Pimp My Tee

It was freezing inside when I woke up at 4:00 this morning, ready to seize the day.

The thermostat inside the unit registered 73, but it felt more like the 43 the weather bureau indicated as registering outside.

I have no idea as to why I was up at 4:00 A.M., but getting back under the covers was not an option as the adrenaline was going and I felt the need to get stuff done, starting with weeding through a stack of paperwork on the table, shredding what needed to be shredded, organizing what needed to be organized.

Couldn’t do that because, at 4:00 in the morning, the complex is so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Running the shredder would wake everyone up, so after reading a few blogs, playing a few rounds of Candy Crush and AlpaBettySaga, I set about looking for a solution to a dilemma.

Granddaughter sent me an awesome t-shirt yesterday.

I forgot to take a photo of it as it came out of the box, but this is how it looked on the source website.

Made me smile. I loved it! Could see myself wearing it everywhere and also thought it would be a great top for the upcoming Donut Run.

Only problem was, when I tried it on, I felt like the crew-neck collar was strangling me, the shirt too big, boxy, long, stiff, heavy. But it’s a tee. That’s how they’re made, which is why I’ve a container full of tees that came with various 5K registrations, waiting to be turned into a quilt because, preferring my tops more form fitting, I can't wear and truthfully don't look good in boxy tops.

But this was a gift from Grandbaby. 

I didn’t have the heart to tell her the tee wasn’t working for me, that I wasn’t comfortable in it, so I thought about reordering for myself in a smaller size from her source, thinking Granddaughter would be none the wiser. However, looking at what was available, there wasn’t one in black that she’d not notice the difference; plus there was no guarantee reordering would give me the fit I needed.

With at least two/three more hours before I could begin making noise in the unit, without disturbing neighbors, I turned to YouTube and watched a few “pimp my tee shirt” videos and videos of how to turn a crew neck into a V-Neck, how to make a tee smaller.

Later, able to get started on this project, I was scared about all the cutting pimping required but, reminding myself of how many Starbuck Gingerbread Cafes I purchased before I had a successful build, I figured if I messed up too bad, I could reorder the exact same tee however many times it took, so off went the sides and the sleeves.

Sitting on the couch a little later, hand basting in smaller sleeves -- because I wanted to make sure they were in correct position before I stitched in place on the machine (they weren’t), Granddaughter called to make sure I’d received the package.

Talk about feeling guilty.

I almost blurted out “I’m pimping it. It’s in pieces”, but held my tongue.

A couple hours later, sleeves stitched, sides back together, I tried it on and …… success!

Fits like a glove. No longer boxy, without the extra fabric no longer heavy, the tighter fit also solved the problems of the tee being too long, the collar strangling and, best of all, Granddaughter is none the wiser.

Now that I know what I can do with a tee, I have a feeling that quilt will never get made as I go through the container and try out some of the other pimping styles I saw online.