A Dim Bulb Has a Lightbulb Moment

I get a lot of my t-shirts from H&M. H&M, if you're not fortunate enough to have one near you, is a Swedish store of cheap and trendy clothing. Those clever Swedes, with their Ikeas and their H&Ms! You can get nice t-shirts for under $10 in a variety of colors and styles and so I have a lot of them. My old job was catty-corner to an H&M, which meant I went there way more than necessary (especially during fire drills). Luckily, my new job is in an eating-out-and-retail wasteland, so I'm not tempted to spend money during the week. Also, I earn half as much *and* I don't hate my job and therefore need retail therapy. But my old H&M t-shirts are still going strong, heartily sick of them though I may be.

One of them that is no longer going strong is this green one, which I loved when I bought and promptly ruined the first time I washed it when I threw in a tote bag, the handles of which bled dark blue all over it. Boo. It's perfect for a small bust, as the gathers are enough to give the illusion of a bust without being so large as to create sagging and bagging where a bust should be. As I mentioned in my post on cleaning, I use old t-shirts as rags. They are a good size, absorbent, and reuseable. No point in throwing them away and then using something else that will be thrown away to clean! So, into the rag pile it went.

When I was doing my big clean for the inspector/appraiser, I was using this shirt as a rag at one point and thinking, "*sigh* This is such a good shirt. Too bad stock turns over within weeks at H&M and it is years out of the store. I wish I could get more...." And then I realized that duh, I have the skills to get more. I can't believe it took me so long to realize it! Like two years!

Anyway, once the cleaning was done I took it apart, made a pattern, and replicated it. I'm thrilled! I suspect I will be using this pattern for years to come.

You can see the process pictorially and read the PR review for more details.