So I got this new completely adorable t-shirt from my new favorite restaurant. It’s pink and says, “Ghetto Fabulous” across the front. It’s hilarious. My new favorite restaurant serves chicken and waffles – the BEST chicken and waffles anywhere! – and is, indeed, in one of the oldest parts of South Phoenix.

Anyway, I thought this big pink shirt would be a perfect candidate for a makeover and decided to put a collar on it. I planned to buy a white shirt at the thrift store, use the collar and part of the front, and do a what I hoped would be a fairly simple insert.

THEN, my daughter said that she doesn’t want all those clothes I’ve been storing for her. I was delighted to hear it because the boxes take up quite a bit of space that I could use, so I went about sorting through what I should put in the giveaway, and what should be tossed or kept.

I found a pink striped button-up shirt in there that matches the above-mentioned t-shirt perfectly! It’s size small, and I am not, but the neck fits fine, so I am going to use it. It has 2 little pockets, which I will put on the sleeves, to tie the striped pattern to the rest of the shirt. The shirt has the restaurant logo on the back and the stripe colors are in the design, so it’s perfect!

Then I wondered how many more collared shirts were in those boxes…there were 39!!! Thirty-nine collars that I can use to transform my boxy souvenir t-shirts from all the places I’ve been. I love it!

UPDATE!!! Here it is! Isn’t it cute?! I chose to show it from the side because of the cute little pockets, but you can also see how nicely the collar from the cotton shirt fits right in to the cut away neckline of the t-shirt. ♥! 4 months ago

I was out of town the whole weekend that my beloved state celebrated its 100th birthday. My mom got a shirt AND a pin, and gave them both to me. The shirt is too big, which means it is a perfect candidate for a makeover.

I am pretty excited about this, but a little apprehensive, too, because after I posted my last entry, which turned out pretty well, I tried it again with my best Diamondbacks shirt, and the result was not exactly . . . wearable. I have to do it over. I’m confident that I can make it pretty, and when it works, THEN I’ll tackle the Centennial shirt. 15 months ago

It turned out pretty good. It was an old t-shirt that I didn’t want to photograph. Plus, I didn’t have a pattern or directions or anything—I was just trying out stuff I thought would work and finding out which ideas were good and which will need to be changed for the next one.

First, I cut out the collar in one piece, then trimmed the seam off of it and stretched it so I could use it to rebind the new neckline. So far so good. That worked fine, except I ended up cutting the seam off the collar to make it more smooth and I think it would have been better to just leave it in one piece.

Then, I measured the shoulders and cut them to fit MY shoulders. I think this is the most important part of the process because having shoulder seams halfway down my arm is what makes my t-shirts look boxy to begin with.

Next, was cutting the sleeves down. that worked fine. I’m wearing the shirt right now and the sleeves, arms, and armpit areas all feel great.

Then came sizing the new armpit hole. It had to leave enough room for my body to move around, but fit within the existing fabric. That part was not hard, really; I just used a well-fitting knit blouse for the sizing.

The tricky part was trying to get the new side/sleeve corner to fit into the rest of the shirt. I chose to gradually narrow the sides of the shirt. It worked only OK. I should have cut all the way down the sides, making side seams, which t-shirts do not normally have. I can still fix it, but cutting only part-way ended up making more of a dart than a seam, so I will definitely have to change that step for future shirts.

Overall, I think this will be a good, fun, and worthwhile project. I have a lot of t-shirts. They are super comfy, of course, but what’s wrong with looking feminine while being comfortable? Not a thing! :) I’m anxious to make more. 18 months ago

I have a hundred of them. Well…

I like collecting them when we travel, which fortunately, is often. I could add them to my box – and to my other goal of making a quilt with them – but they are really cute and I wear them pretty much every day.

The problem is that I have begun to notice that women don’t wear a lot of t-shirts anymore. I started noticing this last year on the east coast, but all summer, I’ve noticed it here, too. So I thought, Fine, but I don’t want to get rid of my wardrobe or my travel hobby, so I will alter them and make cute tops so I don’t look boxy myself.

It’s always been a good idea—i just never thought of it until recently. 20 months ago