T-shirt Alteration
When I went to that super swappy swap meet awhile ago, I acquired some awesome stuff, that just needed my special touch to make it perfect. This is one of those items. It’s a t-shirt dress. I love how the top fits me, but I have a little too much “junk in the trunk” for it to look good on me in the lower half.
I got Hubby to draw a line all the way around me while I was wearing it, so that I could cut it to the exact length I wanted all the way around.
It was a little longer in the back, which is just what I wanted.
I did this bad boy right. I even ironed the hem into place before pinning it. I folded down 1/4 to 1/2 inch, ironed it in place, then rolled it over another 1/2 inch and ironed that on the inside to create the hem. I then pinned everything in place. I was able to complete this project on my friend Jessica’s sewing machine (the same Jessica from the swap and several other posts), but it coughed to a tragic end right before I was done, so I hand sewed the remainder.
So now I have a nice t-shirt, that I may embellish on the front. It has a decoration on the back which was pictured in the swap post. It is really soft, and I love the fit. It may star in another post in the future. Ooh, more skulls perhaps??
Swap is my new favorite word
Thank God for Facebook, because my friends hear about the coolest things. Kathy Phan of kathyphantastic posted a link for a style bloggers conference. Believe me, I am aware I don’t fit into that category. But, they were having a clothing swap as part of their event, and I definitely fit into the “Cheap as all get out” category.
My friend Jessica and I showed up at the place, somewhere down on 2nd. Jessica was driving, and I was looking for parking spots, so I didn’t pay much attention to where we were. It was one of those gorgeous, Austin-y nights that we cherish around here. You stand outside, feel the clean, fresh air on your skin, and everyone in the city seems to be in a good mood (but don’t move here, it’s terrible).
We dropped off our clothes to be sorted, and paid our $5 cover charge. That may seem odd, but there were actual employees, or volunteers of some kind organizing everything, and the amount of loot I got far outweighed the $5, which is what I was counting on with a bunch of fashion people donating clothes. Here’s what I made off with:
Super comfy, casual, and very flattering on me:
Jessica initially grabbed this, and apparently I made too many “jokes” about stealing it, so she generously gave it to me!
This is a close up on the pattern:
This one is super hot on me! And it’s a nice long shirt, but it doesn’t look like maternity wear! Double win!
Yes, this one is electric orange. If anything, the camera dulled the color. But it was free and fits me really well. We’ll see how often I wear it, but I figured, no harm in going outside my usual color pallette.
I know those of you who know me are saying, “What? A dress? Surely, you can’t be serious!” I am serious, and it looks cute on me! And it’s comfortable! And don’t call me Shirley! (Hey-yo!)
I’m not completely sure about this one, but something about it just said “awesome”.
This one is backless, and the brand is “Rocker Stalker”. That cracked me up, plus it’s super soft. I definitely gravitated toward cotton that has been washed a lot.
It’s hard to tell on the hanger, but this is a super cute 1950′s style halter top! SCORE!!
This one, I’m not going to lie, is a mumu. I liked the fabric, and in the frenzy I just grabbed it. Jessica has tried to convince me that by wearing it with a belt, it will look fine, but I’m still not sure. This may reappear in another post, such as “How to turn a mumu into something a real person would wear”.
This dress, even though it says size 6, fits me PERFECTLY! It’s very 1950′s, which is my favorite era for clothing. Double SCORE!
This is one of those ambiguous “is it a shirt, is it a dress” type things. This is the back. It fits me really well down to my hips, then everything gets horrific. I’m planning on this becoming just a long T-shirt, so hopefully that will be a future post as well.
You didn’t think I forgot accessories, did you? Cute quilty hippy purse made me think a small project like this would be a great way to learn how to quilt. Hmmm… third post?
Look at the cute!!
This was my favorite find of the day, and all by itself was totally worth the $5 admission. An orange pea coat!!! And it fits me like a glove. I know it may not be everyone’s taste, but when I saw this across the room, I would have punched people to get it. Fontunately, there were no cat fights.
So I got rid of clothes I didn’t want, got a bunch of new to me clothes, and the leftovers were given to charity. Plus all the t-shirts have already been washed to super-softness. Win, win, win, win!! It’s gotten me thinking about having my own swap at the house, instead of a garage sale. Or maybe a virtual swap, where I take pictures and post everything on Facebook for my buddies to check out. Anyone interested?
