not-so-white t-shirts

when it's not too cool/cold out, the kids at our town's nursery and elementary schools can wear a white t-shirt instead of a school smock (typical here in italy). which is great because i really dislike smocks. but really, i'm not a huge fan of white t-shirts, either. they're just too boring. so here are some of the ways i've spruced up some dull school whites (all hand-me-downs).

for the first (you can see the full details here), i took boring whites...

...and chopped up leftovers...

...pinned, sewed and snipped...

...washed (or just rinsed and wrung if you can't wait to see the result!) and air-dried, and there you have it in its t-shirt curliness! (the cut edges curl up after getting wet and somewhat agitated.)

 

for another version, i did three smaller circles with different shades of blue...

...which, after washing, left us with this:

last year i gave a little pizzazz (and covered up some stains) to another white t-shirt using-- get this-- my poor, old, worn-out undies! (look here for the original project.) (by the way, i have since learned to do ruffling considerably better...)

and years ago, i did a simple applique with some cute cat fabric i had onto yet another dreary white t-shirt. (originally posted here.)

and this is how i've spared my daughter the hideously-boring-white-school-t-shirt-syndrome for the past four years!