Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Customized Software

I work in the IT department of a large consumer goods company The department has several off site meetings each year to celebrate our accomplishments. They are nice uplifting events with good food, recognition awards, prizes etc. Typically the dress code is business casual. We had one of these meetings last week. Someone on the event planning committee (I’ll bet they were male and under 25 years of age) decided it would be nice to have casual dress, and to distribute a "one size fits all" white T shirts to all department members, and require it be worn to the event. We were even given suggestions on what to wear with it:

 Shorts – Bermuda-style, golf shorts
 Pants – Khaki, capri, jeans
 Shoes – Loafers, deck shoes, canvas, athletic shoes, sandals




I wasn't the only female in the dept. that expressed dissatisfaction with the dress code. We had a lively lunch discussion on ways to make the T shirt more attractive; tuck it in, belt it, or tie it to one side. I really don’t like this style of T shirt even when it is free. It is unflattering. I won’t even sleep in T shirts like this. I will wear them for work related community service events. Activities like building houses with Habitat for Humanity or replanting city parks. But I donate the free shirts to charity after the event. It seems a bit wasteful. I decided I wasn’t going to wear a big white shapeless T shirt to the off site meeting. I would wear the T shirt, but it would be "refashioned". I also wanted to make a wearable muslin copy of a RTW T-shirt, so I decided to ”kill two birds with one stone”. Here is the RTW T shirt, bought for a few dollars at Walmart I believe.
The color was dreary, the knit fabric thin and cheap, but I liked the styling. So I took it apart, laid the fabric pieces on paper and traced around them to make a pattern. I used the pattern to cut the pieces out of the big white T shirt, making sure the motifs would be in relatively the same location on the refashioned T Shirt. I think the results is a lot more attractive than the original. When asked by my coworkers "What did you do to your shirt?" I replied that "I did some software customization." Most of them got the joke.




I was so pleased with the results of my software customization, I actually plan to wear it on weekends around the house.

And here is another, non logo, version of the same T shirt made of a rayon lycra knit from Fabric.com.

35 comments:

  1. Love it! This looks really great on you! It's hard to believe it started out as a plain, boxy tee! I hate these shirts, too- they look awful on most women. I have a company shirt stuffed down in the bottom of one of my drawers. I've been meaning to get it out and refashion it for casual Fridays, but I've been to lazy to do it. You've just inspired me!

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  2. You are awesome! What a great idea!!! I never like shapeless t-shirts either, and will definitely file this away for later use.

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  3. That looks fabulous! Everyone else must be so jealous of your customized version.

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  4. What a great idea! I hate unisex t-shirts! I have a ton and never wear them. If I ever have to wear one, like in your case, I will most definitely refashion it.

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  5. How kewl is that! I've always hated those dreaded free t-shirts and you've found the perfect way to make them work for you!

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  6. I love it!!! I bet all the ladies were jealous at work.

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  7. The customized version is great! I also hate the company t-shirts. They definitely do not flatter most women.

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  8. Love the way you modified your t-shirt and the new pink/coral one looks very smart.

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  9. Great refashion!! I'm totally with you, those shapeless tees flatter no one! This one is adorable! Nice customization!

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  10. That was a great refashion. Love the new shirt.

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  11. Ingenious!!!!! Best looking work shirt I ever saw!

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  12. BRILLIANT!

    I've seen refashions that are ho hum, eww and "that's better?" - yours is awesome! And what's better is it's a shirt that I would actually wear!

    Thanks so much!!

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  13. Wow this is awesome! A friend of my teenage daughter gave her a tee from the engineering dept of his college. She wants to wear it, but hates the icky mannish cut. I can't wait to show this to her!

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  14. What a great way to refashion a boxy t-shirt. It looks so much more fashionable. Great job.

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  15. Love it! Such a great idea! All of my unisex t-shirts are now work-out wear, but even for that use, they aren't very appealing. You've inspired me, as usual!

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  16. You are so clever! I bet you were the hit of the meeting. I love the coral version, too.

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  17. I bow down to you! I wish I had done this to all the ugly logo t-shirts I've gotten over the years. all I could think of was to slim the sides down and shorten the sleeves, but this is a major refashion. Great job!

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  18. Hi! I found your site while "link hopping". I LOVE the idea of refashioning a boring tee into something nice. And may I say, you are one gorgeous lady!

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  19. Ooo.. I love it!! I've refashioned a couple of t-shirts, but they look too "crafty" and homey. I love the way yours turned out.

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  20. A million times better! Love the "real" shirt as well; it's a great, flattering cut.

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  21. Aren't you clever! It really looks good and I love your initiative!

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  22. This is fantastic! I've got so many t-shirts from theatre productions, choir tour etc and I never wear them except for hard manual labour because they're so ugly. I'm going to have to give this a try!

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  23. That looks great! Big boxy T-shirts are great "fabric" for knit shirt refashioning!

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  24. WOW!!!!!!! I am impressed!! I HATE those shirts and always think they are such a waste of money because I never, ever wear them. I am actually really glad to read your post and all of the comments to find out I am not the only one!

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  25. That looks fantastic. I recently tried to re-fashion a T-shirt I bought to support a charity, but the poor quality of the fabric made it a wadder. Yours looks really great. I wonder if you will hang onto it and wear it again? lol, or is that just asking too much? :)

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  26. By the way, I am not sure if I am annoyed or pleased. I missed your last few posts (I need to figure out why).
    But on the other hand, now I get to read your last few posts!

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  27. Love it! I'm not a fan of the freebie t-shirt and love to 'forget' to wear them. Especially when they provide XL's for everyone so they don't have to figure out sizing. What a brilliant way to make lemonade out of a lemon :)

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