Another project off my list!

I love getting lost in blog land. I love finding projects that I want to do. This one was a combination of several things I saw online and sadly, can't find the links now. The t-shirts that have those cute ruffles started it all. I made one of those last summer and loved it. I thought it would be cute to turn that concept into a wreath. I bought a wreath form and a t-shirt from Michaels. I cut the t-shirt into long strips and began pinning them into the wreath form.

This actually took me forever. I started this in October and JUST.FINISHED.IT last week. Pushing all those little pins in just took forever. I also ran out of t-shirt and had to pick up another one at Michaels. Then I realized in a few spots, my fabric was really too tightly wound so I pulled a few pins out and loosened it up and cut off any extra fabric and added it to the bare spots. I used every bit of two extra large to-shirts. The only parts I didn't use where the hems and color.

When I was all done, I thought it needed something else - it was too brown. So, I found a t-shirt Cole has outgrown in cream. I cut out some large flower shapes, layered them and stitched them all together. I added an old pearl clip on earring that was my granny's to the flower's center. I pinned this on as well - just stuck straight pin through the last few layers of the flower. Now it's just right!

Here's the finished project:



The whole wall:



and the flower:



This project was fairly cheap - the shirts were on sale at Michaels - 2.50 each I think. The wreath form I purchased with a 50% off coupon. The pins were in my stash and I used a whole pack!! All in all, less than $10.00!!

This was a bit messy. The t-shirt material doesn't fray, but little pieces of the shirt does fall off all over you as you are pinning everything in. My finger and thumb were both really sore too after pushing all those stinking pins in!! I thought this would be a cute gift idea, too, but I don't think I want to make this again.

My friend, Brittney, had a great suggestion though. She said I should have covered the wreath in brown ribbon first. GENIUS. That would certainly make a difference. I wouldn't have had to cover so much of the wreath if I'd thought of that!!