A Labor of Love: How to DIY a Crappy Vintage Tee into an AWESOME Tank Top

I don't know if you've heard the news Lush Scouts, but I may be a little bit obsessed with Paul Simon.

Because of this, I've long been in the market for a Paul Simon shirt, but nothing meets my many requirements (the right print, the right colour, the right price). But my hours spent trolling ebay have not been for naught! After finishing my nightstand I was in need of a project and this shirt miraculously appeared on my radar!

The first thing that caught my eye was the price! Less than 10 dollars.

Second, I am a girl who is fond of RIT dye, so I can appreciate the blank canvas of a white shirt.

The most important thing I noticed was this massive stain across the upper shoulder!

As someone with the utmost reverence for Paul Simon memorabilia, I could tell it hadn't been treated with the respect that it deserved.

So I adopted the shirt as my new pet project.

The first step was much much bleaching. I used a toothbrush to specifically scrub the stains with bleach. This both worked really well and totally backfired. The stains disappeared, but the part that I had scrubbed was much brighter than the rest of the shirt! So the whole thing got a bath in some extremely diluted bleach. 

At this point I decided that lavender was the correct colour for the shirt. I gave it a bath in a little bit of purple dye and then a quick dip in some navy in order to get the colour I wanted. 

The colour is even lighted now after a good washing-machine wash and a couple of wears. It is very nice. 

The other important step I needed to take was to make it a tank top. Pro-tip for ladies with big tatas: cutting the sleeves off of a slightly-too-tight teeshirt and sewing back up the sides a little will make the shirt fit better than it had with the sleeves. I don't know why this works, but it always always does. It also allows you to stretch the shoulders out and make it a little longer.

So that is what happened next and now this shirt is my child. It goes to parties and work with me. It even went to the beach. Just another labor of love in honor of Paul Simon, and now treated with all the love and adoration it deserves.

Still Crazy After All These Years

Cait

Friday's Awesome Five

1. We're having a Lush Outing tonight, Cait and I along with some boyz are going to see The Coup! I am beyond pumped, putting a lot of tracks from their most recent album "Sorry To Bother You" on serious rotation. Not to mention their videos which are super fun and clever/awersome/hilarious. Who's ready to get some socialist boogie-ing on? We are! 

The Guillotine

Your Parents' Cocaine (w/ Justin Sane from Anti-Flag)

Land Of 7 Billion Dances

The Magic Clap

2. Shorts season is fast approaching! Well really if you don't live in the Pacific North West you're probably already sweating, but up here we're still just thinking about shorts most days. Currently I only have some real gnarly jorts that have been doing a great job, other than that shorts are kind of the worst in my opinion! Stay tuned for a 'gu comes to terms with wearing shorts' post. Note: that is not gu's butt.

3. Happy Birthday Week to Cait!! The only way to say that and truly mean it is with this picture of Paul Simon dressed as a turkey:

4. I'm moving soon, and have found myself drooling over hip home goods from spots like Urban Outfitters (already bought a duvet cover... so sue me) and ModCloth that probably shouldn't be priority over expenses such as, oh the security deposit or whatever. I really really love this Spotted on the Shore Shower Curtain from ModCloth! I don't know too much about Bettie Page, nor pinups in general, but I am all about girls being hot if they wanna. I don't think my dude soon-to-be-roomie Jordan will mind those curves, either.

5. As we speak I'm whipping up some vegan lemon almond scones to send to my sister all the way in NYC! We've long had a beautiful sistership, where I love baking and she loves to encourage me to bake and tell me how great my treats are. Unfortunately with a zillion miles between us, it has turned into me texting her pictures of, like, mini cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven, and Lisa replying 'bring me soooome :(' Today's your day sis! This recipe I found was too good not to finally send to her! My general philosophy with internet recipes is to use them for their science (aka all the baking soda stuff you can't guess) and then go to town with the craziest flavors you can. Get ready for some fluffy delish treats, sis!

     

     

A Wee Project: DIY Nightstand

Howdy Lushies,

I just thought I'd show you a wee project (that just took a couple months out of pure spite) that I finished a few weeks ago.

I found this heinous filing cabinet-y thing covered in cobwebs and abandoned in the hallway. It was maroon metal on most surfaces, some wood, and a piece of thick cardboard for the back.

I left it in the hallway for a couple of weeks, but at that point I decided it was fair game. I rapidly discovered why it had been abandoned as I dragged it pathetically into my apartment. This thing is solidly constructed of particle-board and metal and man is it heavy!

I took the back off, pulled out approximately one zillion staples, and wiped away the cobwebs, and after several weeks of modpodging and sanding and remodpodging, I finally had a night stand that only cost a few bucks (and a lot of patience.)

And the moment I finished this project, after significant procrastination, I've moved through several projects since (coming soooon!).

Nothing Compares To You,

Cait

Heavy Rotation

I don't know if it's the post-grad angst or a desire to be done with all this bouncy-yet-mellow electronic indie music that seems to be all over these days, but I have found myself immersed in pop-punk and all its many friends lately. That's not to say I don't love a good bit of electronic, especially with a good dose of Pharrell (if you know what I mean). I don't think you'd know it if you saw me, but apparently I'm all angst and the only cure is more pop-punk! More guitars! More high-tempo choruses! More yelling! More rock! So here's some good ol-fashioned fun rock music for your ears:

Half Glass Full of Wine -Tame Impala

European Vegas -Mac Demarco This video is definitely my favorite, but he has a lot of really properly trippy and cool videos that are a good way to spend a good half hour on youtube. I recently got turned onto Mac Demarco and he is one weird Canadian dude. For an equally good but slightly more feel-good song go for Cooking Up Something Good or Baby's Wearing Blue Jeans. Know around gu's house as "weirdly hot."

Future Starts Slow -The Kills




Dollar Chills -DZ Deathrays




Lost -Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra




The House That Heaven Built -Japandroids




The Monkey Versus The Robot -Piebald 



Good luck quitting these songs, scouties.

I know you by heart,

gu