Thar she blows!

I have a very large stash of unflattering T-shirts I've acquired (for free) over the years that I just can't bear to get rid of. However, it's been very hard for me to decide what to do with any of them. In the past, I've taken them in at the sides to make them a little more attractive on me, or tried (and mostly failed) to turn them into tank tops. But even when it works, I don't feel very stylish. With this refashion, I took the T-shirt transformation to another level.

I started with a pink T-shirt I got from a friend. Even though the fit was better than your average free T-shirt, I don't have any ties to Rock Creek Sports Club, so I really didn't want to walk around wearing their logo. I decided I would replace the logo with something that makes me happy...a whale! (Does anyone else see the irony in replacing a gym logo with a gigantic animal synonymous with fat?)

I began by turning the shirt inside-out and freehanding a whale shape around the logo (fortunately I could still see the logo from the inside).

Then I cut out the shape.

For the inner layer (the actual meat of the reverse-appliqué), I decided to use my Drupalcon Denver shirt. Sorry, Drupal shirt, but I only used the sleeves, so maybe I'll still turn you into a tank top later!

I cut out a rough outline around the shape of the whale, and then things got messy.

I needed a good way to keep the fabric stable and in the correct shape while I was sewing, so my answer was to glue the appliqué to a piece of paper before attaching it to the shirt. My success with this was very limited.

The fabric came detached from the paper as I sewed, and wrinkled, so it took several tries before all of the appliqué was sewn on without gaps and lumps.

To make the shirt look a little cuter, fit a little less tight around the shoulders, and make the raw edges of the appliqué fit in better, I cut out a wider neckline.

Then, still feeling the shirt needed a little something, I added a spray in the shape of a heart, using the same paper-backed sewing technique as last time. This was a total failure (when will I learn!?), and I ended up having to hand-sew the heart on because there were so many gaps in my machine-sewn seam.

But once I finally finished, it didn't look too bad! A friend even told me should would never have guessed it wasn't store-bought.

If I were to do this project again, I would sew the two pieces of fabric together first before doing any cutting, which I hope would prevent the numerous gaps and wrinkles I kept accidentally sewing into the seam.

For the whale tee's maiden voyage, I tried to keep a maritime theme. I wore white sailor pants, navy (get it!?) blue boots (also happened to match the color of the whale), and my seascape earrings.