ultimate t-shirt challenge

the members of starship awesome, ultimate frisbee team extrodinaire, received some goodies a few weeks back at our weeky thursday game...matching team t-shirts!!! they were a mixed blessing.

pros:
1. matching shirts so we can look hard-core. maybe we can intimidate the other teams into submission. put on the game face, cross the arms....yes, bring it on.
2. free, free, free. these shirts were from our team captain's company, so not only do we get free shirts, but they benefit by getting free advertising.
3. robots and vikings. who doesn't love robots and vikings. if our jumps and dives do not impress them, maybe the coolness of images will.

cons:
1. black. mosquitos are attracted to black. black attracts heat. not the good type of "bring it on" heat but sweaty, moist, mosquito-ee heat.
2. size m or size xxl (only sizes left), unisex, shapeless, tight necked t-shirts. they were free.

lightbulb. design challenge, how to make this ordinary freebie T into a thing of beauty and worship. so the great ultimate t-shirt challenge begins. diving head first into something i'm not that experienced or disciplined in (garment making). firstly i thougth it wise to use one of my favorite t-shirts from american apparel as a template.

i cut out that too tight collar with vigor. a little too much vigor as the neck was almost wider than my shoulders - it would, however work with our 80's themed team...hmmmm. next i took the sleeves off at the seams, and cut the sides of the shirt open. as sprite as a 5 year old, i traced the shape of the template T, adding a guestimated seam allowance on the sides. thinking that cap sleeves would look lovely on the field, i cut matching caps from the dicapitated sleeves. in my haste to see the finished product, i was surprised and a bit proud that i even took the time to pin the cap sleeves before sewing them on (something that a hastey, improvisational crafter like me doesn't do much of). seams sewn down the sides and voila! we have a female body friendly tunic t-shirt.

to remedy the too-wide scooped neck, i added a couple of pleats in the back. the pointy, stiff cap sleeves were tamed by a snip here and a sew there. while looking for a good position to place the contrasting viking symbol, i discovered that not only could i wear the shirt either way, robot facing front or back, but i could also wear it inside out with seams visible. gosh i love versatility. so i attached mr.viking inside out, and backwards. love it! now i'm really ready to play my A-game. Bring it on!