T-shirts Refashions

My husband and I have been dieting.  That's a different story.

The side effect is that we are able to go through our closet and are finding many pieces of clothes that no longer fit.  So far I'm just removing and not really replacing a lot of new things.  When we took our road trip we would stop at different thrift shops to get new pants that fit better so I do have those.

Amazing that I had so many clothes in different sizes waiting to be worn again for so many years. Some had never been worn before. They were just taking up space and making me feel like I shouldn't buy any new things!

We take things we are no longer using to Goodwill or if Amvets are coming by I leave them for them to recycle.

I've been putting some denim items in my to-be sewing room, thinking that I'd use the denim in some other project.  But lately I'm finding t-shirts that aren't good enough to give to goodwill, but not bad enough to cut into cleaning rags, so I'm starting a stack of them too.

A few years ago - gee it might have been ten years ago - I gave my son's girlfriend a book with ideas for revamping t-shirts along with a stack of used t-shirts.  She had come over a few times to sew and I was dreaming this would be a new project for the two of us to bond over.  I'm not sure if she ever did anything with the book or shirts.  She was a confident and skilled sewer, much better than me.  She has been pretty busy with gainful employment and living.  I know she is not painting or knitting or doing any of her crafty things. When they have spare time they rock climb!

Anyway, I'll have this stack of t-shirts and have found some nice posts with ideas of things to do with them, so just posting here to remind myself of t-shirt refashions...

https://www.pinterest.com/curlysue77/t-shirt-refashion/

http://andreasnotebook.com/t-shirt-upcyles.html

For many years I was the one wearing the plain t-shirt and jeans. No style. Just clean. At some point I discovered (make that was-horrified-to-realize) that I was more comfortable in men's t-shirts. It's nice to be able to go into a store and buy regular women's sizes again.

But since I have these used items it might be good sewing project to remake them just to practice learning the procedures and concepts. Would be fun to have my own large t-shirt made into a dolman t-shirt!

It's hard to know what to keep and what not to keep.  It's a burden and a gift to have so many things.

Found a post today on decluttering that was interesting.
http://www.thriftydecorchick.com/2011/01/but-first-we-declutter.html
She says each year she cycles thru the house to get rid of things and to clean up (she also does many beautiful projects in the cleared out spaces).  In 2011 she started with that area so she had energy to really do it completely. Also, because previously she had been putting things she wasn't using in the basement she already knew much of it was going out the door. I just left a comment on her blog asking how the basement looks now - we'll see if she posts a new photo to inspire me!  : )