Final Back to School

So here it is...my last year of school EVER.

 On my last first day of school (hopefully!) EVER!!!

Now that I have moved into my new place and I have a job serving for the year, I feel like my life is finally settling down. Aside from two more weddings we will be attending this fall, we have nothing big planned for this year which is a relief.

I am looking forward to powering through this semester, and enjoying my practicum the next. Finishing up with two Spring courses to complete my degree.

In preparation for my last year of school ever (...I hope!), I have decided to make a list of things I want to work on and accomplish by the time I graduate. Things that I've been putting off for a long time, or have never been good at sticking with.

Personal Goals:

Work on being a better, more present friend

Spending individual quality time with family members

Be more social - and do it frugally.

Actually do my readings before classes

Attempt to do laundry more regularly - not just relying on my tons of clothes to keep putting it off

Work on building a closet of versatile, quality basics that will last me years

...and cheap, fun, in-style-for-now pieces

Blogging more often...finding things that inspire and challenge me to do so. I have been so neglectful to my budding little blog. I really want to see it grow and develop in the next year.

Health Goals:

Be more physically active - and work doesn't count

Be better about making meals for school/work

Stretch more often

Sewing Goals:

Refashion more of my clothes

Make pillows for the living room

Make curtains for my bedroom

Make a blanket for the couch and across the foot of my bed

Finish sewing a piece of clothing I actually will wear...and like

Downsizing Goals:

Nail polish box

Refashion or get rid of clothes I never wear anymore - I'm usually pretty good at the downsizing...but I should really take the time to alter them into favorite pieces...most of them just need a little tweaking

Go through all of my old school papers and notes that I'll never use or read again...even though I think I will (I really won't!)

The excessive pens and notebooks collection

Jewelry Supplies
Text books - sell 'em!

Kitchen Goals:

Try a new recipe at least every other week

Never show up somewhere empty-handed

Always do the dishes right away

Financial Goals:

Save 10% of all of my income

Work enough so that I don't have to rely on student loans for month-to-month bills

Make Christmas and Birthday gifts for friends instead of buying them

I plan to update this list as the year progresses - adding to it, and crossing off the things I have accomplished at those points in time. Just to see how far I've come by the end of the year. I'm hoping it will be quite far.

Mars + Venus Tee Refashion

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