A T-Shirt Cat Tent Gone Hay "Wire"

After Batman (my cat) was forced to be on bed rest for two weeks after emergency surgery, I wanted to make him something special, a place he could go and hide from the world if he wanted to. Something... comfy, but inexpensive. When I saw this on Instructables, I thought it was perfect! A cat tent made from an old t-shirt was something I knew I could make at no cost. Boy oh boy was I wrong...

If you want to attempt this, you'll need:

* A piece of cardboard
* Two wire hangers
* An old t-shirt
* Tape
* A pillow (optional)

I started by bending and morphing the two wire hangers to be approximately the same shape and have the same curvature. This wasn't easy, but it got Batman's attention.

I then poked a hole in each corner of the cardboard and stuck the wire hangers through, making sure to tape the center where the two hangers crossed. So far, so good!

Batman was not impressed but he looked on with much curiosity.

I secured the wire with tape around the holes both on top of the cardboard...

...and underneath. You have to bend the wire in order for it to lay flat.

Here is what the frame of the tent looked like. I should have kept it like this, as it only went downhill from here...

I attempted to put the pillow on the cardboard but the pillow was too thick because once the t-shirt went on, there was hardly any room for him to sit!

And then there were structural issues... the t-shirt decided to pull the frame whichever way it chose and it wasn't pretty. It was as if Slimer from "Ghostbusters" had a humpback.

You're supposed to be able to tie the sleeves together underneath the cardboard but if your shirt isn't big enough, that ain't happenin'.

Batman attempted to make the most of his owner's shoddy work, but it was for naught. He looked on with the deepest sympathy in his eyes for my pathetic attempt.

Ideally, the cat is supposed to be able to fit his WHOLE body inside the tent, not just one half at a time.

So here are 3 tips I recommend, should you choose to try this yourself:

1. Make sure your cardboard bottom can't be bent. The thicker, the better. If that means reinforcing with tape, so be it.

2. Use pliers to bend the wire, not your bare hands. It'll be less painful and less time-consuming, I assure you.

3. The flatter the pillow and the bigger the t-shirt, the better!

"It's no Bat Cave, but it'll have to do." - Batman

TOTAL COSTS: Free

The t-shirt, cardboard, masking tape, and wire hangers were all readily available

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 45 minutes

I didn't use pliers and fiddled around a lot with the frame, which took more time than I care to mention.

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 3 out of 5

So I made a lot of mistakes which hopefully you'll learn from if you attempt this project. Try not to get too frustrated if it doesn't come out perfectly. As long as the frame is immovable, you should be fine when you put on the t-shirt!

How to Screen Print Shirts with Freezer Paper

A friend recommended I try to screen print shirts but I knew that would require a machine and lots of skills I don't have. Besides, I doubt many people have screen print machines just chillin' in their closets. So when I came across this post on Dana Made It, I knew I had to give it a try!

You just need five things:
1. A t-shirt
2. An x-acto knife
3. Freezer paper (found in your grocery store with the aluminum foil and wax paper)
4. Fabric paint
5. Foam brush

My husband has been watching the old 90's TV show, "Hercule Poirot"on Netflix lately and wanted a shirt showing off the main character. After a little Google image searching, I found a great headshot. Now the original post recommends using a program called Picnik but I used Photoshop to crop, make the image black and white, and posterized. Honestly, you don't have to do any of those things if you don't want to. All it does is simplify the image, remove the details, and lets you see a little clearer what should be outlined.

Original trace and copy that has been flipped

Once you have your image, start outlining with a marker. Just like pumpkin carving, concentrate on the white space. Depending on how complicated your design is (this post by Dana Made It just uses goldfish, for example), it could take 2 minutes or 20. After outlining the design, flip it over and go over the lines again on the back. If it helps, color in the image with your marker. Once you've outlined the front and back, take the back image and either scan or take a photo and e-mail it to yourself. This way, you can flip the photo horizontally and then print it out so you have a mirror image.

Next: the cutting. Use an x-acto knife and cut out all the black pieces. Cut out the very small pieces first, then move onto the big pieces so there's less tearing of the paper.


Once your design is cut out, put some blank paper in your t-shirt first, then place your design on the t-shirt and try to iron it on as best you can. However, I found this did nothing. The paper didn't create any sort of seal to the shirt. Still, give it a shot.. maybe you'll have better luck. I didn't have any small pieces because I cut everything in one giant piece but that might not work for your design.

Grab your brush and start painting on top of the design. Because I couldn't get the paper to seal to the t-shirt with the iron, I had a really hard time keeping the paper down when painting. Go slow, be patient, and use as much paint as you need. Just remember do not paint outside of the paper! I accidentally made some drops at the bottom of the shirt and those won't be coming off...

It didn't say how long it would take for the paint to dry but I found it was about 2 hours. The absolute hardest part was removing the paper, especially when it came to the smallest lines. Lets just say, it's not pretty. Maybe with more practice I'll get better, but mine looks sloppy.

Once you get the paper off (as best you can), you need to set the design with an iron. I just took an old dishrag, put it on top, and ironed for a minute or two.

So the moral of this story: choose a simple design to start out with so you understand the process and practice makes perfect!

TOTAL COSTS: About $20
$7.95 for freezer paper at Vons
$5.99 for fabric paint from Michael's
$3.99 for t-shirt from Michael's
X-acto knife and foam brush already on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: Almost 3 hours
20 minutes to trace design
15 minutes to cut it out
15 minutes to iron and paint
2 hours to dry

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 3 out of 5
If you have a printer, an idea, and some patience, you can easily do this! Just note it might not look as professional as a screen print.

T-Shirt Scarf

Today's post comes courtesy of a friend who recommended I try 4 Little Furgusons post about making your very own t-shirt scarf. Now I'll admit, this looked a lot easier to make than it actually was. At first it seemed straight forward - grab a t-shirt, cut off the top and bottom, cut some strips and ta-da, you've got a scarf! Alas, here are a few mistakes I made that I hope you'll learn from:

Take One: The Shredded Scarf

For me, it wasn't clear how I was supposed to fold the shirt (left side to right side or top to bottom) so I folded left to right, having 1" folded over on the left side and cut the right. Some strips broke during stretching so they hung down and I had two uncut sections, not just one. One uncut section was at the bottom and the other behind my neck. This is what happened and the video above shows how you can make this:

1st Attempt

Take Two: The Lion's Mane Scarf

This time I folded top to bottom and folded over 1" from the top and cut the bottom into strips. This is what happened and the video above shows how you can make this:

2nd Attempt

Take Three: The T-Shirt Scarf (third time's the charm!)

I didn't fold it in half but I did fold over 1" on the right side of the t-shirt and cut from the left side.

3rd Attempt - I finally got it!

Here are some things to keep in mind:

#1 - Practice first on a t-shirt you don't like and don't necessarily want to use as a scarf. That way, you can make your initial mistakes and not be concerned about what the final product looks like.

#2 - Use fabric shears, not paper scissors! If you use paper scissors, your hand will definitely cramp up halfway through!

#3 - Cut any tags that might be inside the shirt on the sides before you start cutting your strips. Also, you may have fuzzy pieces fly off so keep a lint roller handy!

TOTAL COSTS: Free
Just need some shirts and scissors and you're all set!

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: Between 15-30 minutes, depending on what kind of scarf you end up making.

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5
Hopefully I made it easier for you to determine what you want your scarf to look like so you can start snipping away!