It all started with a small stain on a beloved blouse and ended at one o’clock in the morning with Linz and I sitting around piles of tulle, fabric, buttons, and a “bloody” purple t-shirt watching ‘Tank Girl’ for the first time. I am of course talking about our first ever t-shirt reconstruction party.
My friend, Erin, had come to me awhile ago asking for help on figuring out what to do about a shirt she had, that had a stain on it, but she loved too much to just throw away without first attempting to salvage. This of course made me believe we had to have a full out themed party devoted to crafting, creating and saving ALL our boring, unused and ho-hum shirts.
Instead of one post on all the projects we tried out, Linz and I have decided to bring to you a week long update on different ideas to get serious about t-shirt recon!
This first post is all about the simple t-shirt makeover. The one you can whip up in an evening.
For me, the easiest undertaking of the night was adding a little something to a great, but boring grey cardigan. I found some clearance sale bridal lace for under $2 that I hand sewed onto the side. A simple, easy project, but one I enjoyed.
The next attempt was inspired by Linz’s last post about, well, getting ideas for our party. I decided to check out the Etsy shop, La Marquise de Sanges. I loved the idea of adding a little lace to a shirt and seeing how it looked, so I attempted my own version of the tank.
My third quick and easy project was working with bleach! I saw a while ago on the blog Elsie Marley (which you should for sure check out as she recently posted about a rainbow party!!!). I really liked her attempt at fixing up a top with a few bleach spots into one with LOTS of bleach spots. She only referenced how she worked on the shirt, not a step by step process, so for that, I turned to the website, Family Fun. Their technique was as simple as it gets and I didn’t even bother to chalk out my design first. I will say that this is not for someone who wants a look with really clean lines, I think working with bleach is going to have a bit of a messy look to it. As you can see from the pictures the lines started out smaller and neater, but as I left it out they grew quite large. Next time I will try drawing the lines and then washing the shirt a lot sooner to see if it helps it getting a finer drawing. I recommend playing around with this look, as you already have a shirt with a bleach stain, so what else can you loose!
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