late in the season: how to make a boxy tee girly in 7 minutes

when i started my first day of volunteer work, i was handed a standard, oversized, boxy men's tee as part of the "uniform". i immediately asked the trainer,"can i cut this up?" for which she simply replied,"no." bummer. as if wearing a uniform for free grueling work isn't bad enough, to have to work thru it with an unflattering one is even worse. yes, i'm contributing to society and giving back and that should make it all worth it, etc, etc; but those type of stiff shirts just make every woman's waist look nonexistent (and worse) in public. ok, so this particular shirt got spared the scissors but what about the other ones in your closet? like the one you stole from your brother because it had a cute graphic but when you cut off the sleeves and neck, it still looked like a sack on you? well, here's my solution on how to femme it up, though i know it's late in the season. apologies. just throw on a cardigan if it gets chilly.

step 1: get your mitts on a boxy tee, cut off the sleeves and the neck banding.

step 2: turn it inside out. on both sides, mark in about a 3/4"-1" from the outer top armhole and curve it into the bottom of the armhole. you can guesstimate the shape, but you must keep it smooth. the point is to take off a little more fabric at the shoulder points to make the top less bulky. match the front and back armholes of the garment til flush. now trim with a sharp pair of scissors.

step 3: see where the red arrows point? on both sides at this shoulder area, you're going to cut along the seam, opening up the garment.

(this is what you want.)

 step 4: twist once only the front shoulder panel piece. the direction is up to you. pin it into place.

step 5: sew it up. i just hand sew it. takes less time than to set up a machine.

step 5: turn it inside out and this is what you get. it's now slimmed down at the shoulder/neck area, giving it a better drape and silhouette. what was going to be an awkward muscle tee is now a tanky-hybrid. now go liberate the other thought-to-be-useless tees in your closet. give them a second chance.

things i'm into

when i was 19, i met my first adult best friend. what i mean by that is: we met outside of growing up together on the school playground, or thru our parents' group of friends. her name was helena and at that crucial time of figuring out who you are, who you want to be, we had each other. in typical best friend-lore, she was the prettier one and all the guys loved her. (remember before the internet, there used to be a section in the paper called "missed connections" and it always went like: you: hot girl. me: boy with hat. saw you at the cafe, you looked at me when you walked by..." well, a guy wrote her one of those.) it didn't hurt that she was tall, thin, and looked like and dressed like justine frischmann at the same time elastica exploded onto the scene. she was kind, loving, loyal, yet equally manipulative and passive aggressive. today, one might refer to her as a "mean girl". you know that friend that shows up on your doorstep with a box of tylenol cold and flowers, then tells you,"take 2 of these and get dressed. we're going out." that was her, and saying no at that point would have been some kind of friend-treason with plenty of ugly silence from her later. this went on for a few years.

eventually, i moved to nyc while she decided to take the side of an ex of mine; in short, i've never seen nor heard from her since. i recently found a ring that she gave me from when we were closest and was shocked to find it still fits the same finger as it did more than 15 years ago. "here, i want you to have this. i've got a matching one in blue," she said as she handed it to me. it was the first time anyone ever gave me a matching ring.

courtesy of helena.

this ring was at one time someone's spoon back in the day. there's an amazing vendor on market street in san francisco that makes these. i first bought a ring from him about 15 years ago when i went to school in san francisco. was so happy to see he was still there when i stopped by a few months ago and picked this up.

they look nice when worn together.

did i mention i love gold nuggets?

i love these john fluevog boots. don't bother trying to locate them. i got the 2nd to last pair. i know they look a little gothtard leprechaun but i swear not at all when you put them on. 

my favorite quote of the week

this past week was full of quotes. from my mom's sheer excitement from her first brewing experience ("my kombucha is growing a mother!") to a waitress's big mouth ("mr., your daughter sure is TALL.") to an elderly cashier woman's suspicious wonderment comparing 2 one hundred dollar bills ("where did you get this hundred? it looks lighter than the one in my drawer.") this one, however, was the cherry. going out of town truly makes one appreciate their home sweet home.

the kills at henry fonda

one friend shot this, the other edited. it's on nylon's website. my friends are geniuses <3 copy/paste the vimeo link.

http://vimeo.com/24638253

submit your photo

i want to do a series of portraits. here's the first one, hopefully more to come if i can get my hands on my friends' photos with their permission...um, possibly without...

all these things about me you never can tell

darling buds, veruca salt, and velocity girl if they had a baby...