Wednesday 12 October 2011

Purple Dilemma

I have a dilemma, not a major one but a small and very insignificant one that is proving to be far too hard for me to solve. It involves an un-ironed t-shirt, here it is...


As you can see it is not a particularly special t-shirt. It has not lasted well, it is now rather misshapen & reveals far too much of my midriff (not a good look I can assure you! Why don't they make t-shirts longer?). So why do I find it so hard to recycle/upcycle a purple, misshapen t-shirt?

Usually, when any clothing made of t-shirt material has reached the end of it's life, I take a pair of scissors to it & turn it into rags for the kitchen/workshop rag bag (we're trying to be 'green' & avoid using kitchen roll).

Recently I've been restoring a 1950s sewing box that I was given so I've been through lots of rags in order to apply white spirit to the sanded surfaces.


I needed more rags so found & cut up a t-shirt that hadn't recovered from the elderberry cordial making session a month or so ago.


Then I remembered the purple t-shirt...I dug it out from the bottom of the ironing pile.

The scissors hovered, I was ready to make that first cut

but I just couldn't do it!

Why?

It's because I just love the colour, I have other purple t-shirts but none are this colour, this powdery-washed-out-wonderful-purple colour.  I don't fully understand it but each time I see this colour (not often) I kind of melt & go all gooey. It is, I agree, totally ridiculous! The last time I saw this colour was here- a pair of shoes on Etsy (thankfully not my size-still being good in Buy Nothing New Month!)

So the t-shirt has been hidden back at the bottom of the ironing pile- safe for now...

Am I the only strange person out there who gets all gooey over a colour?

14 comments:

Pomona said...

What a coincidence - I was just writing about colour! It's funny what it does to you - my T shirts always shrink into indecency but I have found a solution - wear a very long vest underneath it, and you will give it a whole new lease of life.

Pomona x

Alison said...

No, you're not! I think it's one of the reasons I spend so much time with my dyepots...

How about upcycling it as a garment? Do you like the layered look? You could stitch in 'extenders' for the bottom and sleeves, possibly a cami-style fill for the V-neck.

Or, if it's too misshapen, you could cut it up to use as trim on something else. Or get yourself a rigid heddle loom, cut lots of t-shirts into strips, and weave lovely, squishy, recycled cotton bath mats. At least that way you'd get to appreciate that colour...

Thrifty Household said...

Of course! Thank you Alison & Pomona for pointing out the totally obvious to me- wear it over something or add length to the sleeves & bottom...I shall go & investigate & have a try on (although I am concerned that it has become a very odd shape- nothing to do with me of course!)

harmony and rosie said...

Do you know, right at the start of this post I was thinking what a beautiful colour your tee shirt was. I shall rack my brains for you and try to think of another idea or two for you.

Emily said...

Gooey over colour? Completely normal as far as I'm concerned! Be proud of the fact that you're obviously a creative bee.
I love that fact that you have a confused rose in your garden - I have one of those too and it's exactly the same colour! spooky...
Thank you for visiting me and for your comment
Emily x

noknittedknickers said...

I'm not sure gooey is the word but there's a particular shade of green that i can't pass. Pantone PMS 355 comes close. It makes me feel happy every time I come across it. Thinking of painting my kitchen in something like it.

All for the layered tshirt look. They do shrink rather indecently.

Calico Kate said...

Absolutely not! Tho I'm a blue girl not a purple one.
Alisons idea is an excellant one. Can it be stretched in to shape when you iron it?
Or cut the sleeves off and sew up the bottom (you might also need to make the neck wider) Then you have a useful shopping bag and can go gooey over it every time you shop! I do this a lot with vest tops & call them 'T-Bags'. I've sold them at craft fairs with 'I'm a T-bag' printed or painted over the front!
CKx

silverpebble said...

I adore Calico Kate's T bag idea.

I am too long in the body, much like a seedling that's been in the dark. I can't wear T shirts without a vest underneath.

Those shoes! Those shoes! Swoon.

Anonymous said...

Yours is a perfectly reasonable reaction to the perfect colour, which is also my favourite. I'd add to it so that I could still wear it.

Anonymous said...

Or crop even shorter and trim with fringing...!

And no, you aren't the only one, although it's never caught me quite so badly!

Scented Sweetpeas said...

why not turn it into a cushion or cut it and make an applique pattern out of it and add it to something else?

Karen S Booth said...

You are not alone, I keep old clothes cos' I love the colour or texture.....hang on to it for now and maybe iron it, hang it up and adorn it with a scarf and leave it on the wardrobe door as a feature!

Annie Cholewa said...

I love Karen's idea, and the thought of T-bags, and I know just what you mean about the perfect purple ... which it clearly is. I'd not be able to use it as cleaning cloths either!

Holly said...

Hello there! Thank you for visiting and leaving a kind comment on my blog.

I don't know if you knit or crochet, but it would be a wonderful color to save for a handmade tee shirt rug. I've never personally made one, but I know there are a lot of people out there who save all their old tee shirts for rug making as they are extreemly cushy and durable. I have made a rug out of strips of cotton and with a simple single crochet stitch. It's by my bed and is my favourite, and most colourful, rug ever!

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