used two basic long-sleeved tees from Target ($6 each). Kristen cut strips out of one shirt that served as the horizontal woven pieces, then wove those pieces into the vertically-cut strips of the other shirt. We pinned and sewed it along the side seams.

Jersey doesn't work as well as something like a sweatshirt because the jersey curls in, giving you more space between weaves. But I still liked the finished shirt.

The most impressive part? We worked on this shirt until midnight after work on a weekday, and we didn't mess it up!

Have you ever reconstructed a shirt?

Cozy Scalloped Cowl

It occurred to me that my last two posts were both about boozy craft parties. Sorry to let you down with this boring post!

 

Sometimes my mom randomly buys a few skeins of yarn and asks me to make her something with it. This Lion Brand Jiffy yarn is one example of that.

She only bought one skein, so I searched the Lion Brand patterns to find something small. To my surprise, this scalloped cowl popped up.

 

I gave this to my mom as a Christmas present, even though she technically chose and paid for the yarn. Is that wrong? Eh.

My Crafty Birthday Party

Birthday cow made and gifted to me by Jenn W.

As any December baby will tell you, it's hard to have a birthday party during the holidays. Instead of competing with evening holiday parties, I decided to celebrate my December birthday with a little craft party, luring my friends by offering my hoard of craft supplies.