A couple of weeks ago I convinced D that he possibly might have too many T-shirts, and got him to get rid of TWO! Well one was a polo, but the other was a band tee from our good friend Carlos's group: Mars + Venus. They are a pretty wicked modern rock group and we regularly go to their shows.
Now you know how people always have a friend they support even though they don't really like their music so much...or they really just might be terrible? Well not the case for us! We're crazy about them, and I was really excited that I was able to invite my cousin to their last show, he also LOVED them.
*See their fbk/website info below.
So anyways, back to this tee! It was too short for my tall man, even though it was a Large (maybe he unknowingly shrunk it?), so he gave it to me and suggested I attempt refashioning it for myself.
How thoughtful is my guy? He knows I've been jonesing for a refashioning project, but I am SO broke until I start working next month, so I've been avoiding V.Village and the like until then...and sadly, maybe a little bit longer depending on my living sitch.
Anyways...here is a simple tutorial on how to make those unfitted/unflattering band t-shirts just a little cuter to rock at your fave bands' shows!
Here's what I started out with, I forgot to take a Before pic of me wearing it though...I got a little excited. My apologies, next time!
SO first: cut out your neckline...you can make it a little wider for an "off the shoulder" look...but I'd wait until the end of tutorial to do so...this will already be surprisingly wider than you'd think!
 |
| This shirt is a few years old, but you gotta love that it's neon...Back in style already! ;) |
Next: Pin along your arms so you can figure out approximately how much you'll want to take in the sleeves.
*you can also just pinch and measure how far to take it in, but that's a little harder to do alone
I wanted tight sleeves.
 |
| (you can kind of see here how big it was on me) |
Then: I marked it with a chalk line, and re-pinned the sleeve with the pins going across the future seam
Next: I pinned the sides of the shirt in place to prevent shifting whilst marking, and then eyeballed where I wanted to take the shirt in.
I wanted to accentuate my waist, but I got a little overzealous on the waist and hips area (I didn't touch the hem so it goes pretty long past my hips).
So be careful here!
 |
| Weird angle...I apologize for my sub-par photography skills! |
I sewed one zigzag stitch along the curved line you see without stopping at the sleeves. Then I did a straight stitch just to the inside of the zigzag because my seams were a little choppy. The straight stitch smoothed the lines out a bit by hiding my weird turns at the curves.
My mom's sewing machine is a whole other ball game than the ones I use at school. Talk about too speedy! But I'm learning.
Cut along the zigzag edge to get rid of any extras:
At this point, try on your tee and decide if you want to cut more off of the neck or not. I just trimmed the seams across the shoulder (they stick up a little pointy) and evened out the cut.
The Final product
I just realized I have no picture without my arms up (which really changes the look...but I wanted to show you the arms) or my blazer hiding it...I shall have to remedy that soon!
Me at the show!
I wore it tucked into "denim" mini and popped a blazer over top, it's still chilly round these parts!
 |
| There's a weird reflection going on here...Blame it on the bar lighting? |
Don't you love my neon orange hoop earrings, circa my Aunt's closet in the 80's?
Cousin was a little less than impressed...it weirded him out once he found out where I got them from ;)
I originally was wearing some black patent pumps but I took a good
wipeout leaving the "pre-party" at D's and couldn't really walk in heels after
falling face down on slate stairs..OUCH!
But I still made it out to the show like a champ! And don't fret, my legs got the worst of it.
Check out
Mars + Venus Facebook
here, Website
here.
This is one of my favorite songs:
I was here when they filmed this too!
Do you have any old or oversized tees itching to be refashioned? I'd love to see your Before and After!
<3,
Ern
