T-Shirt Scarf and Flowers

I wrote about our Green (for St. Patrick's Day) Green (for Spring) Green (for sustainable) Fashion Show for my latest post on the Simple Green Frugal Co-op blog. Instead of outfits from a chain department store the models, and many of the guests, wore second-hand finds from local thrift and consignment shops.

I didn't have the time nor the inclination these past few weeks to browse thrift shops for something "new" (to me) to wear. But, in the spirit of things, I decided to take an afternoon to re-purpose one of my husband's old t-shirts. An advertising freebie from the casino where he worked, it had a big beer logo on the chest. I don't think he ever wore it - it was a bit too gaudy for his tastes. But the shirt itself was a lovely green tie-dye - perfect for a St. Patrick's Day refashioning project.

I cut the shirt bottom off below the logo, trimmed off the bottom hem, and stretched that loop to make the edges curl under - voilá: an infinity scarf. Then I found a fabric flower tutorial I liked, on Emily's Little World blog. I cut enough circles from the sleeves and top part of the back to make three fabric flowers, and snipped little triangles from the edges to make flower-petal shapes. I'd first planned to make one big flower and two little ones, but decided I didn't like the big flower - it would be too big and floppy. So after the photo, but before making the flowers, I trimmed the big circles down so all three sets of nine were the same size.

I wanted to later be able to use the scarf or the flowers separately so I glued a bar pin, covered over with another felt circle, onto the back of each flower. And here I am, in my St. Patrick's Day wearing o' the green. I got loads of compliments at the Fashion Show. Most of the women were amazed when I told them I'd crafted the scarf and flower pins myself, in less than two hours.