If you’ve spent much time in the craft department of the internet, you’ve surely discovered the many uses for old T-shirts: bracelets, ruffles, and, um, underwear?  One of my favorites is the basic T-shirt scarf, the simplest hip creation I’ve discovered in–well, probably forever, now that I think about it.  I ask you: could one swipe with scissors create anything cooler than this?

You just take a T-shirt–the bigger the better–and hack it off under the arm holes.  (i.e. one horizontal cut across the chest)  The resulting loop of fabric makes a perfect jersey scarf, whether worn long or looped tighter as a cozy cowl.  If you want visuals, look here.  I made one by cutting the body of the shirt into strands that I pulled for a loopy look like the ones in the linked photos, but actually I prefer just using the large, unfringed piece as a scarf unto itself.

But what to do with the scraps?  I decided since this was such a sweet, girly color, and I have a sweet, girly new niece, I would make a diminutive headband.

The only problem was deciding how to finish the ends.  They were a bit all over the place!

A rosette would look cute there, I thought, but I didn’t know how to make a rosette…yet.  A quick search turned up this tutorial, and away I went, measuring…

knotting…

and twisting my way to a little fabric flower.

There was only one problem.  It didn’t turn out as tiny as I expected!  Whoa, Nellie–that flower could bring the whole headband crashing down.  Not such a balanced look.

So I started over, made a much smaller version, and secured it in place.

In case you’re wondering how I managed the frayed ends, I folded them one at a time toward the center to create a little “platform” for the rosette.  Then I ran a threaded needle through all the layers of folded fabric to hold them in position.  This assured that the braid cannot come undone, and at the same time created a flat place to glue the flower.

I don’t have a resident baby to try this on, so hopefully it works!  I think it would look sweet with the rosette positioned near her little ear, like she had the blossom tucked into her (non-existent) hair.  That’s it for now–I have to go scrounge up ideas for the rest of the remnants!