Wednesday, October 16, 2013

My (P)interesting Family

My husband, kids, and I have recently packed up and made a big move from Utah where we've been for the past 10 years to Iowa where I spent my childhood.  All the ups and downs that have come with that are stories for other days, but one really positive thing to share is how much fun it is to be living close to my family again.  This week I joined my mom and 3 of my 5 sisters in our very first family Pinterest crafting night. Here's a look at the finished product...


...and here's a look at how we made it...

First, I feel the need to  leave a disclaimer that the photo above looking all polished and nice is a far cry from our actual lives and crafting.  Everything I've shared with you on this blog has been honest and real; I see no reason to change it up here.  We were 5 women in a somewhat messy house juggling scissors, t-shirts, and 10 kids ages 0-6.  It looked a lot like this...


Since it was our first night of crafting all together, and we hadn't yet thought about putting it up for all the world to see, I don't have photos of each step for you to see, but the project is really easy and adding photos might actually be insulting to your abilities.  So for now, let's do it this way...

You need:
  • 3 old adult-size t-shirts in the colors you'd like your scarf to be
  • Good scissors
You need to:
  • For each t-shirt, fold in half and stretch out flat and smooth
  • First, cut off the hem and discard
  • Then, going straight across the bottom of your folded shirt, cut 3/4"-1" strips so you end up with a large loop of material
  • Continue doing this as far up the shirt as you can (if you're lucky you'll make it all the way up to the sleeves, but if your shirt has printing on it, you'll need to stop when you come to that).
  • Between your 3 shirts, you want to end up with approximately 32 strips cut out.
  • To form your loops, first stretch your strips out as far as you can, causing the material to curl up around itself
  • Then hold in one hand and wrap around until you have something that looks like one of these...


  • Decide on the pattern you want your colors to be
  • Then using your t-shirt remnants, decide which color you want to use for your ties, and cut out 30 3"-4" strips.
  • Stretch these to curl in the same way you did your large strips.
  • Start tying your loops together.  A double-knot will work, but I triple-tied mine for added security
  • It's up to you whether you trim the ties after they're knotted or leave them long. 
This is a project we thought would take about an hour, but in the end it took us a little over two to get past our indecisiveness in color choices and wrangling babies.  And a short break to play a game of cat's cradle, of course,,,

Tell me you can resist when you've got your loops laying out in front of you!
The last step, of course, is to wrap your new scarf around your neck and wear it!  We all decided to tie ours into a long loop, but you can choose to leave your ends untied as well.  Here are our finished products...



Our first family Pinterest craft night was a lot of fun with only a little bit of stress.  Since none of us would really call ourselves scarf wearers, we left knowing we needed to be brave and wear them really soon or they'd end up in a drawer.  I'm proud to say I wore mine on my son's field trip today and totally rocked it on the playground.  It's been keeping me warm (and looking cute) all day.  Now, I think I'm in charge of next month's project...that promises to be (P)interesting...

Want to Win One?
Because it ended up being easy and so much fun, 
I'm going to make a Looped T-Shirt Scarf to giveaway.
Link over to the giveaway post to enter!





21 comments:

mail4rosey said...

How fun that you have a group working together like that in your family! Congrats too on being back home, I hope it feels great. :)

Rachee said...

This is such a neat idea! Getting together with family, re-purposing old tee shirts. I love this idea for the teens and tweens I work with

Eat To Live said...

Well those are cool necklaces and so much more fun when you can work on them with friends. We had a Crafting weekend not long ago. We stayed at one house and just visited and crafted.

MikiHope said...

Now that looked like a house that is happy and lived in (and I mean that in a very good way!). It is great that you are now able to get together with your Mom and sisters and all have fun crafting together. And no, I would not have been able to play the string game either with all those strips hanging out there!!

kristenione said...

I love the scarves! This looks like a fun project and thanks for the great tutorial! I know several people that would love a scarf like this for Christmas!!

Unknown said...

What a neat way to make a scarf! i think we did something like that when I was little-pot holders, I think. How fun!

Dov Shapira said...

I like crafty stuff, I never thought about using T-shirts.
Great idea.

JT and Amanda said...

How exciting that you live by your family again! We are blessed to live only a mile from my husband's parents and grandparents. Too bad I don't have any sisters really to have a craft night :( I love the scarves you guys made!

Bobbi | Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen said...

How much fun is that? I wish I had a family to do crafting nights with, it sounds awesome and I love the scarves!

Tough Cookie Mommy said...

This is very creative and I can't believe how easy it is to make. I need to engage both of my boys in more arts and crafts.

Melanie said...

How fun.. I love to get together with my friends for Pinterest parties.. I love your creations.. SOO gonna make one for myself, it would look great in the office, too.. SOOO want a scarf.. Thanks for sharing

Jutta Lenihan said...

Family time is the best time! I miss my family in Germany badly! I love how you guys get together and do something fun! I bet you had a great time!

Unknown said...

those are neat and very crafty! i love pinterest :) heading over to your giveaway now.

Katherine Bartlett said...

That's a great craft idea! And love family time too!

Healy Harpster said...

Such a cool idea and how cool is that to work with your family members, extra fun for sure. The scarves are cute!

Unknown said...

looks like a great opportunity for a mom's night in! great job

Unknown said...

My girls would LOVE to make these! Super cute and seems simple enough.

Unknown said...

I grew up in a military family and we never lived close to any family members. When I read this story, it makes me wish I knew more of my family members. What great fun to share a great craft with each other. I love these scarfs and I am going to dig around for some t-shirts to make one!

Unknown said...

I love those scarfs. I totally need to try this myself and you guys did an awesome job. I really love the idea of a pinterest party :D

Fan R. said...

You all look as loving family spending time together. Great idea to have a pinterest party, it brings lots of creative ideas.

Fan R @TeddyOutReady

Unknown said...

I wish my family would get together and do something fun like this! BTW, they all turned out really nice!