New Looks for Old T-Shirts

With a little DIY recycling, everyone is a designer

DIY T-Shirts- 99 Ways to Cut, Sew, Trim, and Tie Your T-Shirt into Something Special, new book makes everyone a fashion designer–StyleThing!

I’ve always been amazed at clever friends who could lay a tired old T-shirt on the floor and hack, hack, hack away. After some perfectly placed scissoring, the once ready for the garbage rag renews itself into a fab new T-shirt in the matter of minutes.

Voila, a coveted design[/link] made out of a once sad freebie T-Shirt.

I have to say that I even own a few resurrected one-of-a-kind T’s that perhaps in a previous life were too kitschy to be cool. Now in their updated reincarnation, are offbeat designer wonders and wardrobe staples. But why spend money on someone else’s design power when all you have to do is open up your DIY imagination and not your wallet?

Just get the book.

Transform a has-been vintage T-shirt into a funked out wow with 99 Ways to Cut, Sew, Trim, and Tie Your T-Shirt into Something Special (Potter Craft) by Faith Blakeney, Justina Blakeney, Anka Livakovic and Ellen Schultz. The team are collectively known as the fashionistas behind Compai, the super hip limited-edition clothing collection of transformed garments sold in some of the hippest stores worldwide.

That mouthful said, the how-to design a custom T-shirt manuel brims with easy-to-follow do-it-yourself patterns for each of the 99 dolled-up T-shirt styles. You even get a gauge of difficulty and the estimated time it takes to resuscitate your look. None take more than 30 minutes to create, unless, of course, you get carried away and decide to add a few of your own personalized embellishments like grommets, studs, buttons, and bling.

The transformations are so habit forming that you can create your personal inventory to change your outfit as frequently as Lindsay Lohan without going shopping beyond the back of your closet.

Careful, creativity can be addictive.
Site:
www.Compai.com

–June 27, 2006

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