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How To Make a Hot Bikini out of Old T-shirts

POSTED BY , 26 June 2007

Megan Nicolay's How-to make a hot bikini out of old tee shirts

First, you need 1 extra large T-shirt..but if you like the mismatched look decide on two different colored shirts.

*important note* for this lesson's purposes we are going to refer to the yellow shirt as the top shirt (yellow shirt = top shirt) and the white shirt as the bottom shirt (white shirt = bottom shirt).

Cut the bottom hem off both shirts

Creating strips for the bathing suit ties:
Now take the top shirt and cut 2 one inch wide strips off the bottom, making sure to cut through both layers of fabric.

Take those 2 strips and cut both of them in half twice so you end up with 4 equal strips. (we'll call them strips 1,2,3, and 4)

Take your bottom shirt and cut 2 one inch wide strips of the bottom. Cut one of the strips in half once, so you have one long strip (call it strip 5). and Cut the other in half twice, so you have two equals strips (strips 6,7).

* You should have a total of seven strips

Creating the bathing suit top:
Ok, now take your top shirt and cut 9 inches of the bottom, making sure to cut through both layers of fabric.

Pin both of the layers together and from now on consider it one piece of fabric.
as Megan put it in her book "to prevent the wet t-shirt contest look"

Sketch a triangle that measures 10 inches across the bottom and 8 inches down both sides. If you want, make a paper pattern first....we just freehanded it. Now create an arched bottom to the triangle. the lowest point should fall one inch below the bottom of the triangle.

Turn your fabric in a half circle, and sketch another triangle of the same dimensions.

Pin the triangles and cut them out.

Flip one of the triangles over and fold the top corner down one inch.

Now place one inch of strip 6 (or 7) over the folded corner

Pin the two sides of the triangle in, half an inch, making sure to over lap the end of the strip. Sew a seam down both sides.

Carefully, pin the arched bottom up one inch. Sew a seam but be careful to leave an open "tunnel" so you can thread your strip through later. btw, does anyone know the technical term for that...or is it just tunneling?

Repeat all those steps to the second triangle.

Now take strip 5 and attach the end to a safety pin. Use the safety pin to help you thread strip 5 through the tunnels of your triangles.

And you are done with the top! WOOHOO!

Creating the bathing suit bottoms:
Take your bottom shirt and cut a rectangle that measures 19 inches by 16 inches. Pin both layers of the rectangle together

Sketch an hour glass shape onto the fabric. Make a paper pattern first for preciseness.
You want the narrowest part of the hourglass to measure 4 inches across and fall 11 inches for the top of the rectangle.

Fold in all 4 corners of the hourglass. Stretch and place strips 1,2,3, and 4 over the separate for corners.

Fold and pin the front of the bathing suit in one inch, making sure to over lap the strips.

Fold and pin the opposite (back) part of the bathing suit in one inch, again making sure to over lap the strips.

Sew the front and back seams.

Make several small slits in the curved area of the hourglass. This will help the fabric give easier when you are folding in the edge.

Fold and pin the two sides of the hourglass in 1 inch and sew a seam down both sides.

You are done with the bottoms!

New bathing, very little cash.

For more cool ways to transform a t-shirt be sure to check out Megan Nicolay's book, Generation-T: 108 ways to transform a t-shirt.

diy, fashion, how to, T-Shirt, bikini, swimwear, swimsuit, bathing suit

Apron

Make One Adorable Apron from Two Colorful Napkins

Shape the fold on first napkin all of the way down to the waist and press.

I used white thread for this apron but feel free to use a contrasting thread color.

This adorable apron takes just two large square napkins and some ribbon and less than an hour of your time.

Here’s a little project you can do in no time at all. I bought two great 20-inch square cotton napkins at a popular home accessories store for $3.00 each and some coordinating ribbon at a fabric store, sewed them together without cutting into the napkins at all, and the result is an apron that’s not just cute but really useful, too. And I put it all together in less than an hour.

To make this apron, here’s what you do:

1. Fold in the first napkin along the top edge at the corners, enough to make it fit the chest cap.

Shape the fold on the first napkin all of the way down to the waist and press.

2. Sew across the top to hold the folds in place and edgestitch along the folds to the waist through all thicknesses.

I used white thread for this apron but feel free to use a contrasting thread color.

3. Fold the second napkin in half, wrong sides together, and press along the fold. Sew a strip of decorative ribbon to the fold edge, turning the ribbon ends under at the outer edges.

This second napkin forms the pockets and the bottom of the apron.

4. Attach the back half only of napkin 2 to napkin 1.

This is what the back half of napkin 2 looks like from the wrong side when attached to napkin 1. You’ll need to determine just how long you need to make the apron by pinning the pocket piece in place, “trying it on,” and adjusting to fit.

5. Sew the two layers of napkin 2 together along the bottom edge and attach it to napkin 1 along at the sides.

Sew down the center of the pocket area to form two pockets.

6. Attach lengths of ribbon at the waist to form the ties and at the neck to make the strap.

7. To finish the ends of the ties: Fold the ribbon in half, right sides together, and stitch across the end.

Halter Top

How to Make a Super-Easy Triangle Halter Top

Make this tie top in less than an hour. Make it today; wear it tonight!

Apply the binding without stretching it so the triangle will lie flat.

Pin in the ditch parallel to the edge to hold it in place while you are sewing.

Make this tie top in less than an hour. Make it today; wear it tonight!

A square of fabric, cut on the diagonal to make a triangle, makes a clever tie top. You can use a knit fabric or a woven, even a pretty scarf. Either way, bind the edges to finish them nicely. Tie two ends around your waist and slip a tie through a casing at the top point to tie around your neck. This project takes less than an hour to make. Make it today; wear it tonight.

What You'll Need:
1 yard fabric, knit or woven or a 36-inch-square scarf
1/4 yard contrasting knit fabric for the binding
1-1/2 yards narrow braid, ribbon, or a shoestring
Safety pin
Thread
Sewing machine

Preparation:
Cut one piece of fabric 36 inches x 36 inches.
Cut the above square on the diagonal from corner to corner to make two triangles. Use one triangle.
At the top point, chalk-mark a horizontal line from edge to edge that is 3 inches long.
Cut two pieces of knit binding on the cross-grain 1-1/4 inches wide x 36 inches long.
Cut one piece of knit binding on the cross-grain 1-1/4 inches wide x 54 inches long.

Construction:
1. With right sides together, sew the long binding strip to the bottom edge of the triangle using a 1/4-inch seam allowance.

Apply the binding without stretching it so the triangle will lie flat.

2. Press the binding strip away from the garment. Wrap the strip to the wrong side, encasing the raw edge. Stitch in the well of the seam, catching the binding on the wrong side. Trim the ends of the binding even with the triangle fabric.

Pin in the ditch parallel to the edge to hold it in place while you are sewing.

Trim the ends to be even with the triangle fabric.

3. Repeat step 2 to bind the remaining two sides of the triangle.

Bind the other two sides of the triangle.

4. Fold 3/4 inch to the wrong side at the top edge. Topstitch 1/2 inch from the folded edge to form a casing.

Fold your top edge down 3/4 inch.

Adjust the width of the casing according to the width of the tie.

5. Attach a safety pin to one end of the tie. Feed the pin and tie through the casing, keeping an even amount of tie extending from each end of the casing.

6. Wear the top by tying the triangle ends around your waist in back and the tie around your neck.

Sew it's Untouched

Friday, January 23, 2009