No Boring T-Shirts!

I just finished reading a book about decluttering and organizing and one of the things she talks about (alot) is that everything you own should be either useful and necessary, or spark joy in you. Everything. That's a daunting task but it's making me look at the things I come in contact with in my house and closet in a whole new light - so today I fixated on all my t-shirts. I imagine everyone is pretty much in the same boat - I have so many t-shirts that are just crammed on the shelf, I don't really think much about them and really...do they spark joy? Freebie t-shirts, old shlumpy t-shirts, t-shirts that I sleep in but wouldn't be caught dead going outside in? Nope, not joyful.

So I sorted them and tried to decide which ones made me happy (gotta say not many did haha), and then I had the idea that maybe if I jazzed them up I'd like them better. I've never been into cutting up t-shirts with fringe and ties, etc. but I saw someone do this the other day on tv and thought it seemed manageable and not too young.

If the neck is tight or uncomfortable (or unflattering) start by cutting it out. On this t-shirt it's fine so I left it. Lay the t-shirt face down and put something inside the t-shirt that you can cut on, I was being lazy so I grabbed a nearby thick shopping bag and figured I could cut on that without my rotary cutter going thru to the front of the t-shirt. 

Using either a rotary cutter or scissors make an arch shaped cut angling down a few inches below the collar, then an arch cut that angles up so the ends of the two cuts meet, remove the fabric piece in between the cuts. Repeat every few inches - I cut out 3 shapes.

Then take 3 inch pieces of soft washable ribbon and wrap them around the fabric that is left pinching the fabric together, sew in place. You could tie the ribbon on instead but I feel like then there will be hard knots if you want to sleep or work out in your shirt - I don't want to lay on the knots.

I think it turned out cute and while I'm still not feeling actual "joy" about it at least it's cuter than it was. Know what would be even cuter? If I wasn't lazy and put something harder than a shopping bag in between the t-shirt to cut on so the front of the t-shirt didn't end up with this big gash in it!!! Oops!!

A couple tips that I've learned after doing this one:
1) don't cut out pieces of fabric that are as big as mine, I would like it better if the holes weren't so big.
2) put something hard inside the t-shirt to cut on if you are using a rotary cutter, the shopping bag made it difficult to cut smoothly (and obviously wasn't thick enough!).
3) practice on a t-shirt that you don't like in case you mess up!

Sarge being helpful, as usual...