Pea must be the driving force. Eheh.

So, every month I never fail to get a copy of In Style. 

Maybe I don't dress as stylishly as the 'holy book' commands me too, but at least I know what's currently hot. 

So, I have a thing for stripes. Like, always do. And laid my eyes on this baby I did, as I flipped the pages over. 

See that? USD200. Heh.

So, I've also very recently started going gaga over refashioning projects and been buying several pieces of cheap basic tees at the hypermarket. 

Let's just move on to what happened on Wednesday night.

*********

I took the purple tee out of the cupboard and folded it in half. By the way, it's been prepped for when DIY mania strikes, as in, pre-washed so the wax is removed and it can do whatever it's shrinking or stretching thang going.

I then roughly outlined a curved hem line. 

I cut along the (new) curved hem line. 

I measured my shoulder width, and then guesstimated how much needs to be snipped off for a new neckline. In this case, it's approximately 1.25" from the original. 

Then, it's time to work on a new sleeve length. I had two lines here because I am no expert. Marked the outer line first, folded and pinned the sleeve, and tried the top on to see if it gave me the right drape. 

Ekkkkk. Thus the second line inside happened. Haha.

*In the name of God, cut along the marked lines (sleeves and neck) and hope that it turns out fine*

Phewwww....it did.

The Ramones much?

Okay, time to up-style the baby!

I made a stencil out of manila paper for a set of stripes because I'm that anal and I wanted clean lines. 

Other must-have items were as pictured. Last week, I had bought a tub of Dylon fabric paint in bronze and another tube by Folk Art in metallic rose. The former is RM10.90 and the latter is RM7.50 (at almost double the volume). Got my supplies from the Art Friend at The Gardens. Brush is a cheapo one from Mr DIY, at RM1.90 perhaps?

I have a ton of garment covers courtesy of my trusty old dry cleaner peeps. Used one as a floor protector and another (smaller one) in between the tee's front/back so the wet paint wouldn't seep through.

(Yeah, and halfway through the process I realised that the template didn't really work that well and that I should have probably just used duct tapes. Doh!)

Let's get painting. At first I used 'paper weights' on the stencil. Bahhhhh didn't really work. See the colour that runneth over? Le Amateur  "-_-

Then I fixed the back of the stencil with cellophane tape and thankfully it helped.

Mind you, sitting on a cold floor and bending over for the whole night can kill your coccyx and spine, especially when there's a 1kg baby in your tummy. 

And yet I persisted. Tadaaaaaaah!

Done at the strike of midnight. Cinderella doesn't need to resort to her dreadful rags no more.

No, we're not exactly done yet. I let this dry overnight and all through the next day.

Then I happily tried it on. 

Uh oh, fashion faux pas number one: too large an arm hole. Two, actually. 

Haih.

The inner seamstress in me had to work her magic and used the saved scrap fabric from the tee to patch 'em up. Let's remind ourselves that there was no access to a sewing machine here. Nor did I have purple thread, so I just resorted to a dark teal one. It wasn't easy but the trick here is just to 'hentam saja lah. labu....'. This explains the less than inspiring hand stitches, tehheee....

After all the hassle, it's time to iron over the paint to fix it. Else, it's buh-bye hard work when the tee goes into the washer.

So, have we got the steps here? In a nutshell:

1. Prep it.

2. Cut it.

3. Paint it.

4. Dry it. 

5. Errr...fix it.

6. And finally, WEAR IT!

27 weeks+ prego and not really looking like a tub of lard. *pat self on da back*

Next on my radar, another tee with ribbons or jumping into a baby bedlinen set. 

To the fabric store and beyond!!!!!!!!!

p/s: if you're trying this, i would advise for you to opt for the Folk Art paint, not only because it's cheaper but it's also easier to apply. pre-washing, the quality looks no different than Dylon's. Damn the snooty Brits.