Most of you who know me know that I'm not a 'craft guy.' I last operated a sewing machine in junior high home economics class. Point being that I don't come up with cool, homemade crafts. Well, earlier this summer I happened to stroll into one of those upscale children's boutiques with the Swedish this and the German that and the sequined shoes that retail for more than what I pay for my own shoes.
While there I saw these EXTREMELY cute t-shirts with a huge, single letter sewed on them. Of course there was one with a big, huge paisley 'M' and I wanted to get it for Megan. Turns out, said t-shirt was $32. Now, when Jillian was pregnant and I had lofty aspirations of outfitting my daughter solely in Ralph Lauren and Janie and Jack items I probably wouldn't have batted an eye. But since Megan has been born and I've realized how quickly she goes through clothes and how expensive she is in general, there's NO WAY I'm paying $32 for a t-shirt.
And it seemed so simple. Serendipitously one weekend Jillian mentioned having to run to Michael's for some asinine reason; fake flowers, a picture frame, a fleur-de-lis bookcase thingy, whatever. BUT I knew they had fabric so I flung Megan into the car and headed to girl world. Who knew there was a glut of cutesy patterns to create this project with. I narrowed it down to about 5-6 choices and had Jillian help me with the final picks and we grabbed some plain t-shirts there. Total cost for THREE shirts and fabric? Like $18. MUCH better deal.
However, I STILL had a problem. That whole sewing thing. Fortuitously, I was about to take Megan to St. Louis with me to visit my parents, and my mom just happens to be an expert seamstress. Like legitimately. In her spare time she made custom curtains and such for high-end homes a few years back. She even smacked me when I told her I wanted to embroider the shirts. She corrected me and said I was looking to do an 'applique.' Ok, whatever.
So I pawned off the actual crafting of the piece to my mom. She didn't have time to do it while we were there that weekend but she texted me a few days after we got back and said the shirts were coming via UPS. I was giddy.
And these snapshots were what she created from my vision. I think they look fabulous. Megan is totally ALL about them and we couldn't be happier. It was a true family project and we saved boat loads of cash. Unfortunately for my mom, she doesn't know this yet, but I'm about to use her like a Nike sweatshop. In all seriousness ... thanks mom for making such awesome shirts. I literally couldn't have done it without you.
(BTW, I don't know why her 'smile' at this age looks like she's trying to grind her teeth down in painful agony. I'm trying to work with her on it, but there's not much I can do right now. Just know that's her happy face.)
3 comments:
So impressed by your craftiness! When Megan outgrows them, you can bring them back to St. Louis for my little Maggie, who still sometimes wears size 12 month pj's at age 2 1/2!!!
Wow. I can't decide which to be more impressed with - the fact that you WENT IN MICHAEL'S or the beautiful craft project you thought to do yourself (and, in the process, made it an even more special gift). John has been known to wait outside on the curb while I go in Michael's... Major kudos to you! :)
I shall consider this my legacy.
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