Some Quick DIY

Back in the days before Ravelry, I got my crafty socialization via LiveJournal communities. A particular favorite of mine was called Tshirt Surgery. It was place to share modified shirts and I loved it so much. That was my craft of choice for a really long time. I used to buy shirts from the thrift store, cut them up, and sew them into something completely different. I got good at it and the shirts were pretty unrecognizable once I was done with them.

I did a little bit of t-shirt surgery the other night, but it wasn’t nearly as elaborate as what I used to do. I’m doing a 15 hour bar crawl tomorrow that my college puts on and we have t-shirts to go with it. It needed a bit of a jazzing up, but my supplies are pretty limited here. I have no sewing machine. I have no black thread. I have no white thread. Luckily I managed to scrounge up some stuff to work with.

tshirt

The first thing I did was to cut out the neckline so it was a bit more flattering. After that I needed to reinforce it. If you’ve ever cut a t-shirt, you’ll know that they stretch like mad if you don’t reinforce them. So I went digging through my craft supplies only to discover that I didn’t have any white or black thread to reinforce the edge with. All I could find was some off white thread and that would have looked a bit weird. I also found my a black DK weight swatch that I had knit out of a finely plied alpaca/silk blend. I decided to frog that and divide the plies up in half. I got out a sewing needle that had a big enough eye and used the black yarn to whip stitch around the neckline. That actually looked decent on its own, but I had a bunch of yarn left so I used a 4 mm crochet hook to slip stitch and chain around the whip stitched neckline. On that foundation I worked the scallops. I think they’re pretty cute.

When I was done with the neckline, I just cuffed the sleeves and used a few tiny stitches with the off white thread to keep them in place. I like wearing my shirt sleeves cuffed like this. I’m not sure why I’ve never sewn them in place before.

It was a pretty quick project and it just made my shirt a little more attractive.  Doing this made me want to do some more complex modifications again. My collection of band tees are in luck, though. They’re all in a different country than I am.


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10 responses to “Some Quick DIY”

  1. I used to LOVE that t-shirt surgery group! I actually have a few of my creations that I can’t bear to throw away, even though they are ooold.

    Love the crochet around the neckline! Nice improv!

  2. It’s a super cute modification. It’s yet another reminder that I have got to learn crochet. You can do so much with it!

  3. Alyssa

    This is SUCH an adorable idea. Wow. I really want to learn how to do this. Maybe you could do a DIY post for those of us who didn’t know what you’re talking about hahaha. 😉

    Have fun on the bar crawl!

  4. I used to hang out in the t-shirt modification community, but never actually took scissors to any of mine. I guess I never worked up the courage.

    Hope you enjoy your bar crawl!

  5. I saw some of your co-crawlers out and about on Saturday! I saw two separate groups – one quite early in the day, looking cold but chipper, and one later in the day looking a bit more sluggish, rosy and VERY loud, both times around the Marks & Spencer area.

    I had a look for a pretty lady with a crocheted neckline but couldn’t spot you. I did see a bit of t-shirt surgery, where one girl had cut a diagonal slash neckline which removed one sleeve, and I also spotted one lad with the loudest pair of red and black camo pants I had ever seen.

    I hope you had fun and there were not too many headaches this morning.

    1. People got really loud as the day went on. We ended up ditching the group to go to some quieter pubs at one point.

      There was a lot of fun DIY out and about yesterday. I like how creative people get when you give them a cheap bland shirt.

      1. Did you call into the Borough? That’s my ‘local’ as far as geography is concerned. It’s not the cheapest pub but it’s generally quite peaceful and relaxing if you’re looking for a quieter place.

        1. We went to the Brown Cow because it happened to be close to where we were when we decided not to go with the group. After that we went to the Nag’s Head which is my flat’s favorite place to go. The karaoke is always great.

  6. I saw some of your co-crawlers out and about on Saturday! I saw two separate groups – one quite early in the day, looking cold but chipper, and one later in the day looking a bit more sluggish, rosy and VERY loud, both times around the Marks & Spencer area.

    I had a look for a pretty lady with a crocheted neckline but couldn’t spot you. I did see a bit of t-shirt surgery, where one girl had cut a diagonal slash neckline which removed one sleeve, and I also spotted one lad with the loudest pair of red and black camo pants I had ever seen.

    I hope you had fun and there were not too many headaches this morning.

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