DIY Cooling Hair Tie

In Texas, temperatures can reach up to 120 degrees, and average during the summer is anywhere between 95 and 110. This past week was girls' camp and as the camp director, I knew one the of the things the girls would complain about the most was the heat, so I made (with help) over 50 "cooling hair ties."

You may or may not have seen those "cooling necktie/hair tie" things that you put into water for a couple minutes and they keep you cool all day? Well, generally they cost upwards of $8 each. But really, they are quite inexpensive and really easy to make.

 Just as a reference, I spent $15 on the crystals and $5 on the fabric (most of it I got for free from donations), so for 50+ neckties, we spent about $20

DIY Cooling Hair Tie

Supplies:

Fabric (how much will depend on how many you need to make, but for each necktie you will need 4 1/2" x 44" of fabric)

Thread

Scissors or Rotary cutter with mat

Iron & ironing board

1/8 teaspoon

Sewing Machine

Water Absorbing crystals/polymers (I bought a 3lb. bag on Amazon for $15, but you only need a 1/2 teaspoon per tie, so I definitely didn't even use close to a 1/4 of that bag. You can find it at Home Depot in the gardening section).

 1. Cut your fabric into 4 1/2" strips. Fold in half "hotdog" style (or the long way) with the right sides together (meaning the side with the more vibrant fabric you would iron together) and iron.

2. Next, sew the two sides together along the long side. You should have a long inside-out tube. Pull the fabric through to make it right-side-out. (My genius husband did this using a broom stick handle. It made things go much faster.)

 3. Now you're going to mark the middle by folding your tube in half. Sew a straight line across the middle. Once you've done that, pour 1/8 teaspoon of the water absorbing crystals into one side. Mark 4" from the middle and sew a straight line again. You've just made one pocket with the crystals inside. Now, make three more pockets so there are two on each side of the middle line. Sew the ends together and voila! You've got yourself a cooling necktie

 *Note: There are many variations on this. You can do three pockets, with one large pocket in the middle. Or you can have one big pocket. Whatever you choose. Just keep in mind that though the little crystals don't look like they take up a lot of space, they will expand 10x their size or more, so in this case, less is probably better.

DIY: Party Shirt

I realize that not all of you will benefit from this DIY project, but for anyone wishing to continue the Air Force tradition of "party shirts" (aka tuxedo shirts worn underneath the mess dress jacket), this is especially for you. 

DIY: Air Force Party Shirt

What You Will Need:

~1.5 to 2 yards of fabric {I personally think that two different, but coordinating look the best as the picture above shows}

Sewing machine

Thread {I suggest white, that way if you make a mistake sewing, it won't be very obvious}

Scissors

Seam Ripper {This one is important!! You will be doing a lot of seam ripping}

Patience {It doesn't take a ton of time, nor is it extremely difficult, but it does take some patience, especially when you have to redo the sleeves three times because your husband convinced you they were on the wrong way, even though they weren't}

1. First things first, take the shirt out of the plastic and take a look at it. Note the sleeves and the back, as that is what you will be replacing. Turn it inside out.

2. Once you have it inside out, look at the part of the sleeves that connects to the back/shoulder of the shirt. Your goal is to get those sleeves off. Now this is my recommendation: I would suggest starting with the lower stitches {i.e. the straight stitch one, not the serged edge/zig zag edge}. One side of the stitches look pretty and simple. The other side looks a little messier. Seam rip from the messier side, working towards the right, as in, as you continue to seam rip, you will be going clockwise. After undoing a few stitches, you should be able to pull the thread and have it all come out. {I tried to take a picture of this and it did not turn out well.} Then doing the same thing with the top/serged stitches--rip out some of the stitches on top and in the underpart, and after a little bit of that, you should be able to rip it right out.

*Note: If that makes no sense, don't worry about it. It took me several shirts to even learn how to do it. It's not necessary, it just makes seam ripping much faster. If you cannot figure out my confusing instructions, just seam rip it out as best you can. It may just take a little while.

3. Once you have seam ripped both sleeves, you should be able to take them out and your shirt will now look like Larry the Cable Guy's shirt. Sleeveless. From here, you are going to work on the cuff part of the shirt.

4. This part is easier than it looks. Just be careful not to seam rip the cuff fabric. All you're going to do is detach the cuff from the sleeve.

5. And then you're going to seam rip out the little cut out thing that is part of the sleeve. Also, make sure you seam rip at least one of the sleeves open so you can use it as a pattern to cut out the sleeves from your "party" fabric.

6. When you're done with all that seam ripping, you'll have three pieces for each sleeve--two of which you'll need to keep--the cuff and that little piece of fabric that went into the cut {sorry, I have no idea how to even describe that}.

7. Next, it's time to...seam rip some more!! Exciting stuff huh? It's time to seam rip the back off of the shirt. Now, if you understood anything from step 2, I'm going to try to explain the easier/faster way to seam rip the back. Remember how there is a messier looking side and a cleaner looking side on the straight stitch? Start at the bottom of the shirt and seam rip a couple of stitches from the "messier" looking side and just pull the thread and it should just pull off. If that's super confusing, just seam rip the back part of the shirt off {both along the sides and across the top}.

{sorry this picture is kind of weird}

8. Use the back part and the sleeve that you have seam ripped off as your pattern to cut out the fabric. When I cut out the sleeves, I folded the fabric over and just cut one out and had two sleeves. {Sorry, I didn't take any pictures here.}

*Note: Make sure you prewash your fabric. It'll make it softer and easier to deal with.


9. Now comes the pinning!! Wahoo!! Okay, it's not really that exciting, but it's important, so here we go. First, you're going to want to pin and sew the sleeves together. To do that, fold each sleeve in half the hotdog way, pin them about a 1/4"down (on both sides), and sew a straight stitch all the way down. You will probably want to reinforce the stitch by sewing and additional straight stitch halfway between the edge and your first stitch.

10. Next, you're going to put on that random white part of the slit in the sleeve. Pin it on, and sew it up!

11. Now you're going to sew the cuff on. Keep in mind that the stiff part goes on the inside (aka closer to the skin). Pin the cuff on, paying close attention to both the front and the back to make sure that you pin the cuff onto the fabric on both sides. As you are pinning, note that you will probably have to fold over part of the fabric to make it fit within the cuff. It's okay. That fold was in the original sleeve in case you didn't remember. Sew it on and there you go! {p.s. unless you are a perfectionist, if you make a mistake and don't get the cuff on both sides, just go back over it. You really can't tell if you're using white thread.}

12. You're going to put the sleeves down for a minute and work on the back part of the shirt. First, hem the bottom so that the bottom edge looks nice. Then pin and sew the fabric onto the top first. You'll want to do a straight stitch across the top. Pay attention to the outside {that's where I stitched it from} as that is the part that will be seen, and make sure it's really close to the edge. {In my pictures, you can see that the outside stitch is closer to the edge than the inside stitch. Don't worry if they aren't the same, just as long as you've sewn it on both sides, you're good.}

13. Next you will want to sew on the sides. All you do is pin them on and do a straight stitch all the way down. I would suggest using the holes from when you seam ripped it out. As you can see, my stitches are a little bit below the bottom row of holes--the person I made this for wanted his shirt a little more fitted {which I ended up making it even more fitted than this}, but you get the idea....right?

13. Phew! Now that you've got the sleeves done, it's time to put them back on! This part is pretty easy. Just pin the sleeve on {make sure you pin the correct sleeve on the correct side!! I had to redo two shirts because I messed that up}. The open part of the sleeve {aka that little slit that you sewed that white bit onto} should face away from you. When you pin it on, make sure the seam is at the bottom {aka not on the shoulder}. And when you sew it on, I would suggest starting at the armpit and working your way around, that way it will look a little nicer {with the backstitching and everything}.

{{What you'll see in the picture: I matched the edges of the top of the sleeve together, making sure the seam was at the bottom. Then I put the top of the sleeve at the top of the shoulder of shirt. Then I pinned it on there first and based all the other pins off that.}}

Annndddddd then you're done!! Take a step back and admire you're newly made Party Shirt! Check out the other party shirts I've done here.

DIY: Fabric State Map

Have you seen all of those print outs of state maps? You know, the designed ones that look really pretty? Well, that was kind of my inspiration for this. But this was much easier to do (well for me at least since I'm not terribly great at design).

{Please excuse the terrible pictures. It was night time when I made these and I used my phone's camera}

DIY Fabric State Map

 

Supplies:
Two contrasting fabrics
Glue
State map cut out {I found this map online, printed it, and cut it out}
Frame

The size of the map will depend on the frame size you want to use. I used an 8x10 frame and I liked the way it looked, but it might also look nice in a really small frame. It really depends on how the state you choose is shaped.

1. Choose your two contrasting fabrics. I love the vintage flower-y look, so I used that as the fabric for the state. For the background fabric, you want something really plain, otherwise it will {most likely} look too busy. I chose a plain royal blue color for this one. {Note: You can also switch it and have the background be a little crazier and the state be simpler.}

2. Place your cut out state backwards on the wrong side of the fabric {aka the side you don't want showing}. That way you can trace it without having to worry about pen/pencil marks on the front of the fabric.

3. Next, cut out the fabric you plan to use for the back. To do this, I just put the back of the frame on it and used that as the template

3. Once it's traced on, cut it out and glue it on to the fabric you've chosen for the back.

And voila! You have your finished project. I like the first one {the teal & flowered one pictured at the top} I did much better, mostly because the state cutout turned out much better. But if you mess up, it's pretty easy to redo :)

P.S. I'm not so sure how I feel about the crazy frame with the crazy fabric. Maybe a more muted frame might suit this one better. But {of course} you should do what you like :)

Home

This weekend, I drove up to San Antonio. My mom came to town for a conference for her work, so I stayed with her for the past couple of days. And it was a good couple of days, but also super super busy! {Obviously since I didn't post hardly at all!}

Anyway, some posts to come:

1. An apple photo shoot {with my brand, spankin' new lens!}

2. Shopping trip finds! {Adore craft stores :)}

3. Thrifting goodies + DIY projects!

4. Send Something Good surprises :)

Hope you all had a fantastic past week and weekend!!

DIY: Mint Jeans

Remember how colored jeans are in style?? Well, I found this awesome tutorial on how to make them yourself! Check it out here!

DIY: Cute Ruffle apron! {I pinned it, I did it series}

Ruffles! Any guesses as to what this is??



I found this pattern here, and I just LOVED it! So I had to try it myself :)

Here's what you'll need:
Sewing Machine
Thread
Fabric
Grosgrain Ribbon
Scissors
Iron
Measuring tape or board


This is what I did.


First, pick out your fabrics. You'll need seven 3 inch strips and one 18 inch by 22 inch rectangle. I wanted to go for a modern vintage look, so the fabrics I chose looked kind of like that.



Next, cut your base fabric into one 18 inch by 22 inch rectangle. I wanted something really simple, so my base fabric is pretty plain.

Once you've cut your base fabric out, sew a 1/4 inch seam in all four sides.


Then cut out your fabric strips {that's soap in case you were wondering--I use it to mark the fabric; easy on, easy off}. You will need seven 3 inch by 44 inch strips. Once you've cut your strips out, sew a 1/4 inch seam on 3 sides (both short sides and one long side).

Got that?



K, next, you want to sew across the top, but don't back stitch on either side. THEN {here's the hard-ish part} pull the top thread until it starts to bunch together. You'll likely have to move the bunched up part down toward the end until it's bunched all the way across the top {as pictured below}. Do this for each of the seven strips.

Now, decide the order you want your ruffled up fabrics in, pin them down, and just sew across! Make sure that you start at the bottom and work your way up, that way you can cover the sewn part with the next ruffle.

Are you excited? {We're almost done!}

Sadly, I did not document this next part very well, but here's where you need your grosgrain ribbon. You should have a little space on the top to cover up the last ruffle, so that is where you will pin your ribbon. It should line up with the top of apron.


I did a zig zag stitch across the middle first {go slow! this part is a little bit hard}. Then, to make it durable, I sewed a straight stitch across the top and the bottom.


So to add my own little touch, I wanted to put in a little something extra. Several years ago, my grandma gave me some sewing stuff, including some very vintage buttons.

So I just hand sewed a couple of buttons onto one of the aprons I made {did you notice there were two different aprons? I gave one to each of my sisters-in-law}


And then you're done!

{P.S. Don't make fun of my pictures, these are all iPhone pics :) I think they actually came out half decent for a cell phone.}