July's Craft Challenge: Tee Shirt Rehab

Welcome to second UV Craft Challenge. We are inspired by Just Crafty Enough's Iron Craft challenges to create our own. Here at Upper Valley Fiber Crafts we host a quarterly challenge for anyone to join in. Sometimes there will be a theme and sometimes there will be a specific craft. We'll post our own interpretations of the challenge here at the blog and at the end of the month we'll have a round-up for you to show off your project.

Summer is here and school is finally out. It's probably safe to swap your wintery woolens for summery tees. Each season I inevitably find that time in storage has not been kind to at least one tee. Maybe a grease stain magically appeared, or a tear, or it's too worn to be worn. Or maybe it's just too boring. A quick Google search or glance at Pinterest will show you oodles of ideas for making a tee shirt wearable again.

For this month's challenge I'd like you to choose a tee shirt to rehab and turn it into something wearable or usable by the end of the month. There are four categories of techniques you can use to transform your tee.

• Alterations (make the tee shirt fit better or differently) 
• Decorations (embelishments) 
• Repurpose as a different garment 
• Repurpose as a different object 

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Alterations

Take an oversized shirt and alter it for style and fit.

Or change the neckline.

Decorations

You could use this fabric dot patch technique or paint to strategically cover stains or mended holes. Many dots make the design look intentional.

Or copy a high-end tee. There's also an opportunity here to hide stains and mends.

Repurpose: New Garment

Like a cute headband.

Or a ruffled scarf.

Here's a cute toddler dress.

Repurpose: New Object

Make a cozy for your morning cup of tea.

Make a functional and decorative bowl.
Or make useful shopping bags.

Be sure to check out my Tee Shirt Rehab Pinterest page as well. I have many great ideas pinned that contain dead-end links but the pinned picture contains enough info to give you an idea and get you started.

We'll be posting our own ideas for this challenge. Post a comment if you will be following this challenge. I can't wait to see what you come up with.

P.S. This was once offered as a Sew-op workshop but garnered little interest. Reply in the comments if you'd like to attend a live class on this topic.