Adventures in DIY: Shirt-Slashing With Libby
Once you can move past the initially heartbreaking feeling that comes with slicing a piece of clothing with scissors, you can do some pretty cool things.
With the descent of Pinterest on the fashion world, DIY (Do It Yourself) projects are all the rage, and everyone's doing it. Check out the profile I wrote about Angela Johnson, a designer who makes old t-shirts into ball gowns. Pretty neat. (I know, I know - #ShamelessSelfPromotion.)
Anyway, today I decided to take on a (super easy and barely brag-worthy) DIY project myself. Stuck in the age-old dilemma of what to wear after taking an afternoon shower (pajamas? workout clothes? another type of loungewear?), I reached for my fashion dilemma savior - old shirts from my high school athletic days.
One t-shirt in particular, which I affectionally refer to as "Dorm Shirt" because of how often I wear this shirt while studying or hanging out in my dorm room, is plain grey and dons the name of my former high school, along with "TRACK AND FIELD" in white and turquoise letters. The thing is, I own about a dozen shirts nearly identical to this one, thanks to four years of doing the same sports and happily getting the standard swag every year (spirit packs, what up).
For some reason, I've taken a liking to Dorm Shirt in particular, neglecting all the other ones. But today I decided to take a stand and give the other ones a chance. After trying on a few of them, I realized why they've spent months just hanging in the back of my closet instead of being carefully selected to come with me to college, like lucky Dorm Shirt was. The boxy fit of some and the too-tight fit of others made me only appreciate the perfect fit and structure of Dorm Shirt even more.
However, I was not ready to give up on the Others. That's when I busted out the scissors to try and re-shape some of these forgotten tops. I was determined to get some new shirts into my loungewear rotation.
I mostly trimmed the sleeves, necklines, and hemlines of some shirts to make them more comfortable for sleeping, exercising, or hanging out, three of the most common activities in which I typically engage while donning loungewear. Some things I learned:
1. Use a Sharpie to trace the areas you want to cut, making the lines as straight and symmetrical as possible. When confronted with a shirt with a too-high neckline that made me want to choke every time I put it on my body (okay, a little overdramatic, I'll give you that), I knew I wanted to make the torturous top into a V-neck. Symmetry and a steady hand were the keys here in order to achieve the exact look I was going for.
2. Start small. If you cut too little off, you can always go for more. But once you snip the whole sleeve off, I'm afraid you're stuck with a tank top for life, honey. If you cut ten inches off the bottom of a shirt, you better get ready to commit to the crop top trend. Think incremental change, not "go big or go home."
3. Cut off any seams that may be annoying or irritating on your skin. But be aware that this may cause some fraying, depending on the material.
While the slick material and school-spirit colors of these old shirts from my time in cross-country and track and field kind of make me want to go run some laps with a paper bib taped to my torso (ah, nostalgia), they're the perfect thing to put on when I don't know what else to put on. My loyalty to Dorm Shirt still stands, but now I have a few more cute and comfortable tops in the rotation. You could also repurpose pants into shorts or plain shoes into decorated ones, but today I dabbled in the art of Shirt Alteration 101. And you can too - with some scissors and a desire to channel your inner tailor.
With the descent of Pinterest on the fashion world, DIY (Do It Yourself) projects are all the rage, and everyone's doing it. Check out the profile I wrote about Angela Johnson, a designer who makes old t-shirts into ball gowns. Pretty neat. (I know, I know - #ShamelessSelfPromotion.)
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| A pile of scraps or the sign of a job well done? In the DIY world, it's both! |
One t-shirt in particular, which I affectionally refer to as "Dorm Shirt" because of how often I wear this shirt while studying or hanging out in my dorm room, is plain grey and dons the name of my former high school, along with "TRACK AND FIELD" in white and turquoise letters. The thing is, I own about a dozen shirts nearly identical to this one, thanks to four years of doing the same sports and happily getting the standard swag every year (spirit packs, what up).
For some reason, I've taken a liking to Dorm Shirt in particular, neglecting all the other ones. But today I decided to take a stand and give the other ones a chance. After trying on a few of them, I realized why they've spent months just hanging in the back of my closet instead of being carefully selected to come with me to college, like lucky Dorm Shirt was. The boxy fit of some and the too-tight fit of others made me only appreciate the perfect fit and structure of Dorm Shirt even more.
However, I was not ready to give up on the Others. That's when I busted out the scissors to try and re-shape some of these forgotten tops. I was determined to get some new shirts into my loungewear rotation.
I mostly trimmed the sleeves, necklines, and hemlines of some shirts to make them more comfortable for sleeping, exercising, or hanging out, three of the most common activities in which I typically engage while donning loungewear. Some things I learned:
1. Use a Sharpie to trace the areas you want to cut, making the lines as straight and symmetrical as possible. When confronted with a shirt with a too-high neckline that made me want to choke every time I put it on my body (okay, a little overdramatic, I'll give you that), I knew I wanted to make the torturous top into a V-neck. Symmetry and a steady hand were the keys here in order to achieve the exact look I was going for.
2. Start small. If you cut too little off, you can always go for more. But once you snip the whole sleeve off, I'm afraid you're stuck with a tank top for life, honey. If you cut ten inches off the bottom of a shirt, you better get ready to commit to the crop top trend. Think incremental change, not "go big or go home."
3. Cut off any seams that may be annoying or irritating on your skin. But be aware that this may cause some fraying, depending on the material.
While the slick material and school-spirit colors of these old shirts from my time in cross-country and track and field kind of make me want to go run some laps with a paper bib taped to my torso (ah, nostalgia), they're the perfect thing to put on when I don't know what else to put on. My loyalty to Dorm Shirt still stands, but now I have a few more cute and comfortable tops in the rotation. You could also repurpose pants into shorts or plain shoes into decorated ones, but today I dabbled in the art of Shirt Alteration 101. And you can too - with some scissors and a desire to channel your inner tailor.
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