my muppet t-shirts

[abiraniriba]

I have a large collection of muppet t-shirts that I've worn out. Most of them the front or picture side is in good shape but the back is all full of holes. My wife wants me to either throw them out or turn them into rags, obviously that is NOT an option, any suggestions as to what I should do with these?

 

[Fragglemuppet]

Hmmm, possibly you could frame the best ones?
Good luck! I'm not much help, since I'm a packrat myself, lol!

 

[lael]

Here's my idea for you. I've done this myself & got good results. I ended upo embroidering over a few of the designs to give them a new look. But here's what you should do:

~ Go out & purchase new shirts in a complimentary color to the front designs of the old shirts.

~Find a good seamstress in your area to have them revamped!

~ Have your new BFF cut out the image from the old shirt & sew them onto the new shirts!

 

[lael]

. . . then you can turn the leftover old shirt pieces into rags for your little lady. win-win.

I have a Bert & Ernie and Fraggel Rock from childhood that have gone onto 2 other shirts. I think they will only servive one more frankenstein procedure tho. They're so thread bare. That will be a sad day.

 

[lael]

Also You can have the old designs rescreened onto new shirts. Most silk screening places will not do this, so try to find someone who knows how to silkscreen to help you out. Mind you this is the more costly option, initially. once you have the screens & the ink, you can clone as many of your beloved shirts as you'd like for the rest of your life. . . or the life of the screens. luckily my friends & I are all artsy folks.

 

[abiraniriba]

framing them is interesting

Framing them is an interesting idea. As for the fixing of them there aren't any seamstresses in my neighborhood, besides I'm on a limited budget. Actually, my father just gave me an idea without knowing it. I sent him some of my old 33 1/3 LP's to be turned into CD's (his turntable is hooked up to his computer, so he can do this) and as a bonus he photographed the album covers and made CD liners from them. Now I don't have a digital camera, but what if I photographed the pics from my shirts, developed them, scanned them into my computer and made them into either wallpaper or a screensaver. Now that would be cool. I would still have the pics and my wife could get some funky new dishrags.

BTW lael my wife is only 5' 0'' and thus she does not like being referred to as a little lady.

 

[lael]

Framing them is an interesting idea. As for the fixing of them there aren't any seamstresses in my neighborhood, besides I'm on a limited budget. Actually, my father just gave me an idea without knowing it. I sent him some of my old 33 1/3 LP's to be turned into CD's (his turntable is hooked up to his computer, so he can do this) and as a bonus he photographed the album covers and made CD liners from them. Now I don't have a digital camera, but what if I photographed the pics from my shirts, developed them, scanned them into my computer and made them into either wallpaper or a screensaver. Now that would be cool. I would still have the pics and my wife could get some funky new dishrags.

BTW lael my wife is only 5' 0'' and thus she does not like being referred to as a little lady.

seamstresses, little old ladies, grandmotherly types, or even your friendly local mens wear tailor. If you are on a limited budget, I have a couple of other options for you.

Option 1:
~ go to local fabric store & ask cutting counter clerk for help locating DOUBLE SIDED FUSABLE WEBBING. *double sided fusable webbing is the cloth equivalent of double sided tape* This will turn your old shirt front into. . . like a large iron-on.

~ go to national chain discount store [walmart, target, shopko] & pick up a few pkgs of plain Haine's type t-shirts. or for a more youthful, modern/avant garde look, go to your local thrift shop & pick out something funky to give new life to.

~ go to grocery store and pick up a roll of parchment paper. to make sure nothing sticks to your iron or ironing board should you not cut webbing to size, avoiding yelling wife alltogether. do not iron directly on screaned image with iron.

Option 2:
~ Send me the old shirts & I'll do it for you. I have all you need, aside from the shirts. I have a friend that works at a printing shop & can get the hookup on some 'bulk' shirts. which means I can just pick out what I like. She also owes me a favor so I can prolly get 75% off of a bulk order or better yet, free. I'll have to get ahold of her today to see what she can do. I'll match the color to the original shirt the best I can, or we could go with a complimentary color. Each shirt will only take me about 10 minutes to do. What do I get out of this you ask? I get to copy the images of the shirts to reproduce for myself. images from vintage shirts, for me, is lovely. I have silk screens & inks!

fuse web to back side of old shirt image
cut webbed image out
peal protective paper & fuse webbed image onto new shirt
stitch edges with sewing machine for added durability
tah. dah.

Here is a small sample of what I can do. Pardon the bad pic. It's a size 2 mini skirt that I made for my friend Amy about 2 years ago. It laces up the backside like a corset & is slightly see thru. She picked out the fabric, asked me to make her a mini skirt that was not to mini, but not to conservative & I did everything else in one afternoon. she wore it out that night, when it was only a thought early that morning.

Win. Win.

Option 3:
~ Scan your images. Send me the shirts & I'll pay for parcel & post. I would send you a bundle pack of soft rags from Sam's club.

Win. Win. Win.

Surry bout the Little Lady thing. twasn't any malace ment nor implied. Just an enduring midwestern term.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Um, you're out on your luck. Just kidding, I keed. I only there we're other shirts just like it out there.