Completed Project: Scout Woven Tee

I have nothing but enthusiastic RAVES for the Grainline Scout Woven Tee!  It's a fairly simple to make, super-flattering and an easy-to-wear design.  And well-worth shelling out $6.50 for!  For the front of the tee I used reclaimed fabric from a vintage 1970s floral print scarf.  

Yes - quell horreur! - I plead guilty to cutting up a perfectly fine and wearable vintage scarf, but it was put to good use, right?  And I have a confession - I have tons more of these oversized vintage scarfs in my stash just like this that I've stored up from my various thrifting adventures.  I find that, at $.50 cents to $2.00 each, they are an affordable fabric option for small projects like this and usually offer nice pops of color or unique design that's usually hard to find in modern fabric.             

Since I only had a small amount of scarf fabric for the front I opted for a matching rust-colored rayon challis for the back and the sleeves.  I found this fabric at a thrift store as well.  This tee is extremely comfy to wear I really love the swingy fit!  Although the floral scarf fabric is slightly sheer, I opted not to line it because I have a feeling this summer is going to be a hot one and I plan to wear this often!

Completed Project: Reconstructed Tom Hanks "2x Academy Award Winner" T-Shirt

This reconstructed t-shirt is definitely an in-joke amongst myself and a few of my friends.  I'm notoriously not a fan of the once-ubiquitous Tom Hanks, which my friend Scott insists is positively un-American.  So he made me this t-shirt to wear as a joke to he and his wife Cate's annual Academy Awards party in late February.  I believe the photo of Tom Hanks used here is from an episode of Saturday Night Live that he hosted in the late 1980s.

The original t-shirt was an oversized Hanes men's shirt so I decided to take it apart and reconstruct it into something a little more wearable. This is the pattern I used: Simplicity 9165 from 1989.

I thought the front overlapped detail was really cool and I had *barely* enough fabric to make it happen.

I zig-zag stitched around the the original iron-on printed fabric photo so it would stay in place.

Detail of the unique front-lapped design.

The original design didn't call for a center-back seam, but I had to utilize it due to a major lack of fabric!

I cut a size 10 and I usually wear a size 12.  Although the original design is cropped, the shirt is extremely cropped on me and (as pictured here) will require the use of a camisole of tank top underneath.  Not sure how often I'll wear it as I consider it to be pro-Tom Hanks propaganda and - well - I'm just not cool with that!  ;-)

"Te Amo" - Look of the Day

My first post in about 3 months!  I hope to be able to do more of these "look of the day" posts.  You see, I work as a cook during the day and I kind of live for shedding my kitchen scrubs and dressing up every afternoon when I arrive home.  Plus, I suppose this will be the last time I will be able to wear a plaid wool skirt and grey over-the-knee socks and get away with it before the slight winter chill is gone and Spring is here for good.

None of my look is handmade, but the bias plaid skirt is definitely vintage 1970s.  Scored with an entire armful of similar skirts all at once during a lucky pitstop at the Goodwill in Black Mountain, NC last fall (and they all fit, too)!  The awesome "Te Amo" Han and Leia shirt was definitely love at first sight and is from We Love Fine which has nerdy t-shirts at decent prices and awesomesauce customer service too!  The skinny belt is from Banana Republic from, like, 13 years ago.  The combat boots by Espirit are just about as old.  You see, when you're poor you tend to make your things last....