D-I-Y don't you just buy a shirt?

Finally!  I get to write!  
..........


*two hours later*  Ok, really!  I get to write now!


I've been trying to post but Sofia has pretty much given up her morning nap and we're still working on an afternoon nap that's longer than 40 minutes, so it's been a little rough 'round these parts.


But I'm going to recount her birthday if it's the last thing I do, because I want to remember every detail and I have to blog for that, because I can't remember what I did yesterday without help.


SO!  I had already sewn my skirt for the party and I was really pleased with how it came out.  I should have quit while I was ahead and bought a shirt.  But of course I didnt.


I have a bunch of 'refashion your t-shirt' tutorials on Pinterest (psst, come follow me!) and I figured I could sew something up and wear it to the party for zero dollars and zero cents.  Originally, I was going to rent something from Rent the Runway but Drew was having a conniption over how much money I was spending on the party (and for the record, he'd have a conniption if I spent $20.  I keep telling him we didn't spend that much!) so making something would definitely help my marriage.  Although when I saw this garden party dress, I did some shameless begging to no avail.

Pay no attention to the price tag - the dress has BUGS on it and that makes it awesome!

That's what I told Drew.  It didn't work.

So even though I couldn't get the awesome bug dress and renting one wasn't an option either, it was up to me and my trusty sewing machine to make something awesome.

Y'all.  It took me SIX HOURS to sew that damn t-shirt.  I know this because I slow-roasted a pork shoulder while I sewed.  Six hours is ridiculous for a damn t-shirt.  That's the problem with DIY.  It's the better choice only if the ratio of time spent to money saved is not out of whack.  I could have taken ten minutes at H&M, gotten a cute and cheap shirt and taken my happy ass to bed instead of staying up and spending SIX HOURS sewing a t-shirt just because I already had it.

But then I wouldn't have a story to tell, and where's the fun in that?

So with the baby in bed, I got to sewing.

I started with a plain white T.  I don't know why, but I have a ton of them.

I laid a shirt that fit me over it and roughly traced the outline with tailor's chalk.

I tried to mimic the curving in at the waist, but I wasn't that successful.

The arms of the t-shirt were way harder because the cut of the orange shirt was completely different from the white shirt.

The most time-consuming part was putting on the shirt, figuring out where to pin/sew/cut while it was on me, taking it off, double-checking that I pinned/marked right, cursing when I didn't, putting it back on, measuring again, taking it off, did I just hear the baby?  No, okay where was I? Right, putting it back on, lining it up and sewing.  

In and of itself, sewing is easy.  Once you thread the machine properly, you're good.  It's all the other garbage.  Like cutting.

 I wanted a wider neck with a deeper V, so I could nurse in my new shirt.

I folded it in half and cut.

Don't do that.

I got a nice deep V in the front, so I don't know why I was surprised I got it in the back too.

Because that's what happens when you fold something in half and cut it.

At first, I was okay with it because it looked kind of cool and I don't mind showing off my tattoo.  Actually, sometimes I forget it's back there.

Also, you should leave a comment about how awesome it is and how cool tattoos are

because I'm trying to convince Drew that I need another one.

However, I was too scissor happy.  That's what I'm learning about sewing - you don't have to cut or hem nearly as much as you think you do and I made my V too wide.  I didn't want to have to wear a strapless bra but since I cut too much, that was the only option since the shirt wouldn't really stay on my shoulders and I didn't want my bra showing.  Lucky for me, my bra showed anyway.

Then I got the bright idea to sew a neckline around my shirt to make it look more finished.  Do you have ANY IDEA how long that took me?  DO YOU?  I do - three turns of the pork shoulder, or three hours.  At that point, I should have thrown the shirt in the trash and gone to bed.  But oh no, I'd come too far to give up now!  So I cut a long strip from the bottom of the shirt, tried to fold it in half but it wasn't wide enough, cursed about it but tried to make it work anyway.

My attempt at topstitching.  

It was probably close to midnight by now and I'd started at 8.

Needless to say, the attempt at sewing a neckline didn't go so well and at that point, I really should have given up.  But oh no!  I figured I could fix it if I sewed rosettes all around the neckline to disguise the neckline/topstitching mess.

Y'all.  You have to hand cut each. individual. rosette.  Just to get a small corsage looking bunch of rosettes you have to have like 25!!  I was going to need hundreds if I wanted to line the whole neckline!  I'd cut like ten and I was like EFF THIS, how 'bout a RUFFLE!  One long piece of fabric, gathered around, a couple of stitches here and there and you're done!

Yeah, ruffles aren't that easy either.  So I stitched on about ten rosettes and called it a night.

Of course, I don't have a picture of the shirt with the rosettes, but you get the idea.

The day of the party, I got dressed early and put on my shirt because I was going to wear it no matter how homely it looked and how pathetic my ten rosettes were.  But as the morning passed and I ran around more and more, it stretched out and kept slipping off my shoulders.  I got tired of continually hiking it back up, so I put on a pink tank top that didn't match as well.  I was bummed, but I was so frazzled by the time the guests started arriving, I didn't even care anymore.

You'd think someone would have bothered to tell me 

that my bra was showing.  

It's cool though, I see how you are.

Sewing, she is a fickle mistress.  She lifts you up and lets you think you're amazing when you hem your jeans properly, only to dash you to the rocks when you approach her again.

I'm giving my machine some space before I attempt another project.  I think she's mad at me right now.

If the baby cooperates, I'll do another post this afternoon or tonight about the decorations and her presents because I'm so incredibly touched by the generosity of my blog friends! You guys are the best!