Because gift giving is important to me, but I have many people to buy for, I have a few criteria when coming up with a gift:
- inexpensive
- easily duplicated for multiple birthdays (I'm all about finding gifts that I can do for both of my sisters and my sister-in-law)
- creative
- DIY (because I think homemade gifts are just a little more personal (but take note I don't always give homemade gifts))
- somewhat easy
So, like Janssen does with Christmas gifts, I spend the whole year coming up with ideas: scouring crafting blogs, jcrew, anthropologie, and other websites, and then saving the image or the link so I can easily refer back to it.
One of my favorite DIY gifts that I've made and given to many people is an embellished t-shirt. The idea came from a top someone was wearing in a TV show. After watching the show and spending the rest of the day thinking about that shirt, I scoured hulu.com until I found the scene, took a screen shot, and saved it to my "to make" computer file. Then that week I went out and bought the material to make it.
Here's how it turned out:
I love this shirt so much that I have to force myself not to wear it every single day. You can do it a myriad of ways but here's how I did it:
Materials:
- one t-shirt (when I'm doing these as gifts, I wait until Old Navy, Kohls, or Target is having a sale and I buy them for $5)
- 1/4 yard fabric in the color of your choice (Joann's always has cheap cotton in a million colors, and often has 40% off coupons available online -- this makes it less than a dollar, usually)
Directions:
1. Cut the fabric into long strips about 3 inches wide, then twist and spiral each strip of fabric around itself to make a flower
2. Using a sewing machine or needle and thread, make stitches in several places around the flower to secure the shape
3. Repeat for each flower
4. Using a sewing machine or needle and thread, tack each flower to the neckline of the shirt
5. Using a needle and thread, sew the edges of the flowers together so they don't gap when the shirt stretches over your body.
Approximate cost for this darling embellished t-shirt: $5.80
With a price like this, you should be making these for everybody you know.
3 comments:
love this! these t-shirts are going on my christmas gift-giving spreadsheet. I will keep an eye out for nice tshirts on sale. but they can be hard to find...
This is my favorite blog these days! You guys are awesome to share this down to earth advice. Being from a not always so practical family, I feel like you are giving me a second chance to learn what I need to know about saving money and having a better life.
Lucy
This is darling! I saved a link to Burda Style (have you checked that site out because they have alot of DIY patterns and tips for free) that had some cute flowers like this to try. Now that I remember - I am so going to try this out! Thanks!
Your shirts are fabulous!! I always admire Meg's when she wears them.
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