To make your robe you will need:
- An old flat bedsheet (not a fitted sheet), single or double will work.
- A stapler and staples.
- A pair of scissors.
- A needle and thread.
- A black bin bag
- Old t-shirts, the brighter the better.
- Scraps of fabric, I used some felt.
- As many plastic shopping bags as possible.
- Begin by laying out your flat sheet on a worktop, table or floor and smooth it out.
- Find the centre of your sheet.
- If you want the robe to be longer, make a small snip with your scissors in the opposite direction to the long side of the sheet. If you want the robe to be shorter, make a small snip with your scissors in the opposite direction to the short side of the sheet.
Cut a slit along the centre of the sheet in the direction you chose, about 25cm long.
- You have now made the opening for your head and neck to go through for you to wear the robe.
- Now you’re going to start making the tatters for your robe.
- Lay your t shirt on a worktop, table or floor and smooth it out.
- Starting at the bottom opening of the t shirt, use your scissors to cut the t shirt into thin rings about 5.5cm wide, cutting through both sides of the fabric so that it makes a continuous ring or loop.
- Find the seam and cut through it, making the loop into a long strip. If there is a care label you can also cut this off.
- Repeat until you reach the armpit area of the t shirt and you can’t cut any more loops to make into strips.
- Take one of your plastic bags and smooth it out on a worktop, table or floor.
- Cut vertical strips from the plastic bag, again about 5.5 cm wide.
- Take one of your strips of t shirt material and position it lengthways on the outside of the sheet, very near to the slit you made for your head and neck. Using your stapler, staple the top of the strip to the sheet, with the stapler upside down so that the scratchy part of the staple is on the outside of the robe when you wear it and won’t scratch you!
- Position a strip of plastic bag next to the t shirt strip and staple in the same way with the stapler upside down. Repeat, stapling a strip of t shirt and a strip of plastic bag next to it, until the front of the neck opening is covered.
- Cut up more t shirt material and plastic bags in the same way as steps 7 – 12 and staple the strips slightly below where you stapled the first row, to create another layer of tatters.
- Turn the robe around and begin stapling a strip of t shirt, then a strip of plastic bag, then a strip of t shirt, along the neck opening.
- Next, take your scrap fabric (I used felt) and smooth it out on a worktop, table or the floor.
- Cut along the longest edge, to make strips about 5.5cm wide.
- Staple the strips of fabric in the same way, with the stapler upside down, amongst and next to the t shirt strips and plastic bag strips.
- Build up your stapled layers of t shirt, plastic bag, and fabric strips, each layer a little below the previous one.
- Smooth out your black bin bag on a worktop, table or floor.
- Make a snip along the longest edge of the black bin bag, about 5.5cm in from the edge.
- Rip along the snip you’ve just made with your hands, to make a roughly 5.5cm wide strip.
- Repeat steps 22 and 23 until you have no more black bin bag only strips.
- Staple the strips where there are gaps on the robe, with the stapler upside down.
- If you would prefer, you can sew on your strips. Cut a piece of thread no longer than from the tip of your index finger to your elbow. This will stop the thread from knotting when you use it.
- Tie a knot in one end of your thread and thread the other end through a needle.
- Bring your needle and thread up through the inside of the robe to the outside, and through your next strip, where you want to attach it to the robe. You can attach both fabric and plastic strips in this way.
- Bring the needle and thread back down through the strip and the sheet to make a stitch. Repeat two more times.
- Turn the part of the robe where you’ve stitched inside out, with the needle still attached.
- Tie a knot as close to the sheet fabric as possible. Snip this off, with the needle still attached to the other end of the thread. You can now tie another knot in the end you just snipped off and continue sewing on strips with the same piece of thread.
- Continue adding to the robe over time, by stapling, sewing, or a combination of both. Fill in gaps with strips of t shirt, plastic bag, black bin bag and scrap fabric. I added lengths of lace that I had at home, as well as long blue strips cut from a plastic sheet.
Kitchen Carnival Designs by ju90
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