It's no secret that I have a love-hate relationship with Pinterest.
I love how many ideas I gather, I hate that my home never reflects that I have seen these ideas.
I love the inspirational, motivational quotes, I hate that I can never remember them at the right time.
I love the gorgeous food I see, I hate that if I ate them all I'd not fit my pinterest-altered jeans anymore.
However sometimes I get the urge to try something on Pinterest and probably my most successful attempt was this altered T-shirt I tried a year ago after seeing a very cool pin. I spent a hasty 30 minutes using the only sewing tool I really know how to use (my scissors) to create a fab new singlet top with a t-shirt..
Many good things start with a hasty decision to avoid cooking dinner, right?
Talking of t-shirts I would never have worn – recently I entered a 19-strong team into Relay for Life, a fundraising event for the Cancer Society. We recieved a t-shirt as part of the registration, and although it was a gorgeous colour, my favourite even, it was HUGE. It was also forecast to be baking hot and I didn't feel like walking my goal distance of 42km in anything but the coolest attire.
And so I gathered my t-shirt, found my old pin and I got chopping.
(and I need to add in here for anyone that doesn't know me so well, I do not sew. I'm kinda crafty, I make great tassel necklaces here in New Zealand, I have a sewing machine to sew on my scrapbook pages. I don't have the patience to sew, so the fact that I find this t-shirt alteration easy speaks volumes.)
I cut the sleeves off, and then cut straight across, just below the neck/collar.
And then I folded the top inch over on the front and I sewed across the top to create a place to thread my strap. Repeat for the back. Check out the fact that I matched the thread colour to the fabric, getting all professional-like about it now.
I also cut the arm-bands off while I had the scissors out. I want to save them to use as straps.
After I had cut the arm-bands off, I snipped each one once, to open them up longways.
(note in this picture, I did nothing to hem anything, anywhere. I left it all raw. I'm fine with it rolling and even fraying a little, although it'll roll before it frays. I don't mind rustic.)
I threaded each one through the shirt, one through the front, and one through the back. I used a skewer to push it through the space I had created.
At this point I used the sewing machine again, sewing the bands together at each side to create one big loop. This part really is pure genius. Who would have thought chopping a t-shirt apart could be so easy. Because when you are all done sewing, this is the result:
And there we have it. Awesomeness in just 30 minutes. No swearing, no cursing, just cut, fold and sew.
I had learned from my last experience and I was careful about the logo printing on the t-shirt – especially important this time as we had the team sponsor MotivateMe on the back.
So there we have it again. Pinterest success.
And so I entered my Relay for Life with the coolest t-shirt. But the BEST thing? I knew I was going to spend a good 7-8 hours walking my goal 42km over the course of the weekend. That meant kJ burnt off. That meant I could browse Pinterest and maybe even partake in the trialling of some of those yummy food recipes. Did I tell you how much I love that website?
Good luck with your t-shirt restyling.
Laters.