T-shirt Reconstructions, yay or nay?

I’ve been thinking about the spirit of this challenge, mulling over my 2nd “rule.”

“2. if it feels like cheating it probably is.”

I put that rule there because cheating, even when the rules are self imposed, usually feels like cheating.

So I was digging through my current wardrobe looking for a piece of clothing and ran across the pile of t-shirts I never wear. I never wear t-shirts. Ever. And so I started thinking about t-shirt reconstructions.*

*a t-shirt reconstruction is where you take a t-shirt, cut it up, and reconstruct it into something else, they’ve kind of a been gateway into the larger crafting/DIY movement because everyone has old t-shirts they can cut up.

Anyway, I’ve never been a huge fan of reconstructing t-shirts partly because I think it’s very easy for a project to go terribly and horribly wrong, and partly because I think the best thing t-shirt material is good for is t-shirts.

I’ve also never been a huge fan of wearing t-shirts, I never like how they fit. They’re always too tight, or too loose, or too short, or too something. But I have gotten a couple because they had cute prints, or they were gifts, or whatever.

So, I’ve been mulling over the intentions behind this wardrobe project, and the goal of it, trying to decide whether or not t-shirt reconstructions feels like cheating.

My goal for this project is to explore identity, how clothing reflects & projects an identity. For this project, the making clothes aspect is something I thought would be a fun challenge, but the main goal is to explore clothing and fashion as they relate to the self.

In that spirit I think if I can reconstruct a t-shirt into a shirt I would wear, it’ll be an insightful lens into what kind of shirts I wear and why.