Back-To-School & A T-Shirt Project – A Two-fer!

Sometimes when you are on a budget or just want to save money on expenses you can think outside the box a little and come up with great ideas.  One of the craft stores here in town, Michaels, has a sale going this week on T-shirts - 5 for $10.  My thought instantly was $2 shirts for the girl’s back-to-school wardrobe! 

I half expected the quality of the T-shirts to be thinner and an off brand, great for a summer craft project.  I still wanted to check them out.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover they were Jerzees brand and their “heavyweight quality” cotton blend Ts.  I bought five.  Two for each of the girls, they picked out their favorite color, and one for me to add to my less than stellar casual wardrobe. 

When we got home we laid them out and I grabbed my big button box and went to work.  We had a ball selecting and arranging buttons on the shirts until we had the designs like we wanted.  Then I got to sew all the buttons on, one by one.  It took us about an hour and a half to complete this project, mostly with the sewing and I did that while watching one of my favorite TV shows so it wasn’t too bad. 

The end result is four shirts my girls will be happy to wear to school this fall and had a hand in creating.  I think they turned out darling and who doesn’t love the final price tag? 

Since I am not very artsy, making designs in fabric paint was not an option for me and I am not too sure of myself and iron on transfers.  Some people are blessed with that kind of talent.  I am not one of them.  I had suggested using ric rac and trim to embellish the T-shirts too, but the girls vetoed that because it sounded too frilly.  They really loved the button idea and for me it was the easiest. 

Quick, inexpensive, fun and easy is the project I love most.  One that serves a dual purpose is a bonus in my book.  Not only did we get a fun summer project but I now can mark an item off the back-to-school wardrobe list.