Upcycled T-shirt Collar

Like my new shirt?

It's upcycled.

It started off as a plain white t-shirt and some unwanted material from my Mum's culottes.

In fact the t-shirt was once my Mum's as well. 

The strips of fabric were meant to be tied around the waist of the culottes, and were already the right size to be a collar so I just had to sew it round the neckline of my shirt.

To make the fabric go nicely around my shoulders I had it go down the back instead of straight across the neck.

I cut a new neckline for the back of the shirt and sewed the fabric on in a 'v' shape.

So now it looks just as interesting from the back as from the front.

I really like how this simple, and completely free, addition has made the shirt look much more fancy.

It looks great with this new skirt I bought on sale at New Look.

They sell this thing as a school skirt! I would not have got away with that in my day. It's tight y'all!

But that might be because I bought it size age 10-11...

Oceanic Airlines

I like having merchandise from my favourite shows. And often I like it to be a bit subtle.

For example, instead of having a Buffy t-shirt that says 'Buffy' on it or has SMG's face on it, I have a Sunnydale High School T-shirt.

And instead of a t-shirt that just says Lost on it, I have this Oceanic Airlines shirt.

The only problem is that I don't think the people who make the shirts anticipate there being petite fans, so all my shirts are massive and usually man sizes.

They're good for wearing with a pair of leggings if I'm just gonna be in the house all day, but some times I want to take my love for that tv show outside.

This is where the tutorial I found on a.steed's.life comes in.

How to make a large t-shirt into a fitted tee.

Perfect!

The key is to just use a shirt that fits you really well as a template.

Then you sew up the sides, make new sleeves and hem it if needed.

I was going to cut short sleeves but I quite like these half-sleeves made from the originals.

This shirt fits perfectly now, I love it.

I even think the logo looks better with the proportions of this shirt compared to on the original. 

Plain white t-shirt

Boring shirt --------> Less boring shirt!

I saw this post on Trash to Couture about adding crochet trim down the sides of a t-shirt which is what I was going to do with this plain white t-shirt, until I thought that putting the crochet trim round the middle would look better.

This piece of crochet has been in the fabric drawers forever, so it was nice to finally find a use for it.

I cut the t-shirt across the middle as straight as possible and hand-sewed the crochet to the two pieces.

Bit more skin on show. Goodness!

I also cut a new neckline for the shirt and gathered the middle for a more flattering fit.

My Mum very kindly crocheted some new trim for the neckline to match the original stuff.

She's got skills.

Have you got an favourite ways to fancy up a plain white t-shirt?

Bleach and Bling

Everyone loves a shirt sprayed with bleach at the moment, right?

Well I saw and idea on Manzanita to put some lace over the shirt and spray bleach over that so you get the pattern of the lace.

Well, I tried it but by spray bottle got a bit drippy so the lace pattern was ruined by bleach blobs.

Fail!

You can still see a bit of the pattern on the edges.

So I decided to spray more bleach on the shirt to add to the blobs.

And then for something extra I sewed copper coloured sequins on some of the bleach dots for a subtle bit of bling.

T-shirt to dress

I think I'm getting better at this sewing business.

Like my new dress?

When I was sorting out my room I found this t-shirt that I'd intended to use as a pyjama top but I never wore it.

Years ago I'd used it to try out printable transfer paper. Not so cool now.

I found a couple of tutorials about how to make a t-shirt into a dress, like this one and this one, and modified them a bit too make them less little-girly.

I even got adventurous and chose to add a peter pan collar.

I made the pattern myself so it's a bit wibbly, but for a first attempt it's not too bad at all.

I added a waist band to give the dress more shape which is attached at the front but not at the back so I'm able to tie/un-tie it.

I also made an under layer for the skirt as the brown fabric is a bit thin. 

I like it.

I like it a lot.

T-shirt dress

It started with a large mens tank top.

Which is just (just!) long enough to be a dress on me. When worn with leggings.

So how to make it look wearable?

First up I gotta belt it!

If only more problems could be solved by throwing on a belt.

Then decorate.

I attempted the multiple necklace print that's been going on, and referred to this tutorial from Jen at My Own Road.

For the big beads I used the bottom of a pen to get perfect circles and then filled them in with a paint brush.

For the long chain I cut a thin drinking straw on an angle so it was an oval and used it to print the pattern.

The heart locket was just done freehand with a paintbrush.

After ironing over the fabric paint for 5 minutes it's ready to wear.

(Who can spot the photo me and Anthony Head from Buffy)

I think I did the beads a bit too wide across the shoulders so it looks a bit odd, but I've got the techniques down for doing more.

In other news friends I shall have to take a blog break for at least a week because my poor laptop is broken again.

I'm back to uni this weekend and I'm having to go back without it, so I'll be relying on uni computers and the kindness of my housemates.

I don't know how I will cope!