Hippies in Suburbia

September's Artful -T...

Novi, Michigan...where the American Sewing Expo is held...grew up in hardcore suburban development days!  Crisscrossed by major freeways, back to back malls with PARKING LOTS (emphasis on 'lots'), no sidewalks, and plenty of chain restaurants.  So where do you go to eat in Novi?  The mall of course!  

What does this have to do with this month's artful-T project?

Well...while trying to find the 'California Pizza Kitchen' I wandered through Nordstrom's and came across a display of 'Free People' garments.  I was intrigued by the monster cuffs on the thermal henley shirts.  A quick search with Mr. Google informed me that they call them "Hippie Cuffs."  

Having gibbon arms they of course were 3/4 length sleeves for me, which totally spoiled the affect!

Now you see how suburban development and my September T-shirt project go together...kinda...?

No luck finding thermal fabric, but an XXL shirt from the men's department at Kohl's had plenty of fabric to work with! (and set me back $6.50!!)

Now for the fun part....

I completely dismantled the henley and reconfigured it into a 'my-size' henley

I used snaps for the closure at the neck opening since putting button holes in a 5/8 inch knit placket sounded completely awful!  I stabilized the opening with a piece of ribbon...

...And the "hippie cuffs."  I'm pretty sure that no self-respecting hippie would spend the kind of time I did on *^$###!! cuffs!  I'm also confident that there is a much better way to do this than I did, but there they are...meh...kind of boring!   They didn't wow me...sleep on it....

They needed to be more hippie-like.  And what's more hippie-like then embroidery!  In this case, couching!  Much better!

My September T is a bridge between summer's linens (natural linen ribbon and linen print peaking out of the cuff) and fall's thermal knits! ....and finished on September 30th!!!