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| QUATRE-BORNES
six ways to Make Over your Old T-Shirt |
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Atten-shun! quatre-bornes.com
T-shirt boot camp begins with six simple ways
to transform plain-Jane tees into all-out fabulousness
— our contribution to the fight against
wardrobe monotony. With a handful of sequins,
zippers, ribbons and some beginner-level sewing
(it's OK if you didn't ace Home Ec; we didn't
either), you can create shirts that are as cool
and one-of-a-kind as the super trooper wearing
them. Before you join our special forces of style,
we recommend doing some reconnaissance at your
local thrift and fabric stores for inspiration.
With a little creativity, your ordinary T-shirts
will soon march to their own groovy beat.
These T-Shirts are always the trend setters and
even some of them surely fall under High Street
Fashions. Why you want to spend so much when you
can do it yourself. |
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| Zip IT: With
a tug, this top gets a little off-the-shoulder action
— perfect for catching the eye of that cutie-patootie
in Algebra class. First, measure and then cut the neck
off a boatneck shirt to fit a 14-inch zipper, so that
it will unzip down one shoulder. Pin the zipper to the
new opening, making sure that all of the cut edges are
covered. Use the zipper foot on a sewing machine and
stitch away! For a T-shirt with instant air-conditioning,
cut along the center of the sleeves (we used 8-inch
zippers) and attach zippers using the same technique
as above. This tee's got zip! |
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| Quatre
Bornes Ribbon-Anza |
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How to add the
icing to your Cake tour T-shirt? Try satisfying your
sugar fix with Sweet Tart-colored ruffles of seam
binding ribbon. To make a homegrown tuxedo shirt,
here's a virtually mistake-free technique: Bunch up
the ribbon like waves on your needle before you pull
it through the fabric. (You're basically just folding
the ribbon like an accordion and then spearing it
onto your needle.) This technique looks kind of like
old-fashioned ribbon candy — the stuff your grandma
has preserved in her candy dishes for eons. Keep sewing
in this fashion, creating tiny or big ruffles on the
front of your shirt, until you achieve your desired
look.
If you're more Jane Austen than Betty Crocker, measure
a length of wide satin or velvet ribbon so that there's
more than enough to tie around the middle part of
your ribs (think of the empire-waist gowns that Gwyneth
Paltrow wore in Emma). With fishing line, thread a
length of string on each side of your top for the
bow's "belt loops." Tie your best bow and
you'll be sure to charm your own Mr. Knightly. |
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| QUATRE-BORNES
Pearl Girl |
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| In
Art History class, they call special effects like this
pre-accessorized top a trompe l'oeil because it "fools
the eye." Like one of those 3-D hologram pictures, you'll
send out the illusion that you're wearing a classic
string of pearls — so demure like Grace Kelly! But the
secret is that the necklace is really attached to the
shirt's neck. To make this two-in-one tee, knot the
ends of a stretchy faux pearl necklace (be careful not
to let the pearls fall off the string). With a needle
and thread, attach the ends just behind the seams at
the neck of your shirt, looping your needle around the
knotted ends a few times to secure it to the fabric.
Or if the necklace is long enough, hand-sew it to the
T-shirt's back, just below the collar. This technique
will work for any stretchy necklace made with beads,
too. Perfect for class acts who can tell the difference
between a Da Vinci and a Dicaprio. |
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| Quatre
Bornes Twinkle Twinkle Tee |
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| Remember
those sequined costumes you wore in tap class when you
were eight? Well, the same jazzy look from the days
you shimmied to the tunes of I'm a Little Teapot is
making a comeback! Paillettes (French for sequins) are
an easy, glam way to personalize any look. You can use
the sparkly circles to trim your shirt or shape them
into a flower. We used strings of sequins from our local
fabric store, which were already sewn together. Hand-sew
a shimmering bud, star, initial or your own design onto
the shirt using like-colored thread. Now let's see those
jazz hands! |
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| Quatre
Bornes Flowers La Mode |
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Wool felt is made from
washing, rubbing and pressing sheep's wool into
a dense cloth that feels almost like soft, thick
construction paper. This fabric comes in an array
of rainbow colors. Get crafty by tracing out felt
shapes like daisies with a washable pen. Cut out
your petals and glue them on with washable fabric
glue or hand-sew them onto your tee. For the yellow
centers, we used a foam place mat, but canary-yellow
felt also will do. In no time flat, you'll have
a dresser drawer overflowing with blossom-bedecked
tops no matter what the season.
The Other option can be Pin up the crafted shape
and place it back of your T-Shirt or even stitch
em with contrast colour threads around the crafted
shape then you see the difference of the T-Shirt
and you might be the pretty one who is walking
with Unique design overlapped with high air on
the streets of Quatre-Bornes. |
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| POCKET
SIZED |
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| Sometimes
all a baby tee needs is a wee pocket to call its own.
For these pint-size pouches, we recycled fabric from
a toddler's pair of denim overalls. (All kinds of infant
or doll clothes work well, too. Just make sure to use
old clothes, not ones straight out of your little sister's
closet.) Using a seam ripper or a pair of small scissors,
remove the pocket and pin it onto a crew or v-neck and
machine or hand-stitch around the edges. (If you want
a real working pocket, don't sew the top closed!) Lilliputian
corduroy or gingham pockets are cute on big people,
too. |
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