Gifts #7 & 8: T-Shirt Bows

Alternate Title: I'm in Love!

In 7th grade, I learned three valuable things, all of which came from the same class: Home Ec, or TLC, or whatever they called it.  The one where you do a bit of cooking, typing, sewing, and probably learn how to put together a resume.

1. I became proficient at ten-key, which turned out to be very handy four years ago when I got a job doing reports for a financial planning firm.  I still do those reports, by the way, and the ten-key is still handy.
2. I learned how to use a spreadsheet, that magical chart thing that was absent for so many years of my life.  One day I realized what Excel was and I haven't stopped making spreadsheets since.
3. I learned that the serger is the most incredible machine ever made.  Sergers were also absent from my life until very recently.  My grandma had one she never used, so she gave it to my mom, who didn't use it either.  She said if I could figure out how to thread the thing I was welcome to it.  It's been sitting in my attic for a couple months, just waiting until I had enough down time to try it out.

That down time came last night.  I searched online for a user guide or threading instructions or something, but I found nothing very helpful.  Remember, I hadn't touched one of these since I was twelve.  Just as I was losing hope, I stumbled upon a discussion board where someone mentioned a threading diagram on the machine itself.  Amazing!  Sure enough, it was there, clear as day, and I had the thing up and running in no time.

Once I got over my initial excitement, the motions started coming back to me and my lines got a little straighter.  The machine was even more wondrous than I had remembered.

The point is, I love the serger, and I used it to make these very easy hair bows that I saw on MADE.

I cut strips out of t-shirts in the throw-out pile, serged all the way around, and tied them in bows.  I secured them a bit with needle and thread, then slipped a contour clip in the back of each.

I cut slits in cardstock to hold the bows, stamped the girls' names, and  Ben was ready to go to his cousin Evelyn's birthday party.

We missed his other cousin Maggie's party a few days ago, so we brought her bows too.


Total cost: $0.33 for 4 contour clips ($1 for 12)