A Little DIY Shirt

My little cousin finally read the Harry Potter series this year! So exciting! Everyone ought to read HP. (No pressure, Liz.*) 

Anyway! She asked for the series for Christmas, and while I'm in no position to drop $70, I did get her the first book and my grandparents got her the second one. Her birthday is just a couple of weeks after Christmas, so she's well on her way. I also thought she'd like something similar to the shirt in this pin that I see all the time, so I grabbed a grey (gray?) t-shirt and got to work. While *I* would prefer the original sweatshirt, she's almost 16 and sort of into a..... different look than I am. I know she makes and wears shirts with fabric paint, so I figured it'd be a safe bet to use that. It's just a shirt for futzing around.  

At first I wasn't sure if I wanted it to be a Harry Potter-specific shirt, so I decided on a subtle nod via lightning bolt. ;) 

Then stuff got cray cray and I got real tired real quick of cutting strips into the back of the shirt and tying them with the proper corresponding strips. UGH UGH UGH. I kept silently reminding myself that patience is a virtue because while this:

is by no means difficult, it is very annoying after the first five knots. 

I think the look of the shirt is kinda cool, though I'd make a few changes if it was for myself. I'd either cut the excess strips down really close to the knots to lose some of the fringe look or I'd just not cut the shirt in half in the first place, making the knots unnecessary. (As in, I'd fold that part of the shirt and just make slices, so there'd still be a semi-open back like that, minus the knots and extra strips. If that makes sense? It's what I did on the sleeves, which you can see in that nifty collage when you scroll down.) The process I used brought the shirt down a size or two, another thing that wouldn't be an issue if the knots weren't used. Bringing the shirt in with those knots meant it pulled at the collar big time. Not comfy! I tried it on myself to get a feel for it a million times to make sure it still felt, looked, and functioned as a shirt. I ended up cutting the collar off completely. If it were mine, I'd make the neckline plunge a little, but she's 15. She's also a tad... smaller on top than I am, so I wasn't going to take risks with that.

I actually specialize in taking pictures of myself. Also I would have picked a different background if I knew I'd blog this, sigh.

Over all, I really dig this shirt. I think she'll like it when she sees it. I think I'm going to make one for myself and stick to just cutting slits in the back instead of tying the knots because I usually prefer clean cut stuff. I may or may not be thinking of a million shirts to make - plain t-shirt with slits in the back! Plain long sleeve semi-fitted shirt with slits in the back! T-shirt with "The Book Was Better" in varsity iron on letters with slits in the back!

Only time will tell.

__

Charlotte

*jk, Liz. Peer pressure, peer pressure!